FWC proposes changes to ballyhoo fishery rules
News Release
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Media contact: Lee Schlesinger, 850-487-0554
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission (FWC) on Thursday proposed rule amendments regarding
license requirements for commercial ballyhoo fishermen. These
fishermen harvest ballyhoo with lampara nets and sell this fish to
recreational anglers for use as fishing bait.
Under current FWC rules, a small number of
commercial fishermen have qualified for an endorsement on their
saltwater products license that allows them to use a lampara net to
harvest ballyhoo. The FWC is proposing to give lampara net
endorsement holders the option to sell their endorsement to someone
else if they decide to leave the fishery.
The proposed rule amendments would:
- allow all ballyhoo endorsement holders to sell their
endorsement to other commercial fishermen from July 1 - March 31
each year;
- limit any one entity from holding more than two ballyhoo
endorsements at any one time;
- prohibit leasing of the endorsement; and
- allow only one endorsement per saltwater products license and
one saltwater products license to be associated with a single
endorsement.
A final public hearing on these rule-amendment
proposals will take place during the FWC's April meeting in the
Tallahassee area.
Persons with Disabilities