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Old 11-27-2012, 10:42 AM   #1
cldomson1
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Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

That's what FWC Commissioner Chairman Ken Wright and his cronies at Bonefish, Tarpon and Trust are trying to backdoor.

Florida Today News Article:
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/...ules-could-way

Please send your comments to the Commissioners here:

http://myfwc.com/contact/fwc-staff/s...commissioners/

If you need something to say let me know and I draft something for you.

Please also plan to attend the February 13-14, 2013 FWC meeting. It's going to be the one not to miss.

http://myfwc.com/about/commission/co...ary/13/agenda/
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Old 11-27-2012, 05:53 PM   #2
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Re: Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

THanks for the update... Lets hope we can win this one.
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Old 11-28-2012, 08:57 AM   #3
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Re: Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

Several members of our spearfishing community, including several high profile people on this board, were very involved in the permit review last year and had a hand in giving spearfisherman our right to spear permit in federal water.

The data from the fisheries review showed the permit population was in good health with no protection required. As a member of the jack family, permit is also one of the most sustainable and fastest growest edible fish, reaching maturity in just two years.

By closing state waters, creating the SPZ, and allowing all gear types in federal waters with a reduced bag limit, the regulations also avoided the competition between user groups that the bonefish and tarpon trust and the flats guides from the Keys had voiced as a concern.

The rule was a win for everyone and gave me hope seeing fisheries scientists, spearfisherman and fisherman produce legislation that was fair to everyone.

In trying to push permit into the sport fish category, I am concerned the commissioner is going around the rule and findings that just passed last year after a two year review and public input process. The only justification in ignoring the science and review process seems to be partiality to some well-funded but small segments of the total recreational fishing community that want exclusive access to reel these fish on the lightest available tackle.

If spearfishermen sit on the sideline for this we may as well concede that spearfishing does not hold the same ecological and sustainable value as hook and line, despite the fact that responsible spearfishing has the potential to leave no bycatch, no habitat destruction and we offer a huge advantage over even catch and release fishing in potential discard mortality, exhaustion on lighty tackle and predations (particularly in federal waters where hooked permit are especially vulnerable to goliaths and sharks), not to mention negative impact on the environment and entanglement from lost lures, hooks, monofilament and terminal tackle.

WE CAN BE THE MOST SUSTAINABLE FORM OF FISHING WHEN PRACTICED RESPONSIBLY.

Please take the time to write or attend. Please ask your dive shop owner or speargun manufacturer to write or attend. Tell them the truth, if our spearfishing rights get taken away, we will go play golf, or paintball or worse yet go hunt in another state or country with good science and fair management that appreciates our money and economic contribution to the community.

Also here is a good link to FRA's call to action: http://www.thefra.org/#PERMIT_ME_TO_...LL_TO_ACTION!_

Last edited by wvandeman; 12-04-2012 at 01:15 PM.
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Old 11-28-2012, 11:10 AM   #4
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Re: Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

email sent. I havent been lucky enough to shoot a permit yet but I dont want that right taken away from me!
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Old 11-28-2012, 11:11 AM   #5
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Re: Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

Bump for really important issue.

Guys just send an email. If you need one, pm me and ill send you one so you don't have to even write one.

It is so important that we are loud and vocal about this. Commissioner jerk here thinks that because he lost last year he can back door this though a name change. We must be heard and bring this to everyone's attention. We are the people that they work for and are serving. We must not let this slide by or out rights will slide away
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Old 11-28-2012, 01:31 PM   #6
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Re: Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

Email sent....Maybe one day I'll get to go get one!!
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Old 11-28-2012, 09:55 PM   #7
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Re: Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

email sent.
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Old 11-29-2012, 09:47 AM   #8
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Re: Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

email sent!

Who is going to the meeting on December 5th? We should have as many on-hand as possible. Are these meetings in Tallahassee?
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Old 11-29-2012, 09:52 AM   #9
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Re: Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

Ill send an email after work. I don't know how the fishery is but by your reactions and the typical enviro nazi schemes it seems like some BS. Over here we had a private study of abalone that showed different results than the dfg findings which benefited us.
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Old 11-30-2012, 09:36 AM   #10
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Re: Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

Our sport needs everyone to voice their opinion and let the state know of the economic and personal impact of this decision. This issue may seem peripheral as the legal right to spear permit is relatively new but the designation goes to the heart of the unwarranted discrimination and false misconceptions about the environmental merit and sustainability of our sport. We are just as sustainable and selective as "catch and release" with no bycatch, no bait, no impact on protected or vulnerable species, no discard mortality, no predations from exhausted fish reeled in on the lightest possible tackle, and no pollution in the form of left behind hooks, lure and monofilament. We are unique stewards of the reef in our support and participation in reef cleaning, reef monitoring and removal of invasive species.

The state needs to know how many people gear discrimination will affect and how much tax revenue it will cost the state in lost retail taxes, lost fuel, lost boat trips and lost tourism.
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Old 11-30-2012, 10:18 AM   #11
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Re: Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

I sent a email. We cant give these guys a inch or they take a mile.
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Old 11-30-2012, 12:19 PM   #12
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Re: Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

Plus, we are currently the only hope for lionfish control. Use us but don't abuse us.
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Old 11-30-2012, 02:53 PM   #13
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Re: Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

Quote:
Originally Posted by anthropisces View Post
email sent!

Who is going to the meeting on December 5th? We should have as many on-hand as possible. Are these meetings in Tallahassee?
No. The dec meeting is in appalachicola. To keep attendence down I assume
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Old 12-02-2012, 04:28 PM   #14
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Re: Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

I just sent the following letter out to all the commissioners. Don

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 2, 2012

Commissioner Kenneth Wright
Chairman, FWC

Re: Rule Change For Permit.

Dear Chairman Wright:

I am concerned about the direction the FWC seems to be heading in regards to rules on permit. I am sure you are aware that prior to the FWC becoming involved in the permit issue over a year ago, there was a loop hole that allowed for unlimited harvest in Federal waters by all gear types. This was of great concern to many of us. However, the FWC staff worked hard to come up with a rule that not only closed the loophole but was a good compromise between all user groups and seemed to make sense, at the time.

Now there is a proposal to grant sport fish status to permit, which would eliminate spearfishing as an allowable form of harvest. If the FWC does decide to move in this direction, I would suggest that it be done in a fair and equitable manner. One proposal has been to make permit a "catch and release fishery" with the added issuance of "kill tags"--this seems like an oxymoron to me and many others. Granting exclusive rights to harvest (kill) permit to the one group (hook and line) that has been responsible for the majority of landings through a tag system seems neither fair nor equitable. A dead fish is a dead fish no matter who kills it. If kill tags are issued to the hook and line sector, then in all fairness, the FWC should issue kill tags to spearfishermen also.

One argument that constantly comes up in regards to spearfishermen is that they selectively remove the larger fish from a population, creating a set of problems ranging from genetically altering the stock to reducing fecundity--since the larger individuals produce more eggs. The same logic, if true, should apply to hook and line with the kill tags. Anglers will not use a tag for a smaller permit, just the larger potential record fish or mounts--in short anglers will be selectively removing the larger and more prized permit from the population causing the same problems that spearfishermen have been accused of doing.

The hook and line sector will argue that a certain number of permit need to be killed for age and growth studies and a kill tag provides for these fish. This may not necessary be true as present research on goliath grouper has proven that these fish can be aged from their dorsal spines and the removal of the otoliths, which requires killing the fish, is not necessary. Stomach contents, mercury content, age/growth, movements, etc. can all be studied without killing the fish. At least this has proven to be true with goliath grouper and may very well be true with permit also. Killing fish in the name of science may soon be a practice of the past.

While it is true that spearfishing, by it's very nature, can not be considered a catch and release type fishery--neither is a hook and line kill tag fishery. If the FWC decides that permit would be best managed as a catch and release type fishery, then that is what it should be-- with no kill tags issued to anyone.

As spearfishing gains in popularity there will undoubtably be more issues, like the permit, that will come to the FWC's attention. The immediate response by fisheries regulators in the past has been to prohibit spearfishing in certain areas or for certain species where there is a conflict with hook and line recreational fishing. One only has to read through the spearfishing rules for Florida to see this has clearly been the case. A more prudent approach would be for the FWC to take the lead and form a working group, comprised of stake holders (similar to the marine life work group), revisit all the spearfishing rulings, and come up with a new set of rules that are fair and reasonable to all.

Over the last 10 years or so I am seeing a lot more young people taking up the sport of spearfishing--diving and spearfishing everywhere from the bridges and jetties of north Florida for sheepshead-- to the blue waters of the Gulf Stream south of Key West for wahoo and other pelagics. It is a sector that is gaining in numbers and their voices deserve to be heard.

Sincerely,

Don DeMaria
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Old 12-02-2012, 06:47 PM   #15
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Re: Upcoming fight over spearing Permit...again

Quote:
Originally Posted by Summerland Key View Post
I just sent the following letter out to all the commissioners. Don

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 2, 2012

Commissioner Kenneth Wright
Chairman, FWC

Re: Rule Change For Permit.

Dear Chairman Wright:

I am concerned about the direction the FWC seems to be heading in regards to rules on permit. I am sure you are aware that prior to the FWC becoming involved in the permit issue over a year ago, there was a loop hole that allowed for unlimited harvest in Federal waters by all gear types. This was of great concern to many of us. However, the FWC staff worked hard to come up with a rule that not only closed the loophole but was a good compromise between all user groups and seemed to make sense, at the time.

Now there is a proposal to grant sport fish status to permit, which would eliminate spearfishing as an allowable form of harvest. If the FWC does decide to move in this direction, I would suggest that it be done in a fair and equitable manner. One proposal has been to make permit a "catch and release fishery" with the added issuance of "kill tags"--this seems like an oxymoron to me and many others. Granting exclusive rights to harvest (kill) permit to the one group (hook and line) that has been responsible for the majority of landings through a tag system seems neither fair nor equitable. A dead fish is a dead fish no matter who kills it. If kill tags are issued to the hook and line sector, then in all fairness, the FWC should issue kill tags to spearfishermen also.

One argument that constantly comes up in regards to spearfishermen is that they selectively remove the larger fish from a population, creating a set of problems ranging from genetically altering the stock to reducing fecundity--since the larger individuals produce more eggs. The same logic, if true, should apply to hook and line with the kill tags. Anglers will not use a tag for a smaller permit, just the larger potential record fish or mounts--in short anglers will be selectively removing the larger and more prized permit from the population causing the same problems that spearfishermen have been accused of doing.

The hook and line sector will argue that a certain number of permit need to be killed for age and growth studies and a kill tag provides for these fish. This may not necessary be true as present research on goliath grouper has proven that these fish can be aged from their dorsal spines and the removal of the otoliths, which requires killing the fish, is not necessary. Stomach contents, mercury content, age/growth, movements, etc. can all be studied without killing the fish. At least this has proven to be true with goliath grouper and may very well be true with permit also. Killing fish in the name of science may soon be a practice of the past.

While it is true that spearfishing, by it's very nature, can not be considered a catch and release type fishery--neither is a hook and line kill tag fishery. If the FWC decides that permit would be best managed as a catch and release type fishery, then that is what it should be-- with no kill tags issued to anyone.

As spearfishing gains in popularity there will undoubtably be more issues, like the permit, that will come to the FWC's attention. The immediate response by fisheries regulators in the past has been to prohibit spearfishing in certain areas or for certain species where there is a conflict with hook and line recreational fishing. One only has to read through the spearfishing rules for Florida to see this has clearly been the case. A more prudent approach would be for the FWC to take the lead and form a working group, comprised of stake holders (similar to the marine life work group), revisit all the spearfishing rulings, and come up with a new set of rules that are fair and reasonable to all.

Over the last 10 years or so I am seeing a lot more young people taking up the sport of spearfishing--diving and spearfishing everywhere from the bridges and jetties of north Florida for sheepshead-- to the blue waters of the Gulf Stream south of Key West for wahoo and other pelagics. It is a sector that is gaining in numbers and their voices deserve to be heard.

Sincerely,

Don DeMaria
Thanks, Don. Very well written perspective.
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