Florida east coast anglers will have a little more compettion on the water when fishing for spotted seatrout.
A long awaited and highly contested ruling on seatrout was finalized today in Key Largo at the November meeting of the FWC Commissioners.
After much public opposition to new seatrout management rules in the commercial sector, the commissioners voted to extend the commercial season for hook and line trout fishing. The bag limit was set at 150 trout per day when two licensed commercial fishermen are fishing from one boat.
The commissioners decided not to allow commercial seine net by-catch for trout. There had been a proposal to allow 75 trout per day as by-catch when other species were targeted.
The proposal for year-round sale of seatrout was not accepted. Trout can be sold for 30 days after the season ends.
Some fishing organizations have pledged to begin a campaign to make spotted seatrout a game fish, which would take them out of commercial harvest.
As more information becomes available it will be reported here.
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