N.C. adopts striped mullet plan with weekend commercial harvest bans
Published onBEAUFORT The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission, during its meeting last week in the Beaufort Hotel, voted unanimously to adopt tough new harvest restrictions for the striped mullet fishery. Read more
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N.C. group disputes need for tougher mullet rules
Published onMOREHEAD CITY With three N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) advisory committees set this week to make recommendations for changes in the striped mullet management plan, a trade and lobbying group for commercial fishermen is still saying tougher restrictions on the fishery are not needed. Read more
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National Fisherman Highliner: Jerry Sansom
Published onFor nearly half a century, Sansom has been the voice for and a face of the individual commercial fishermen in Florida as the longtime executive director of the Organized Fishermen of Florida. His 2022 award as a National Fisherman Highliner recognizes his lifelong work. Growing up in the Pensacola area with its big history of commercial fishing for generations, Sansom says that heritage was the basis for his decades of advocacy. Protect the resource so you always have it there, and guarantee access to the commercial side and consumers, said Sansom. These are public resources, and everyone should have access to it. Fishermen and colleagues say Sansoms efforts are why their community has survived in Florida, despite net ban campaigns of the 1990s and continuing political and development pressures. Whether working with fishermen or politicians, Sansom was always straight-up with his answers and recommendations, as well as outlining options ...
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Slayer Skiffs: Multi-role boats for Gulf fishermen
Published onSlayer Skiffs are hard to find on the used boat market. Its a tool, says Slayer Skiff builder Mike Vernese. Why would anyone get rid of a tool that works? Vernese has been building the Slayer Skiff in his Perry, Florida, shop since 2012, when he made a swap for the mold with Mark Moore of Port Saint Joe. Says Vernese, He (Moore) said, You build me a couple of shrimp boats and dont kill me on the price, you can have the mold. Vernese had a bit of a shock when the mold arrived at his shop. It was in bad shape, he says. It was made of woven roving - you never want to use woven roving on a mold - and it was thin and floppy. I called him up and told him, this mold is a mess. I can make your boats but they aint going to be ...
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Florida fishermen work with NMFS to track red tide
Published onAnother eruption of red tide on the southwest Florida coast has brought fish kills and public health advisories to beaches, and commercial fishermen are pitching in the help scientists map out the effects. Fishermen who work offshore of the Tampa Bay region are providing oceanographic data to NMFS Southeast Fisheries Science Center, as part of the centers ongoing collaboration with the Florida Commercial Watermens Conservation. The non-profit group is dedicated to science-based water quality testing and marine stewardship, founded and operated by commercial fishermen in response to devastating red tide blooms of the last five years. The group trains and outfit fishermen with water monitoring kits, for its mission to quantify the environmental and oceanographic conditions before, during, and after red tide blooms to better understand their dynamics and provide timely decision-support to increase the resilience of fishermen and fishing communities on the west coast of Florida ...
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Fisherman returns to court to overturn Florida net ban
Ballot initiatives are routinely challenged in court, but Ronald Crum may hold the record for persistence – he’s been in and out of court over Florida’s 1994 net ban for the past 25 years. While awaiting a ruling, after a November appearance before Second Circuit Court Judge Kevin Carroll, in Tallahassee, he was confident that his efforts would soon be rewarded. “I’m gonna prevail, I can tell you. They might as well get ready for it,” said Crum. “My attorneys say there’s no way we can lose the case.” Fishermen needn’t dust off their old gear, which stretched up to 2,400 feet in length before voters limited their nets to just 500 square feet. Crum, who stocks “over 3,000 rods and reels” at his Panacea sport-fishing shop, has no problem with the smaller net’s dimensions – his beef is with the legal mesh ...
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Weather challenging Florida mullet boats; prices remain low
Karen Bell, owner of Star Fish Seafood Co. market and restaurant in Cortez, Fla., hasn’t been enjoying as much of her favorite fish as she’d like. It’s been another down year for mullet. Bell and others along the Florida coast blame the weather for dampening their spirits and the harvest of not only mullet but grouper, shrimp and other seafood since this time last year. “Back to back fronts” are the culprit, according to Amy Wirtz, manager of Pelican Point Seafood in Tarpon Springs. “The weather has thrown entire fisheries off,” she says. Mullet fishermen may have been the most vulnerable lately because of the difficulty of navigating fairly high winds in small boats. While it has been a down year, it hasn’t been much worse — if at all — than last year. Markets are still paying about 65 cents a pound and anywhere from 50 to ...
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