FWC issues order to help blue crab industry
News Release
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Media contact: Lee Schlesinger, 850-487-0554
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission (FWC) has issued an executive order to waive four
previously scheduled 10-day blue crab trap harvest closures in July
and August this year. The FWC is taking this action to help
relieve possible economic hardships on fishing communities that may
occur due to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The order means that scheduled closures to the
commercial and recreational harvest of blue crabs with traps will
not take place this year in waters from Nassau through Volusia
counties, Brevard through Palm Beach counties, Broward through
Pasco counties, and Hernando through Wakulla counties - including
the Ochlockonee River and Ochlockonee Bay. These closures
normally take place each year to enable officials to identify and
remove lost and abandoned blue crab traps.
The FWC order, which can be viewed online, takes
effect at 12:01 a.m. on July 1, 2010 and will expire at 12:01 a.m.
on June 30, 2011. All other provisions governing the harvest
of blue crabs in Florida remain in effect.
Blue crab regulations and information about the
FWC's trap retrieval and debris removal program is available online
in the Saltwater area of MyFWC.com/Fishing.
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