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New Fishing Rules Anger Anglers

(From floridatoday.com) Cape Canaveral – Federal law requires new rules on about a dozen grouper and a few snapper species within a year, regulators say, because data show mounting fishing pressure. The regulators, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, propose to ban fishing for 10 other grouper species from January through April, when the fish spawn.

Off-limits fish would include black grouper, red grouper and scamp. The new rules also would apply to commercial and recreational spearfishing and any other type of gear.

Anglers also face a ban on fishing for red snapper and stricter bag and size limits for vermillion snapper.

“Gag, as far as I’m concerned, are really in trouble,” said Grant Gilmore, president and senior scientist for Vero Beach-based Estuarine, Coastal and Ocean Science Inc. He has studied grouper off Florida for three decades.

Population growth and the resulting runoff and sewage discharges also have contributed to grouper declines, he said.

Gilmore points to seagrass destruction and nutrient-packed fresh-water releases from Lake Okeechobee that cause toxic algae blooms. Gilmore’s trips in submersible vehicles found reefs off Fort Pierce teeming with hundreds of gag and other grouper in the 1970s and 1980s.

This year, he found no gag. “This is not precautionary. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. The council’s not blowing smoke with this one,” he said.

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