Critical meeting to stop the closure of bottom fishing at Port Canaveral

November 8, 11:13 AMOrlando Fishing ExaminerMike Ortego

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Photo courtesy of Capt. Phil Wilds Panama City Beach.

Captain Phillip Wilds

Wednesday, November 11th from 3 to 7pm a public hearing will be held at the Radisson Resort in Port Canaveral for citizens to voice their opinions on the federally proposed closure of bottom fishing. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) has proposed a complete closure of as much as 26,000 square miles from South Carolina to South Florida to bottom-fishing for time period of 15 – 35 years. The proposed closure falls under the cloak of the highly scrutinized dwindling stock assessments of red snapper and Nassau grouper.

Public interest groups such as the Southeastern Fisheries Association have conducted their own assessments in partnership with highly respected marine biologist and have found their statistics to contradict those of the SAFMC finding the federally appointed council’s assessment to be severely flawed.

According to the Marine Industries of Central Florida the key issues being addressed at the public hearing are:
- The stock assessment process is severely flawed and must be changed.
- No charter boat captain, recreational or commercial fisherman will be able to come to the dock with even one American Red Snapper or possibly any other species from the snapper group complex.
- The charter boat, commercial fishing and recreational boating industry will be economically impacted and the multiplying effect on communities of closing our fisheries could change the infrastructure of the recreational boating and fishing industry forever.

It astonishes that in a time of economic turmoil and distress that our elected government is proposing sanctions that will negatively affect the economy of the coastal region of the south eastern United States. While million dollar bail-outs are being handed to large companies in the hopes to save jobs, the same government is proposing detrimental sanctions on an industry that adds $16.7 billion dollars and thousands of jobs to Florida’s economy and citizens.

The public hearing will be held at the Radisson Resort At- the-Port 8701 Astronaut Blvd. Cape Canaveral, FL 32920. Wednesday, November 11th from 3pm to 7pm. 321-784-0000.