New rules on shark fishing -Jan 2010

Did we miss the changes on the rules for sharking or did it slip by me on this site? It ran in the Miami Herald on December 12.

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/outdo ... 78458.html

FWC passes new rules on sharks, variety of fish
New rules for sharks and bonefish and proposals for other species highlight Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting.
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•Grouper, snapper closures among topics covered at meeting
Grouper, snapper closures among topics covered at meeting
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission tackled some issues important to South Floridians -- hunting seasons; grouper and snapper closures; shark rules; and management plans for Big Cypress National Preserve and Biscayne National Park -- at its meeting last week at Howey-in-the-Hills. Here's an overview:

GROUPER AND SNAPPER

Commissioners gave preliminary approval to a four-month closure to commercial and recreational fishing for 11 species of shallow-water grouper in Atlantic state waters to keep consistent with new rules for adjacent federal waters. If the measure receives final approval at the commission meeting in December, then all fishing for gag; black; red; scamp; red hind; rock hind; coney; graysby; yellowfin; yellowmouth; and tiger grouper will be shut down on Florida's Atlantic coast during the predominant spawning period of January through April.

•Seminar offers inshore, offshore strategy
Seminar offers inshore, offshore strategy
Salt Water Sportsman's traveling seminar series lands in Islamorada next month, co-hosted by magazine editors George Poveromo of Parkland and John Brownlee of Islamorada.

The day-long session Jan. 23 at Coral Shores High School will delve into numerous facets of inshore and offshore fishing in the Keys and will feature a host of local experts.

The program, now in its 23rd year in a row of touring the nation, is known for imparting candid details -- such as specific locations, seasons and tides -- for catching more and bigger game fish. Each session is backed up by an array of video footage and rigging images beamed on huge screens to illustrate techniques and equipment discussed by the experts.

•Outdoors notebook
Outdoors notebook
Grouper and snapper closures, revamped hunting seasons, and general and fisheries management plans for Biscayne National Park are on the agenda of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting Wednesday through Friday at Howey-in-the-Hills in north central Florida.

Commissioners are expected to consider whether to go along with adjacent federal closures for shallow-water grouper and vermilion snapper in state waters in the Atlantic -- possibly exempting red and black grouper from a Jan. 1-April 30 recreational closed season enacted by the feds.

The commission also is scheduled to discuss the pending general and fisheries management plans guiding Biscayne National Park over the next 15 to 20 years. Some of the alternatives for the fisheries plan include substantial restrictions on recreational and commercial fishing. In the general management plan, park officials are contemplating marine protected areas, or no-fishing zones.

•Goliath grouper harvest is discussed
Goliath grouper harvest is discussed
A bout 90 feet deep on an artificial reef called the Zion off Jupiter, a group of scuba divers confronted a stunning sight: as many as 70 goliath groupers -- some nearly as large as Mini Coopers -- hovering amid a cloud of shimmering sardines.

The huge, brown mottled fish made no attempt to consume the minnows around them. They milled placidly around the shipwreck until the divers came close. Then a couple of the fish made a deep booming sound like muffled bass drums and hid beneath the broken-up hull. The underwater photographers in the group -- each of whom had paid about $100 for the trip -- were frustrated because none of the subjects would stay in the frame with a diver long enough to lend perspective on its size.

Four days later, at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting in central Florida, commissioners were talking about reopening the fishery for goliath grouper -- closed for the past 19 years -- to a limited, recreational take.

•Outdoors notebook
Outdoors notebook
NOAA Fisheries has published a new rule that prohibits recreational anglers from selling snapper and grouper caught in federal waters of the South Atlantic, effective Dec. 16. The rule also prohibits charter and headboats from selling snapper and grouper caught by their customers in either federal or state waters. A similar measure has been in effect in the Gulf of Mexico since 1996.

Some good news about redfish from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. A scientific stock assessment conducted this year concluded that red drum are not being overfished. The peer-reviewed study said the abundance of young fish from New Jersey to Florida has remained relatively stable since 2000. The researchers said enough young fish are surviving to move offshore to spawn that the stocks are not in trouble.

U.S. fisheries managers and conservationists came away disappointed from last week's meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas in Recife, Brazil. The
BY SUSAN COCKING
scocking@MiamiHerald.com
More protection for bonefish and sharks and more research on Goliath grouper and permit were among the fishing-related highlights of the two-day Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting in Clewiston which concluded Thursday.

The commission adopted a series of rules to enhance the state's protection of Atlantic coastal shark species that take effect in mid-January. The new rules would:

• Prohibit harvest of sandbar, silky, and Caribbean sharpnose sharks in state waters;

• Establish a 54-inch minimum size (fork length) for all sharks, except Atlantic sharpnose, blacknose, bonnethead, finetooth, smooth dogfish and blacktip sharks;

• Prohibit removal of a shark's head or tail at sea;

• Allow only hook-and-line gear to harvest sharks.

Commissioners gave preliminary approval to a rule pushed by South Florida shark activists to ban the commercial and recreational harvest of lemon sharks in Florida waters. That measure comes up for final adoption at the FWC's February meeting in Apalachicola.