Published on: 20078047. The purpose and effect of this rule development notice is to address possible rule amendments for permit, pompano, and African pompano in the 2018 calendar year resulting from stock assessments, management or enforcement requirements, or to address amendments resulting from the agency’s comprehensive review of Division 68B.
Published on: 18446895. The purpose and effect of this rule development notice is to address possible rule amendments for permit, pompano, and African pompano in the 2017 calendar year as a result of stock assessments or management or enforcement requirements, or to address amendments resulting from the agency’s comprehensive review of Division 68B.
Published on: 17014593. The purpose and effect of this rule development notice is to address possible rule amendments for permit, pompano, and African pompano in the 2016 calendar year as a result of stock assessments or other management or enforcement requirements.
Published on: 15510705. The purpose and effect of this rule development notice is to address possible rule amendments for permit, pompano, and African pompano in the 2015 calendar year as a result of stock assessments or other management or enforcement requirements.
Published on: 14005847. The purpose and effect of this rule development notice is to address possible rule amendments for pompano, African pompano, and permit in the 2014 calendar year as a result of stock assessments or other management or enforcement requirements, or to address amendments resulting from the agency’s comprehensive review of Division 68B.
Published on: 12431052. The purpose and effect of this rule development notice is to address possible rule amendments for pompano, African pompano, and permit in the 2013 calendar year as a result of stock assessments or other management or enforcement requirements, or to address amendments resulting from the agency’s comprehensive review of Division 68B.
Published on: 12046738. The purpose of this rule amendment is to implement the original intent of previous rule changes, correct rule language errors, and eliminate sources of confusion in the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (Commission) pompano, African pompano, and permit rule. The Commission implemented new regulations for permit, Florida pompano and African pompano in August of 2011. These regulatory changes extended Florida’s regulations for permit and Florida pompano into federal waters, where they were previously unregulated. They also reduced the commercial permit fishery and divided the state into two separate permit management zones, reflecting differences in the recreational fishery around the state. Several technical issues have been discovered with the new rule language since it was implemented. Because of these errors, portions of the current rule do not reflect the Commission’s intent. When initially proposed, the new Special Permit Zone (SPZ) in the Keys overlapped with the existing Pompano Endorsement Zone (PEZ). Commercial harvest of permit was prohibited in the SPZ, but several exceptions were made in order to allow Pompano Endorsement (PE) holders to harvest, possess, and land permit taken as bycatch when targeting Florida pompano in areas where the SPZ and PEZ overlapped. However, the boundaries of the SPZ were modified prior to implementation and the overlap with the PEZ was eliminated, making these exceptions to the SPZ regulations unnecessary. Additionally, the Florida pompano daily sale limit would be modified by applying the limit to all commercial harvesters except those fishing in the PEZ under a PE, as originally intended. The current rule language incorrectly applies the 250-fish limit to PE holders, who do not have a daily bag limit for Florida pompano when fishing in the PEZ. Rule language changes would also clarify that the harvest of permit as bycatch with a gill net is only legal in federal waters.
The primary effect of this rule amendment is to eliminate confusion regarding the fact that commercial harvest and possession of permit in the SPZ is prohibited. The amendment would also eliminate potential confusion about the application of permit gear rules and allow all commercial harvesters of Florida pompano to sell their entire legal catch daily, as intended.