August 24, 2009, 3:11 pm
After four years of dormancy, the highly controversial issue of no-fishing zones has been reawakened in the general management planning process for Biscayne National Park.
The public comment period closed earlier this week, but I still would like to offer my 2 ½ cents.
Instead of cordoning off certain areas where divers and snorkelers may go -- but anglers may not -- I would offer a simpler solution to the problem of steeply declining reef fisheries in the park.
If it were up to me, I would ban the taking and possession of all grouper-snapper species by any means -- hook-and-line; handline; spear gun; pole spear; or Hawaiian sling -- year-round in park waters. Yes, such a policy would require greater law enforcement presence, but the same could be said for creating marine protected areas. My proposal would enhance compliance and enforcement because it would avoid the need for special charts and signs that confuse boaters so much that they tend to ignore them anyway.
For those new to this issue who perhaps are just now getting involved, a little background is in order as to what led the park down the path to no-fishing zones.
In the summer of 2001, officials got a report from Jerry Ault, fisheries scientist at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School, showing reef fish in Biscayne Bay -- particularly grouper and snapper -- were in bad shape because of overfishing. A few weeks after that report was released, park rangers stopped two boats four days apart with hundreds of undersized snapper and grouper on board. Five Miami men were charged with federal fisheries violations in those two stops. Photos of the illegal catch were published in The Miami Herald, enraging concerned citizens who demanded action.
