Federal fisheries council looks at harvest and seasonal changes for spiny lobster

Federal fisheries managers will consider issues on Florida Keys fish including spiny lobster, hogfish and dolphin during a week-long meeting beginning Monday in Cocoa Beach.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will look at the annual catch limit for spiny lobster, the most valuable fishery for the Keys commercial fleet. Lobster harvests exceeded management measures in recent seasons, which could lead to shortening the season or other rule changes.

The annual catch target of 6.59 million pounds was exceeded in the past three seasons and the annual catch limit of 7.32 million pounds was topped in two of the three years.

Fishermen on the council's lobster advisory panel contended in an April meeting in Key Largo that the limits were established based on a time frame when harvests were depressed, so the current regulations do not reflect the historical record.

South Atlantic Council members will decide whether to seek a higher lobster limit or pursue other action.

Staff with the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will review a study of how many lobster traps wind up in 60 Keys marine protected areas. About 2,400 traps were counted in a survey but that represents less than 1 percent of the 475,000 traps allowed in the fishery.

Many of the unallowed traps were found in small protected areas not marked by boundaries as a no-trap area.

"Education efforts reduced the number of fishermen and traps in both buoyed and unbuoyed closed trap zones," says the FWC report.

Making all the smaller areas, which were mapped with help from Keys commercial fishing groups to protect coral growth, would be expensive and add hundreds of new buoys to local waters, staff reported.

Most of the small areas are not marked on navigation charts. "Publishers of nautical charts are resistant to include zones that affect few people," the agency noted.

In other issues during the June 13-17 meetings at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront on North Atlantic Avenue in Cocoa Beach:

• A possible change in the harvest allocation for dolphin (mahi-mahi) will be reviewed.

Current federal rules allocate less than 8 percent of the dolphin catch to commercial harvesters; the recreational sector is allocated the remaining catch of more than 92 percent. The council will consider several possible amendments to the rule.

• Hogfish snapper stocks may be split into two groups -- one for the Keys and mainland Florida east coast, and the remainder running from Georgia to the Carolinas.

Rebuilding actions proposed for the Florida stock:

• Placing a daily bag limit of one hogfish on recreational harvesters (current limit is five).
  
  
  
  
• Capping commercial harvests at 25 pounds whole weight.
  
  
  
  
• Increasing the minimum size to 16 inches from the current 12 inches.
  
  
  
  
• Adopting a recreational season running from July through October.

This story was originally published June 7, 2016 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Federal fisheries council looks at harvest and seasonal changes for spiny lobster."