“We’re trying to make sure that Floridians and anglers visiting Florida have clean waters, abundant fisheries and access to both. We try to keep abreast of any issues that would affect those things.”
The words came from ASA’s Keep Florida Fishing Manager Gary Jennings, who’s urging anglers to act now, before a March 1 deadline, to avoid being banned from some of the Sunshine State’s most abundant recreational fisheries — the Atlantic reefs from Port St. Lucie to Miami.
Jennings says environmentalists from the Our Florida Reef’s initiative are currently in the process of stopping all fishing in approximately 20-30 percent of the reef area in southeast Florida. “We aren’t opposed to closures, provided that there’s scientific proof for that,” Jennings says. “But they just haven’t proved that there is. Usually full closures are necessary after seasons and size limits have failed. Neither is true in this case. The main threats for coral come from water quality, sedimentation and temperature fluctuation … not from recreational fishing.”
Keep Florida Fishing is already receiving widespread support throughout the fishing industry from the American Sportfishing Association, numerous tackle retailers and boating companies like Hell’s Bay Boatworks, Maverick Pathfinder, Suzuki, Sea Ray and Pursuit. “Lots of companies want to make sure we are still able to go out and enjoy our passion. We all want to protect our resources and make sure they are around for a very long time,” Jennings adds.
According to Keep Florida Fishing officials, sportsmen contributed $40 million to conservation in the state through license sales, purchases and packages in 2015.
Jennings says the proposed bans are still in the planning process, but the time to act is now. Keep Florida Fishing is urging anglers to sign their online petition to help show that the Our Florida Reef closures were proposed without participation by recreational fishermen. It’s an urgent effort to keep anglers in one of the nation’s most angler-heavy states out on the water. “They have had public meetings for these proposals,” Jennings says. “But you aren’t allowed to make public comments at the meetings.”
Now, with enough signatures, Keep Florida Fishing hopes to show policy makers that it’s time to take a second look at the proposals.
Click here to sign the petition. Deadline is March 1.
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