Plans to close nearly 4,300 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean off the coasts of Florida and Georgia to bottom fishing may not come to be if a federal fishing panel gets its way.
After new information from scientists and fishermen showed that the red snapper population was better than originally determined and that fewer were being caught while e fishermen are catching other species, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted to drop the plans. The prohibition against bottom fishing had been approved earlier this year to prevent fishermen from accidentally catching red snapper while fishing for other species of snapper and grouper.
The Fishing Report
The weather conditions have recently caused the ocean to go from a flat ocean to one with white caps.
There has been a super strong bluefish bite in the surf and at the piers. Some whiting have also been landed but the pompano bite has been spotty. Reportedly a lady did land a 10 1/2-pound black drum along with several pompano.
Bluefish have also been plentiful from Ponce Inlet all the way up to the Dunlawton Bridge. Best baits seem to be sand fleas for the pompano and quarter of a crab for the black drum.
In the Halifax River and the Tomoka River there are more black drum as well as a few undersized redfish.
At the north end of the Tomoka Basin a large school of slot-sized redfish was spotted.
Schools of tarpon and snook were seen in the upper part of the Tomoka River. Clear and low water levels allow good visibility of the fish.
In Mosquito and Indian River lagoon there are reports of numerous small pompano lying dead on the bottom. However, fishing in the northern creeks of the lagoon was producing excellent action. Offshore boaters were throwing back loads of “out of season” red snapper. Yes, that is the same fish the feds say is endangered.
Lat month, anglers reported that they were catching 30 inch-plus-sized black drum at the North Causeway Bridge. There were some redfish and numerous bluefish catches also reported. In the Halifax River and the Tomoka River basin there are reports of water temperatures in the mid-forties and low fifties.
Fishing the flats is usually most productive as fish tend to stay in the warmer shallow water. Large tarpon have been observed feeding along the railroad trestle in the Tomoka River.
Latest news on Florida manatees and the cold
According to the Florida Wildlife Commission’ s biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute rescued a young male manatee in St. Petersburg recently.
The 7-foot juvenile manatee was thin and showed signs of cold stress. This condition, which can result in death, occurs as a result of exposure to water temperatures below 68 degrees for long periods of time. Biologists also were concerned that the manatee was far from any warm-water sites, where manatees typically go to seek refuge from cold water temperatures.
Because of these factors, biologists determined that the young manatee should be pulled from the chilly waters of Bayboro Harbor. The rescue took place just outside the FWRI headquarters in downtown St. Petersburg.
Biologists learned of the cold-stressed manatee when a concerned resident reported it. After the rescue, biologists transported the manatee to Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo for rehabilitation.
To report a dead or distressed manatee, call the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922). For more information on manatee research, visit http://research.MyFWC.com/manatee.
Although the cold weather was a natural event, this die-off underscores the importance of warm-water habitat for the long-term survival of the species. “We are very concerned about the unusually high number of manatee deaths this year. Data from our monitoring programs over the next few years will tell us if there are long-term implications for the population,” said the director of FWRI, Gil McRae. “The cold-related deaths this past winter emphasize the importance of warm-water habitat to Florida’s manatees.
Maximizing access for manatees to natural warm-water sites will continue to be a focus for the FWC and our partners moving forward.” The cold weather likely was responsible for fewer watercraft-related mortalities earlier in 2010.
However, later in the year, watercraft-related deaths trended higher than average and as a result; the year-end total for watercraft-related deaths will likely be similar to that of previous years.
FWC researchers, managers and law enforcement staff work closely together to evaluate mortality data and identify necessary actions. Managers focus on actions that can reduce risks to manatees and protect foraging and warm-water habitat. The FWC’s Division of Law Enforcement, in cooperation with partner agencies, uses knowledge of local boating habits, well-posted speed zones and up-to-date manatee information as part of its on-the-water enforcement operations.
Enforcing manatee protection zones and informing boaters about manatee conservation is a priority for the FWC.
To learn more about manatee conservation, please go to go MyFWC.com/Manatee. For more information on manatee mortality research, go to http://research.MyFWC.com/manatees. Residents can help manatees survive by purchasing the manatee specialty license plate, available at all tax collectors’ offices. The funds collected for these plates go directly to manatee research and conservation.
To report a dead or distressed manatee, call the FWC’s Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922)
Gill and entangling net ban issues lawsuit challenges continue
Commercial netting interests in Wakulla County have filed yet another lawsuit against the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) in their attempts to get gill and entangling nets allowed in state waters. Fifteen years ago Florida voters approved the Constitutional ban on gill nets but there are still netting interests that want to circumvent the clear intent of the amendment.
CCA Florida will be actively involved in the legal actions to protect the net ban amendment and support the FWC’s implementing rules. In November 1994, an overwhelming 72% of Florida voters said "yes" to the constitutional amendment limiting marine net fishing.
The amendment includes both a prohibition on the use of gill and entangling nets in all state waters and a size limit on other nets.
Although the restrictions have been in place for fifteen years, there are still factions within the commercial industry who refuse to accept the legal reality that the constitutional prohibition on gill nets means no gill nets. Since 1994, there have been numerous lawsuits, attempts to create enforcement loopholes, and outright scams all designed to invalidate or circumvent provisions of the constitutional amendment. All have failed. The Florida Legislature, Florida courts, and state agencies have upheld the clear intent of Florida voters.
Here is a little featureete with Christmas in the rear window: Behold the reindeer
Courtesy photo / Here is an example of the reindeer.
The Christmas season is over, but before we move on here are some interesting points about reindeers, also known as Rangifer tarandus.They include both the resident as well as the migratory populations is a deer whose habitats include the Artic and Subarctic.
In North America, they are also known as caribou. The reindeer is a majestic animal that inhabits the frozen arctic tundra.
It has adapted remarkably to a harsh, barren habitat where food is scarce much of the year. It is an excellent swimmer. Aided by a thick coat that traps air and gives good buoyancy in the water, it can easily swim across wide rivers. While many of them are overall numerous and widespread; some of the subspecies are rare and a few are extinct, depending on taxonomy.
Reindeer will vary considerably in color as well as in size. The reindeer inhabit the bleak arctic plain or tundra, and the surrounding forest and mountain areas. Within this harsh and freezing-cold environment, reindeer live together in herds. The smallest herd may contain 20 animals, while the largest may contain thousands.
The herd is almost constantly on the move. They are considered to be sociable with herds numbering up to several thousand. Both genders grow antlers, though these are larger in males than in females.
The reindeer is the only species of deer in which the female has horns-perhaps to help her compete for scarce food supplies. There are some populations wherein the females have no antlers whatsoever. Reindeer live 12 to 15 years.
Reindeer become sexually mature at 29 to 41 months. Male reindeer have inflatable pouches of skin under their throats. This amplifies the roar during the rutting season. The reindeer mate sometime between August and November, depending on location, but mostly in October.
This is known as the rutting season, and the male becomes very aggressive, fighting with other males as he competes to win control of a harem of 5 to 15 females. After a gestation period of eight months, the time approaches to give birth and the female leaves the herd and chooses a secluded spot. She usually returns to the same spot each year to calve, or bear young.
Usually a solitary calf is born between late May and early June, when the herd is at the summer grazing grounds. It weighs 11 - 20 pounds and can stand within minutes after being born. It suckles until it is five to six months old. Unlike many baby deer, the reindeer fawn's coat is not marked with camouflaging spots.
Because they are born in early summer, the calves have enough time to feed and grow strong before the fall migration, when predators are most likely to attack. The calf's antlers begin to grow when the animal is a year old. The reindeer is a plant eater and eats a wide variety of vegetation.
The mainstays of its diet are the lichens and tough grass that grows on the tundra. In the spring, the reindeer will graze the newly sprouted shoots of grass and shrubs. The green leaves of birches and willows are eaten at the summer grazing grounds.
During the harsh winter months, the reindeer has a difficult time finding enough to eat. It will dig holes in the snow several feet deep to get to the lichens and moss underneath. At the same time, it feeds on the twigs of any shrubs it finds under or above the snow.
The reindeer is a valuable and important animal to the nomadic tribes of the arctic regions, especially the Lapps. It is the only deer that can be domesticated. It provides butter, meat, cheese, clothing, and transportation. Its antlers and bones are used to make tools and utensils, and the tough sinews in its legs are used to make thread.
The reindeer's range has decreased dramatically due to extensive hunting and the destruction of its natural habitat by man.
The building of hydroelectric power plants has caused rivers to be diverted and large dams to be constructed in Canada and Siberia. The alteration of the natural landscape obstructs reindeer migration routes and causes thousands to drown. Hunting of wild reindeer and herding of semi-domesticated reindeer for meat, antlers, hides, milk and transportation are important to several Artic and subarctic people.
Far outside its range, the reindeer is well known due to the myth which probably originated in the early 18th century America, in which Santa Claus’s sleigh is pulled by flying reindeer, a popular secular of Christmas. In Lapland, reindeer pull pulks, which are mountaineering or gear sleds.
Capt. Budd's PostScript
It has been written “Fishing is more than a sport. It is a way of thinking and doing, a way of reviving the body and the mind.”
So whether you charter, ride a head boat, run your own vessel, stay in the river, surf fish, or fish from a bridge or from shore, there are fish to be caught. Fishing is not a matter of life and death, it is so much more important than that.
Tight lines, Capt. Budd