 Timothy Blasko recently claimed the Atlantic record for heaviest lionfish at 3.10 pounds. Learn more about other lionfish records at MyFWC.com/Lionfish.
Submit your photos by emailing them to Saltwater@MyFWC.com. Learn
more about our photo guidelines.
Information:
The FWC Commission listened to public testimony on and discussed several marine
fisheries management items at the Sept. 26-27 meeting in Tallahassee. Please visit
MyFWC.com and click on “FWC Commission Meetings” and the link for the September
meeting to see the agenda.
Regulation changes (final decisions on these
topics were made at this meeting):
-
Trap
fisheries: Staff presented a series of final rules to modify the stone
crab, blue crab, and spiny lobster trap fishery regulations. Approved changes
include: creating a mandatory, no-cost,
annual recreational blue crab and stone crab trap registration (effective Oct.
1, 2019, for stone crab and Jan. 1, 2020, for blue crab); requiring stone crab
commercial licenses/endorsements be active in order to keep trap allotments (effective
July 1, 2019); increasing
the time allowed for commercial lobster fishers to remove spiny lobster traps
from the water after the season ends from five days to 10 days (effective Nov.
1, 2018); and starting the commercial spiny lobster trap soak period the
Saturday following the recreational mini-season (effective Nov. 1, 2018).
-
Live food
shrimp: Demand for food shrimp sold alive has been expanding in recent
years. These changes will clarify that live food shrimp are excluded from
seafood icing requirements and specifically address the transit of food shrimp
that is transported alive prior to sale.
Discussions and
temporary regulation changes:
-
Lionfish
Challenge: The winners of the 2018 Lionfish Challenge were announced by the
Commission. John McCain won the recreational category with 1,137 lionfish and
Ron Surrency won the commercial category with 5,017 pounds. A total of 28,260
lionfish were removed throughout the Challenge.
-
Red Tide: After hearing an update on the red
tide affecting southwest Florida, the Commission directed staff to keep snook
and red drum catch-and-release only through May 10, 2019, and to expand the
area where this applies to include Tampa Bay (including all waters of Manatee and Hillsborough counties) as well as all of Pinellas and Pasco counties starting Sept. 28.
-
Gulf gray triggerfish: The Commission approved closing the
recreational harvest of gray triggerfish in Gulf state waters for the remainder
of 2018 starting Sept. 28. This action is consistent with a recent federal
closure.
- The Commission listened to updates on other
federal fishery management items and on future FWC marine fisheries management
items.
Links for more
information:
Agenda [MyFWC.com]
News Releases [MyFWC.com]
Season
closed as of Sept. 26
Information: As a
precautionary measure, the bay scallop season in state waters off Gulf County, including St. Joseph Bay, was closed to harvest Sept. 26. This
closure is due to the presence of bloom levels of Karenia brevis, the
naturally-occurring algae associated with red tide. The Florida Department of
Agriculture and Consumer Services recently announced a similar closure for
clams, mussels and oysters (not including bay scallops) due to the algae bloom
impacting the area.
While these
species are closed to harvest, St. Joseph Bay remains open for other
recreational activities. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
(FWC) is working closely with partners during this time, including the Florida
Department of Health, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Gulf
County, and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Links for more
information:
Scallops [MyFWC.com]
Stone
Crab – Season Opens
Action: Recreational and commercial
season opens Oct. 15
Information:
-
Only the claws may be harvested
- Claws
must be 2 ¾ inches to be harvested
- Recreational
limit: 1 gallon of claws per person, 2 gallons per vessel, whichever is less
-
Harvest
of claws from females with eggs is prohibited
- Do
not use any device that can puncture, crush or injure the crab’s body
-
May
16: Season closes
-
Recreational
harvesters may use up to 5 stone crab traps per person
-
Recently
adopted rule requiring recreational harvester to register their stone crab
traps does not apply this season and will take effect prior to the Oct. 2019
season
- The
trap throat (entrance) must be no larger than 5 ½” x 3 1/8” in Collier, Monroe
and Miami-Dade counties. In all other counties, entrances can be no larger than
5 ½” x 3 ½”. Round entrances are not allowed in Collier, Monroe and Miami-Dade
counties and can be no more than 5
inches in diameter elsewhere in the state.
Links for more
information:
Stone Crab [MyFWC.com]
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Information: FWC is
collecting feedback on several fisheries issues including trap fisheries and shrimp.
Provide comments on
these or other fisheries online at MyFWC.com/SaltwaterComments.
Link for more
information:
Saltwater Comments [MyFWC.com]
Saltwater Angler Recognition Programs
Catch a Florida Memory today
Information: These three programs encourage ethical
angling while earning rewards for your efforts.
- Saltwater
Fish Life List: A list of 71 different species. Can you catch them all?
- Saltwater
Reel Big Fish: Recognition for extraordinarily-sized catches.
- Saltwater
Grand Slams: Earn rewards for catching three different specified species
in a 24-hour period.
FWC also manages the Florida Saltwater Fishing Records
program.
Link for more information:
CatchaFloridaMemory.com
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