A lot has passed off on the fisheries management scene within the beyond week. The unmarried most essential choice made by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) which impacts anglers here at the Suncoast is the one extending the catch/launch order on snook, redfish and now spotted sea trout of any length via May 31, 2020.
This order additionally consists of no business harvest of spotted sea trout — period. FWC workforce will re-examine the snook extension in early 2020.
The place this order applies to stays the same, ranging from the Hernando/Pasco County line all of the way down thru Gordon Pass in Collier County.
Changes in reef fish regulations noticed extra amberjack opened for a couple of days in country waters on May 1, only to be shut down once more to coincide with the federal closure till August 1. On Saturday, the quick-lived harvest of gray triggerfish closes again in both control zones until in addition note.
I have always been of the thoughts that if fisheries management parents have been to err, it ought to continually be on the aspect of caution. In the case of the west coast catch/launch edict stemming from closing 12 months’s red tide, I have to say that it is probably important.
It is complicated to me how the pink tide outbreak become so atypical in the way it affected exclusive areas of the coast underneath this closure. The southern stop of the place experienced the longest length of red tide blooms, but it controlled to get better enormously well. Big Sarasota Bay, from Big Pass to its northern cease at the State Road 64 bridge, experienced a shorter length however saw disastrous results a ways beyond fish kills.
Without a doubt, Big Sarasota Bay needs help big time. I’ve by no means seen the bay so without life this long after a crimson tide.
There are going to be such a lot of small commercial enterprise oldsters harm by this across-the-board closure that applies to numerous areas which might be in especially precise shape. I don’t have any argument with spotted sea trout being close down for a year. Snook, in maximum areas north and south of Sarasota Bay, are abundant in all size lessons. This is consistent with many longtime publications and anglers.
In my profession as a guide, I’m nicely too aware of how many capacity clients are “meat fishermen.” Thankfully, I persevered within the commercial enterprise lengthy enough to cull out the fish hogs. A little assist from the country with stricter bag and size limits helped as well.
How many charter, bait and tackle dollars are going to be round whilst the “meat people” appearance elsewhere?