FWC PROPOSES RULE TO MANAGE THE COMMERCIAL BLUE CRAB FISHERY
February 3, 2005
CONTACT: Lee Schlesinger (850) 487-0554
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) today proposed a rule designed to prevent overcapitalization of the commercial blue crab fishery by managing the number of participants in the fishery. The proposed rule, recommended by FWC’s Blue Crab Advisory Board, would limit the total number of commercial blue crab fishermen and allow each qualified fisherman to use an equal number of traps.
Key elements of the proposed plan, part of which will require legislative approval, would:
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Establish a hard crab endorsement and a soft crab endorsement, which can be associated with either an individual or vessel saltwater products license (SPL). |
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Establish qualifying and re-qualifying criteria. |
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Require trap tags with an annual fee of 50 cents per tag, and establish tag ordering criteria and a replacement tag program. |
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Establish an appeals board and criteria by which non-qualifying blue crab fishers could be allocated traps. |
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Establish the Blue Crab Advisory Board by rule, and set criteria for appointment to the board. |
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Prohibit the leasing or renting of endorsements, tags, or traps, and establish endorsement holder responsibilities. |
The proposed rule also specifies that blue crab endorsements will be transferable, and in order for a person to enter the fishery, the person must buy the endorsement and trap tags as a package from someone who is leaving the fishery. The person must also work no fewer than 14 days fishing for blue crab on the endorsement holder’s vessel.
In order to qualify for a hard crab endorsement, the proposed rule requires a minimum of 500 pounds of blue crab landings to have been reported on any one of a fishing entity’s SPLs during one of three qualifying license years (2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03). An entity may endorse multiple SPLs; however, any additional SPL requires a minimum of 7,500 pounds of blue crab landings to qualify. The proposed cost of this endorsement fee is $125 (includes a $25 trap retrieval fee).
Under the proposed rule, each hard crab endorsement would entitle the owner to fish up to 600 blue crab traps near shore, and an additional 400 traps offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, per endorsed SPL. A total of 150 soft crabs per endorsed SPL may be landed daily as bycatch. Fishermen can maintain as many as three shedding tanks without possessing a soft crab endorsement.
In order to qualify for a soft crab endorsement, the proposed rule requires a minimum of 750 soft shell (also called peeler) crabs to have been reported on any one of a fishing entity’s SPL during one of three qualifying license years (2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03). An entity may endorse one additional SPL; however, the additional SPL requires a minimum of 2,500 soft shell crabs to have been reported in order to qualify. The proposed cost of this endorsement fee is $250 (includes a $25 trap retrieval fee).
Under the proposed rule, the soft crab endorsement would allow up to 400 peeler traps to be fished. Entities with more than one qualifying SPL would be entitled to receive up to 250 additional traps with the additional endorsed SPL. The soft crab endorsement would also allow the holder to operate a blue crab shedding facility with greater than 3 shedding tanks.
The FWC will hold a final public hearing on this proposed rule during its April 14-15 meeting in Tallahassee. The endorsement and trap tag fees included in the proposed plan must be approved by the 2005-2006 Florida Legislature before new FWC blue crab rules can be implemented.
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