A series of draft changes to Florida’s marine-life (aquarium species) fishery regulations will be discussed at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s public meetingDec. 4 in Key West, Fla. The changes would protect additional fish and invertebrate species, and establish generally tighter limits on collection species currently regulated.
The commission attributes changes in aquarium technology that have allowed for “living-reef tanks” as opposed to simple fish tanks as driving the need for the regulatory changes.
“Many consumers are now seeking more invertebrates, such as snails, anemones and crabs for their living-reef aquarium,” the draft rule reads. “FWC rulemaking has not kept pace with the demand for more invertebrates.”
The regulations would apply to the 168 commercial endorsements, as well as recreational divers collecting for their own aquariums. In 2005, Florida established an endorsement program that allowed 130 commercial divers to collect aquarium species and 38 to commercial fishermen who captured marine life as bycatch in shrimp trawls, and crab and lobster traps. Aside from the holders of those 146 endorsements, commercial marine-life harvesting is not allowed in Florida waters, and recreational divers with saltwater-fishing licenses are not allowed to sell any of their marine catch.
Proposed changes include establishing maximum size limits for parrotfish and tangs (to curtail food harvest), making the slot limit for Cuban hogfish consistent with that of Spanish hogfish, and widening the slot limit on butterflyfish. The proposes rules would also establish a personal limit for butterfly fish in addition to the existing vessel limit.
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