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The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation (FWC) will meet at the St. Petersburg Hilton Oct. 6-8. The meetings will begin at 9 a.m., and the first segment of the Oct. 6 session will be a workshop for agency staff to brief Commissioners concerning a hunter responsibility rule proposal, proposed regulations for the Kissimmee River Public Use Area, proposed fish and wildlife regulation changes and the status of the Lake Griffin drawdown.
Among the items requiring action by the Commission is a rule proposal to require that in all counties, dogs used for hunting must wear a collar or tag which identifies the owner and that all hunters who use dogs for hunting must have written permission from the owner of the property where they hunt.
In addition, the Commission will consider a rule proposal to establish Lee County manatee protection zones, where boat operators must abide by speed limits and no-entry regulations, for the protection of manatees.
Another item on the agenda is consideration of beginning the process for removing the peregrine falcon from the state^s list of endangered species and adding the flatwoods salamander to the threatened species list.
In other business, the Commission will consider adoption of a new logo for the 3-month-old agency, consider its legislative agenda for 2000, consider a rule proposal to prohibit importation or possession of venomous sea snakes, and recognize retired law enforcement officer Roy Martinez for his 27 years of service. Also, the Shikar-Safari Club International will present its 1999 Wildlife Officer of the Year award to Stephen D. Wayne.
The agenda also includes establishment, re-establishment and regulation changes for various wildlife management areas (WMAs) and removal of the Escambia River WMA from the WMA program, at the request of the landowner. Commissioners also will set spring turkey hunter quotas for proposed new turkey hunts on various WMAs.
On Oct. 7, the Commission will begin to address marine issues. The Commission will hold final public hearings on proposed rules to allow the landing in Florida of finfish and shellfish harvested legally in the Bahamas by recreational fishermen under certain conditions and specify a standard method of defining legal cast nets, including a circumference of no more than 79 feet, 3 inches.
The FWC will also hold a final public hearing on proposed changes to shrimp harvesting regulations, primarily for Biscayne Bay waters in Dade County. These proposed rules eliminate the count law (minimum size limit) for food shrimp harvested in Dade County, establish an Oct. 15 - May 15 allowable harvesting season for food shrimp in Biscayne Bay (with a 6 a.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday closed period to food shrimp harvest each week during this open season), and prohibit the use of frame nets by recreational fishermen to harvest shrimp in Dade County. These proposed rules also designate shrimp as a "restricted species" statewide.
A final public hearing will also be held on proposed rule amendments to merge amberjack rules into the current reef fish rule chapter, conform amberjack commercial licensing requirements to those of reef fish (with a clarification that the appropriate federal commercial permit is a condition of sale for all species in the rule), eliminate the 5-day commercial season closure extension in the reef fish rule, restore the documentation requirement for reef fish species possessed during a closure period, include the 1-fish-daily vessel limit for speckled hind and warsaw grouper within the 5-fish grouper aggregate bag limit, and increase the maximum size limit for banded rudderfish and lesser amberjack from 20 to 22 inches in length.
In other action, the FWC will review the management of red snapper and the gill netting of pompano, receive stock assessments for snook and spotted seatrout, direct staff regarding establishment of a management plan for horseshoe crabs, and hear a report on bycatch reduction devices for trawls, recently certified by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The Commission will also consider various federal fisheries management issues, including emergency closure of the Atlantic red porgy fishery and increased size and bag limits for king mackerel.
Uploaded: 9/22/1999
Uploaded: 9/22/1999