FWC UNANIMOUSLY VOTES TO MAKE BONEFISH AND TARPON CATCH AND RELEASE IN FLORIDA!
We are pleased to inform you that at their Wednesday meeting in Lakeland, The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), unanimously approved new regulations to make tarpon and bonefish catch-and-release-only fisheries, making Florida the first State to do so. The deliberations by Commission members were brief and entirely supportive. Commissioner Brian Yablonski said, “this is the most significant thing we can do for tarpon.” Following their favorable ruling, Chairman Kenneth Wright added, “there will be a chapter written in a book about what this commission did today.”
The newly adopted regulations include the following provisions:
- Eliminating all harvest of tarpon with the exception of the harvest or possession of a single tarpon when in pursuit of an IGFA record and in conjunction with a tarpon tag.
- Keeping the tarpon tag price at $50 per tag but limiting them to one tag per person, per year.
- Modifying the tarpon tag program, including reporting requirements and shifting the start and end date for when the tarpon tag is valid.
- Requiring that tarpon remain in the water and are released near the site of capture.
- Discontinuing the bonefish tournament exemption permit that allows tournament anglers to temporarily possess bonefish for transport to a tournament scale (this brings the state in line with similar rules in the National Parks in the Keys).
Thank you to everyone who supported BTT’s efforts and took the time to make phone calls or write letters to the commissioners. Your support and actions helped make these regulations a reality.
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Tags: Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, Florida
Does this stop those knuckleheads from spearfishing tarpon?
The FWC also voted to revise the definitions for jigs and weighting of lures to outlaw the “flossing” that was rampant in Boca Grand pass and other places. The method resulted in a high percentage of fish snagged outside the mouth – essentially snagging.
It doesn’t do anything about the spear guys… they are in Fed. waters out of Louisiana.
Yeah Doug, there was just a lot of goodness that came out of that meeting. Happy for the Save the Tarpon guys who took on that snagging issue. Well played all around.