Ocean Sentry
(From tcpalm.com)- Despite its lineage, the sawfish was once a more common sight in Florida’s shallow waters. Impacts from humans that include overfishing and habitat loss have depleted sawfish numbers over the past century.
Now scientists and fishery managers have drafted a recovery plan they hope will steer the sawfish back from a path toward extinction.
“They were readily caught by gill nets and other net fishing.”
It is the first and only marine fish to be listed under the ESA.
It is against federal and state law to harvest, possess, land, purchase, sell or exchange sawfish.
The species is also on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) “red” list defined as critically endangered, it’s most severe listing.
(By Ed Killer)
