December 1, 2022
*Capt Hubbard,
We traded Emails a couple of months ago in reference to my blog post RE: the FWC commissions last minute amendment to the FWC staff’s proposed Redfish rules for NE Florida. As noted in the post, I was somewhat aggravated that the Commission chose to make a change to the recommendations – recommendations that Staff had arrived at after a year and half of research, studies, a Summit, and multiple workshops. In a nut shell, my attitude towards the FWC has become a bit jaded.
I realize that somehow time has caught up with me – I’m now one of the “old timers” and my thoughts on fishing, keeping of fish, and overall conservation may not align as much with the younger generation. That said, I don’t like to kill a whole bunch of fish – I subtly encourage my customers to throw them back, but I don’t begrudge a recreational angler to keep a few for dinner. I do feel like the times of “loading the cooler” to feed the neighborhood are long gone, as well they should be.
Plain and simple, I go by the rules set by the FWC. And again, if there is any hesitation from one of my customers to keep or release a fish, I encourage them to release it. I recently “fired” a customer that pressured me to keep an illegal fish.
I’ve had a growing un-ease in my belly that our industry is being taken over by the “woke”, tree-hugging crowd. Here at Amelia Island, a number of folks have moved in over the last 10 years and they seem to be die-hard environmentalist/conservationist, or at best, ambivalent towards fishing. The island is becoming more and more anti-boater and anti-anglers. Our boat ramp at the City Marina is in danger of being closed, our county boat ramps are in need of repair. Heck, the City built frigging Pentanque courts in the boat trailer parking lot!
Like I said, I go by the FWC rules. But I’ve always wondered if their research may be tainted by conservationists bias-all I can do is hope that they are “honorable” scientists and will do the right thing. I was pleased to hear one of the scientists at the Summit note that the “NE Florida Redfish stock was doing good”. I was all on board with the NE Florida rule changes and prepped my customers with notices 2-Redfish per person, 4 per boat max. Why would the Commissioners base their decision to change that recommendation on the sentiment of a handful of people that poured their heart out at the Commission meeting? My gut tells me the FWC is gauging public sentiment to base their decisions, rather than what the science tells them. I think they gauged wrong, but “conservation” is what they are hearing. I feel that there are adverse ramifications to we guides and all Florida anglers.
I’m a bit concerned that the FWC Commissioners may be “in bed” with the conservation groups. Those groups have raised a lot of money and have a lot of influence. Again, all of us think we’re conservation minded but what do we as Guides/Charter boat captains do when that public sentiment that the FWC is basing their rules on goes even further? What if there’s a push to ban boats with gasoline engines? What if they want to enforce speed limits off shore? What if they want to institute complete catch and release? What if they want to close the boat ramps? What if they make the rules so onerous that no one wants to fish? As you know, they’re already doing some of this in Florida. How far do we let them go before we push back?
Just this week there was an news article about Whole Foods banning Maine caught lobsters. A move that affected the entire state industry. In 20 years will Floridians be cut out of fishing?
FYI I fished three times this week, Mon-Wed. On Monday we fished one spot and we were there for 2 hours. We guestimated we caught 40 Redfish, most of them “rats”, but 8 of them were in the Slot. My customers kept their limit (2). On Tuesday we fished and caught only Trout and a Flounder - zero Redfish-not a one. Yesterday we fished a spot, and again caught over 40 Redfish. Most of them were “rats”, but the 12yo young lady on the boat counted the slots – 12 slots. They kept their limit (4). When I was listening the video of the Commission meeting and heard some of the folks state that “they couldn’t catch a redfish” and “the Redfish stock is down” I was thinking, “you know, it depends on the day, the tide, the time of year, the spot, the bait, the experience of the angler, and the skill level” ‘ Some days you catch them. Some days you don’t. For the Commissioners to base their decisions on those testimonies was just…baloney.
My membership with the Florida Guides Association is based on how I think ya’ll are addressing these concerns. If I think you are getting too “buddy buddy” with the conservation groups and the FWC, then I’ll probably drop the membership. I understand that we need to work with them. I just don’t think our interests are 100% in line with the direction they are heading.
Sincerely,
Capt. Lawrence Piper
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