Tag Archives: Biscayne National Park
Feds seize Miami fishing boat after owner poached lobster in Biscayne National Park
The owner of a 34-foot commercial fishing boat surrendered it to federal officials Monday after the captain was caught poaching nearly 300 spiny lobsters and stone crabs in Biscayne National Park last summer. In August, a park marine patrol officer stopped the Silvita for a routine inspection and discovered 231 illegally wrung tails stashed in an anchor locker, along with more than two dozen egg-bearing or undersized lobsters, said park marine patrol spokesman Robert MacKavich. >click to read<19:13
The Science Suggests a Marine Reserve Zone Won’t Save Biscayne’s Reefs
As many of you know, I have been proud to help lead a bipartisan group of Florida’s Congressional leaders, including Democrats like Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Gwen Graham, and Republicans like Sen. Rubio and Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Mario Diaz-Balart to ensure that Biscayne National Park utilizes the best science to conserve its environmental treasures while preserving our community’s right to access and enjoy all that Biscayne has to offer. In fact, the statutory language that created the National Park Service (NPS) – the Organic Act of 1916 – is still in force today and mandates just that! The NPS, by law, must conserve the nation’s natural resources and promote the public’s use and enjoyment of those resources. The Marine Reserve Zone proposed for Biscayne National Park that would eliminate fishing in more than 10,500 acres of prime reef fishing habitat with the goal of protecting Biscayne’s vulnerable coral reefs violates not only the spirit of the Organic Act, but also fails to use the best science to design and implement successful coral reef conservation strategies. Read the rest here 14:52
New superintendent named to head Biscayne National Park
A seasoned ranger with posts in the chilly north including Glacier Bay and Crater Lake will become the new superintendent at South Florida’s subtropical Biscayne National Park, the National Park Service announced Monday. Margaret Goodro, now superintendent at Lake Clark National Park in Alaska, takes over from Brian Carlstrom. In November, Carlstrom was promoted to deputy associate director for the service after overseeing a controversial new management plan that for the first time establishes a marine preserve to help protect part of the park’s ailing reef. “I look forward to working with the park staff, stakeholders and partners to continue the great work of providing amazing recreational opportunities for visitors, while protecting and preserving this rare tropical park,” Goodro said in a statement. And while Goodro may have roots in the north where her family ran a commercial fishing business, she does have some local ties: Her spouse, Melinda, is a Tampa native. They plan to move to South Florida in late October. Read the rest here 10:38
Congressional bills aim to kill Biscayne National Park’s protected no-fishing zone
A planned no-fishing zone in Biscayne National Park could be undone by Congress. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) this week filed a Senate bill called the Preserving Public Access to Public Waters Act that puts the 16-square-mile Biscayne marine reserve in its crosshairs. Sport and commercial fishing organizations, including the CCA and the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association, protested the reserve as excessive and endorsed the congressional bills intended to remove it. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission objected to closing a reef-fishing area accessible to the large South Florida boating community. Read the rest here 14:36
Biscayne National Park’s management plan is problematic – Capt. Bill Kelly
The special interests Lloyd Brown refers to in his Aug. 26 letter, Park plan will save fish and jobs, about Biscayne National Park’s General Management Plan just happens to be some of the finest commercial fishermen, fish houses, restaurants and fishing guides in the world. All have been harvesting sustainably in the park for decades, supplying millions of consumers with fresh seafood worldwide or treating tens of thousands of visitors to the catch and release of Florida’s most sought after gamefish. Read the rest here 21:32
Florida Congressional Offices Want To Block Biscayne National Park’s Fisheries Plan
A challenge to Biscayne National Park’s efforts to improve the health of their fisheries has been mounted by three of Florida’s congressional representatives, including one who has drafted legislation to require state approval before the National Park Service moves to restrict commercial or recreational fishing access in areas of the Great Lakes or U.S. marine waters that it oversees. “We feel that both of these measures are ridiculous and entirely unnecessary,” Caroline McLaughlin, NPCA’s Biscayne program analyst, said Friday. Read the rest here 08:58
New rules, no-fishing zone for Biscayne National Park
Commercial fishermen worry that restrictions will place pressure on other areas, particularly the Keys, said Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association. That plan, which proposes banning commercial fishing as well as increased limits on catch size and number,,, The state of Florida opposes the ban on commercial fishing in that proposal. Read the rest here 13:45
Protecting a Home Where the Puffer Fish Roam in Biscayne National Park
BISCAYNE NATIONAL PARK, Fla. — For 15 years, officials, environmentalists, fishermen and boaters have struggled to put together a plan to protect one of South Florida’s jewels — a national park, almost entirely underwater, where a part of the largest reef tract in the United States lures throngs of divers and anglers who fish its once-abundant grouper and snapper. Read the rest here 16:54
Fishermen challenge proposed closures in Biscayne National Park at final workshop
About five dozen commercial fishermen from South Florida made their final case last week against proposed closures in Biscayne National Park. The 180,000-acre marine park, which stretches 22 miles from just south of Key Biscayne to just north of Key Largo, is seeking to bolster declining fisheries by increasing the size and abundance of fish and invertebrates within its waters by 20 percent. Read the rest here 11:12
Commercial fisherman oppose Biscayne National Park proposals
After a Key Largo workshop Wednesday, the next news on new rules for Biscayne National Park could come with publication of a final management plan early in 2015. “We’ve been at this 14 years,” park Superintendent Brian Carlstrom said of the effort to update the park’s rules and operations. “We hope to get this knocked out next year.” Read the rest here 11:35
Possible Biscayne National Park fishing shutdown plans get public review Wednesday
“Anybody who cares about fishing, recreational or commercial, in the Upper Keys should attend one of these meetings,” said Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association. Kelly said plans to restrict or ban commercial fishing in the southern Biscayne National Park could harm 75 Keys fishermen and about the same number from Miami-Dade County. Read the rest here 09:06
Proposed Ban on Commercial Fishing Off Miami – Video report
With fish populations decreasing, the National Park Service is proposing a ban on commercial fishing in Biscayne National Park off the coast of Miami, an area that’s been fished for generations. <Video, Read more here> 12:24
New rules would ban commercial fishing, lobster mini season from Biscayne National Park
“It’s always so easy to take a swipe at fishermen whether they’re commercial or recreational,” said Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association. “It’s going to have a severe socio-economic impact. We’re talking generations of fishermen — a cultural heritage.” Read more here 08:55
National Park Service Biscayne Park Fishery Management Plan ruffles fishermen
The head of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association says he’ll take the fight to Congress if need be to fend off the implementation of a series of fishing restrictions proposed this week by Biscayne National Park officials. Read more here 08:12
We Want Ours! Coastal Conservation Association – 500 recreational permits for the zone – Biscayne National Park
A move away from an initial proposal for a no-fishing area covering 16 square miles pleased board members of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission when they met Thursday in Weston in Broward County. more@keysnet
New Biscayne National Park management plan gets cold reception – All commercial fishing, except using lampara nets for ballyhoo, would be banned.
“It’s crazy,” said Ernie Piton, president of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association. “They’re closing so many areas, where are people going to go? They’ll be on top of each other.” “This would affect so many jobs, here and in Miami,” Piton said. “I haven’t seen anything to justify it.” more@keysnet 22:05
Few waters contain a more baffling hodgepodge of fishing rules than the Florida Keys
Recreational and commercial fishing in South Florida waters falls under the jurisdiction of three government agencies: The federal South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, and the state FWC. Then toss in rules for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park, national wildlife areas and species-specific closed areas. @keysnet
