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THE FWC REGIONAL BAY SCALLOPS

SEASON MAP FOR 2022

To better understand where these areas are, here is the official FWC Scalloping Season Map

🐬  Additional Bay Scallop Season Dates Are As Follow— To Be Announced 

• St Joseph Bay/Gulf County:   Dates:  Aug. 16 through Sept 24.  This region includes all state waters from the Mexico Beach Canal in Bay County to the westernmost point of St. Vincent Island in Franklin County.
• Franklin County through northwestern Taylor County Including Carrabelle, Lanark and St. Marks  
  Dates:    July 1 through Sept. 24. This region includes all state waters from the westernmost point of St. Vincent Island in Franklin County to the mouth of the Fenholloway River in Taylor County.
• Levy, Citrus and Hernando counties (including Cedar Key, Crystal River and Homosassa): July 1 through Sept. 24. This region includes all state waters from the mouth of the Suwannee River in Levy County to the Hernando – Pasco County line.
• Pasco County:  Open for 10 days starting the third Friday in July (July 16-25, 2021). This region includes all state waters south of the Hernando – Pasco county line and north of the Anclote Key Lighthouse, including all waters of the Anclote River.

🐬  Other Regulations  —  

• Scallops may be collected by hand or with a landing or dip net.
• There is no commercial harvest allowed for bay scallops in Florida.
• Direct and continuous transit of legally harvested bay scallops is allowed through closed areas. 
• Boaters may not stop their vessels in waters that are closed to harvest and must proceed directly to the dock or ramp to land scallops in a closed area.
• For information on bay scallop regulations, visit MyFWC.com/Marine and click on “Recreational Regulations” and “Bay Scallops” under the “Crabs, Lobster and other Shellfish” tab. 

🐬  Boater And Scalloper Safety  —  

• Be safe when diving for scallops. Wear a life jacket when underway and do not drink and boat. 
• When scalloping in open water, divers should stay within 300 feet of a properly displayed divers-down flag or device, and within 100 feet of a properly displayed divers-down flag or device if on a river, inlet or navigation channel. 
• Boat operators traveling within 300 feet of a divers-down flag or device in open water or within 100 feet of one on a river, inlet or navigational channel must slow to idle speed. For more information, visit  MyFWC.com/Boating/Regulations and click on “Divers-down Warning Devices.”

🐬  Stow It, Don’t Throw It —

• Don’t forget to stow your trash securely on your vessel so that it doesn’t blow out and do not discard empty scallop shells in the Homosassa or Crystal rivers. 
• Scallop shells may be discarded in a trash receptacle or in larger bodies of water where they are more likely to disperse.
• Done for the day? Help FWC’s scallop researchers by completing an online survey at svy.mk/bayscallops. 
• Harvesters can indicate where they harvested scallops, how many they collected and how long it took to harvest them. Participants can email BayScallops@MyFWC.com to ask questions or send additional information.
• Learn more about how FWC scientists monitor Florida’s scallops by visiting MyFWC.com/Research and clicking on “Saltwater,” “Bay Scallops” and “Bay Scallop Season and Abundance Survey.”

 Florida Keys Spiny Lobster Regulations Brochure

👉🏼  LobsterBrochure.pdf     DOWNLOAD ANDSAVE

  

—  Stone Crab Season  —  

🐬  Requirements for Recreational Traps 

• Recreational fishers age 16 and older (including those normally exempt from needing a license) are required to complete an online, no-cost recreational stone and/or blue crab trap registration before using stone or blue crab traps.
• To register, visit GoOutdoorsFlorida.com and add the Recreational Stone Crab Trap Registration or the Recreational Blue Crab Trap Registration to your fishing license account. 
• Upon completion, each person will receive unique trap registration numbers that must be included on each trap along with the owner’s full name and address. Registration numbers for stone crab traps will begin with the letter “S”; registration numbers for blue crab traps will begin with the letter “B.” This information must be legible and must be permanently attached to each trap.
• This no-cost registration will allow FWC to collect important information about these recreational fisheries needed for future stock assessments and management decisions.   
• Harvesters under 16 are not required to register but still must mark their traps with their name and address.

🐬  Regulations

Minimum Size Limit: 2 7/8 inches; only claws may be harvested.
Daily Bag Limit: 1 gallon of claws per person or 2 gallons per vessel, whichever is less. Harvest from egg-bearing crabs prohibited.
State Waters Harvest Seasons: Open Oct. 15 - May 1 (closed on May 2)  Traps may be placed in the water 10 days prior to the opening of the season, but once placed, you may not tend to the traps until the start of the season, at which time you may begin harvesting

🐬  Gear Requirements — 

• Legal Gear: stone crab trap (max. 5 per person), dip or landing net
• Illegal Gear: Any device that can puncture, crush or injure the crab body, such as spears, grains, grabs, hooks or similar devices.

 🐬 Trap Specifications — 

• Maximum trap size is 24 inches by 24 inches by 24 inches or a volume of 8 cubic feet
• Traps can be made from either wood, wire or plastic
• The throat or entrance must be 5 ½ inches by 3 ½ inches
• Throat must be no larger than 5 1/2 by 3 1/8 inches in Collier, Monroe and Miami-Dade
• If the throat or entrance is round, it cannot exceed 5 inches in diameter
• Round throats prohibited in Collier, Monroe and Miami-Dade counties
• The trap must have a degradable panel that is 5 ½ inches by 3 ½ inches and is made of cypress or untreated pine slat no thicker than ¾ of an inch
• Wire traps must have at least three unobstructed escape rings (2 3/8 inches in diameter) located on a vertical side of the trap.
• NEW: A 2 3/16” escape ring will be required in all plastic and wood stone crab traps by 2023/2024 season. The escape ring must be located in the lower half of the trap and immediately adjacent to the vertical centerline of the trap wall on which it is installed. 
  An escape ring may not be located adjacent to any corner where two vertical trap walls meet.
• Harvester's name, address, and unique receational trap registration number must be permanently affixed to each trap and legible
• The buoy must be no smaller than 6 inches and must be marked with a legible “R” that is at least 2 inches tall.
• Buoys are not required if trap is fished from a dock.

🐬  Trapping Regulations

• Traps must be pulled manually (not by a trap-puller). Any vessel that is rigged with a trap-puller will be considered a commercial vessel and the appropriate licenses will be required.
• Traps must be pulled only during daylight hours.
• Traps must not be placed in navigational channels of the Intracoastal waterways, or in navigational channels maintained and marked by any county, municipal, state or federal governmental agency.
• Special regulations apply for traps and this species when in Biscayne National Park.

Several recreational and commercial stone crab regulation changes go into effect in the next few weeks, just in time for the Oct. 15 season start date. Florida’s stone crab fishery has experienced a long-term decline in harvest and is likely undergoing overfishing.  FWC staff worked with stakeholders on these changes that are intended to increase the stone crab population and build resiliency in the fishery. 

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/FLFFWCC/bulletins/2f5898d #Florida #fishing 

 

Stone crab season  

FWC waives 2022-2023 commercial stone crab trap tag requirements in affected counties

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has filed an Executive Order to waive the commercial stone crab trap tag requirements in Northeast and Southwest Florida for the remainder of the 2022-2023 license year. 

This waiver is intended to help stone crabbers impacted by Hurricane Ian return to business as soon as possible. Effective immediately, commercial fishermen licensed to harvest stone crabs with traps are not required to affix trap tags to their traps in state and federal waters off St. Johns, Putnam, Flagler, Volusia, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties. Trap tags are still required on commercial stone crab traps in all other state and federal waters off Florida. 

This waiver extends through the end of the 2022-2023 commercial stone crab harvest season, including the 15-day post-season trap removal period.

Brevard-Palm Beach Blue Crab Trap Closure Ending Early —  Recreational and commercial blue crab traps may be placed back in all waters of Brevard through Palm Beach counties starting Aug. 14. This regional blue crab trap closure applied to all waters of Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin and Palm Beach counties. 

Lost and abandoned blue crab traps are a problem in the blue crab fishery because they can continue to trap crabs and fish when left in the water. They can also be unsightly in the marine environment, damage sensitive habitats and pose navigational hazards to boaters on the water. Closures such as this give groups authorized by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) the opportunity to identify and retrieve lost and abandoned blue crab traps from the water.

This closure is one of three regional, 10-day blue crab trap closures in 2022 on the Atlantic coast of Florida. There are six regional closures total: three in odd-numbered years on the west coast and three in even-numbered years on the east coast.

Recreational Trap Registration  —  As a reminder, all plastic and wood stone crab traps will need to be outfitted with a 2 ³/₁₆-inch escape ring before the 2023/2024 season. 

• Recreational harvesters who are age 16 and older and fish with traps are required to complete an online, no-cost recreational stone crab trap registration each year. To register, visit GoOutdoorsFlorida.com, sign in, click the “Click here to get a License!” tile, scroll down to the “Saltwater Fishing” section, and select “Recreational Stone Crab Trap Registration.” 
  
• Upon completion, each person will receive unique trap registration numbers that must be included on each trap along with the owner’s full name and address. This information must be legible and must be permanently attached to each trap.
  
• Care should be taken when removing the claws so as to not permanently injure the crab.   Claws may not be taken from egg-bearing stone crabs. Stone crabs may not be harvested with any device that can puncture, crush or injure a crab’s body. Examples of devices that can cause this kind of damage include spears and hooks. 
  
• Recreational harvesters may take a daily bag limit of 1 gallon of claws per person or 2 gallons per vessel, whichever is less, and may use up to five stone crab traps per person. 
  
• Recreational and commercial traps may be baited and placed in the water Oct. 5 but traps may not be pulled and claws may not be harvested or possessed until Oct. 15. 
• Traps that are not being fished should be removed from the water to avoid ghost fishing, a process in which marine species get caught in the trap for extended periods of time and are not harvested. 
  
• Stone crab regulations are the same in state and federal waters. 
  
• The minimum claw size limit will be 2 ⁷/₈ inches (an ¹/₈ inch increase)  — 
  
• Possession of whole stone crabs on the water will be limited to two checker boxes, each up to 3 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet OR a total volume of 24 cubic feet. 
  
• Checker boxes are used to hold crabs onboard a vessel before they are measured and legal-sized claws are removed.
• Upon completion, each person will receive unique trap registration numbers that must be included on each trap along with the owner’s full name and address. This information must be legible and must be permanently attached to each trap.
•  For more information on harvesting stone crabs for recreation, trap specifications, commercial stone crab regulations and licensing information, go online to MyFWC.com/Marine. 
• Keep up to date with saltwater and freshwater fishing regulations on your phone by downloading the Fish Rules app in the App Store or Google Play. Learn more at FishRulesApp.com. 
• The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recently adopted the new rules in response to a 22 percent decline in landings since the late 1990s, likely a result of overfishing and environmental factors like red tide, hurricane-related trap loss, warming waters, and declining water quality. Meanwhile, dockside prices have skyrocketed.
  
• Here’s a rundown of the new rules that the commission developed, after numerous public workshops and in consultation with an industry-led advisory committee:
  
• The harvest season will open Oct. 15 as usual but will close on May 1 instead of May 15. State fisheries scientists and some crabbers agree shortening the season will protect egg-bearing females that are now being trapped in increasing numbers in April and May.
• The minimum claw size limit will be increased by 1/8 inch to 2 7/8 inches.

Not All Agree To The Changes —  “The changes are needed to rebuild the stock and the resiliency,” said Krista Shipley of the state Division of Marine Fisheries Management. “A combination of management changes would have the largest possible benefit.”

But not all stone crabbers agree. Kelly Kirk of the Florida Stone Crabbers Association urged commissioners to hold off on new regulations while the world is still in the grip of the covid-19 health and economic crisis.  “Delay making these decisions until after the pandemic and more data is collected,” Kirk said.

More impassioned pleas spoke to the toll this and other crises has taken on commercial fleets.  “We as commercial fishermen have suffered greatly,” association member Holly Dudley. “We are faced with losing our livelihoods if these regulations are passed. If it isn’t Mother Nature working against us, it’s the state.”

Captain Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association, said a May 1 closure will benefit the fishery.  “If we shave the back side of the season to May 1, it will give us 360,200 pounds per year back in the stone crab biomass,” Kelly said.

04/24/2022   aljacobsladder.com https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=GovDelivery