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Florida's Conservation Model Works

By FRANK SARGEANT The Tampa Tribune

Published: Aug 3, 2007

People, wildlife and wild fish usually don't mix well. With Florida growing at 1,000 people per day for years, it would seem likely that populations of all wild creatures here would be in severe decline.

But oddly enough, that's not the case, thanks to more than a quarter-century of careful fish and wildlife management, strongly backed by a conservation-minded public. This notably includes hunters and anglers, who are what is known as "consumptive users," that is, they take the game and fish they want to protect - seemingly a paradoxical situation.

But the model has worked amazingly well here, with outdoors people among the strongest lobbyists for habitat conservation as well as effective fish and wildlife management rules.

To be sure, the reason tight fishery harvest rules have been needed in many cases was because anglers, along with commercial fishermen, were taking too many fish. But with a strong conservation ethic now firmly in place and commercial pressures pushed offshore by the 1995 constitutional amendment banning gill nets, stocks of most fish have come back strongly.

It's probably safe to say that snook fishing is as good as it has been in more than 30 years. This is the result of ratcheting down regulations step by step. With rules about to be put in place, there will be seven months of closed season on the Gulf Coast, a one fish daily bag limit statewide and a "slot" or allowable harvest that is only five inches wide on the Gulf, four inches on the Atlantic. Fish that are smaller or larger than the slot cannot be harvested.

Redfish Are Plentiful

Redfish are a similar story. There was a complete shutdown on harvest in the late 1980s, followed by elimination of commercial harvest, a one-fish bag limit and a tight slot that have put more big redfish in state waters than most thought possible. Thirty years ago, it was rare to catch a redfish more than 18 inches long, but today it's rare to catch one smaller than that. And a continuing state sponsored stocking program, headquartered on Tampa Bay, has put millions of hatchery-spawned reds into the waters to add to the natural stocks.

Tarpon, once killed by the thousands for tournaments and taxidermy, are now protected by a $50 permit required for possession. Today, fewer than 100 per year are killed. As a result, there are more and bigger silver kings, season after season.

Huge kills of Spanish mackerel in commercial nets were ended some 20 years ago, and now there are vast schools of mackerel available year around along much of the Gulf Coast. The average size of the fish has more than tripled.

Water quality is probably an even more important issue than fishery regulations in terms of maintaining healthy fish and aquatic life populations. Surprisingly, Tampa Bay is doing very well in that area despite the enormous growth around its shorelines.

Water: Cleaner And Clearer

Thanks to greatly improved sewage treatment over the last 25 years, the water is much cleaner and clarity has increased dramatically. That has resulted in a re-growth of seagrass in many areas where it had died out between 1950 and 1980.

And, Tampa Bay has one of the most active shoreline restoration programs in the nation, with thousands of acres of productive wetlands being created on former industrial wastelands.

The combination of cleaner water, more shoreline and increased vegetation means a vibrant food chain, which results in more and bigger fish.

Even manatees, formerly an endangered species, appear to be thriving thanks to decades of protection, including dozens of slow speed zones for boaters. The numbers have more than doubled over the last 25 years, and the state Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission recently removed the gentle giants from the endangered list.

In fresh water, the state fishery managers began enlightened harvest regulations about 15 years ago, reducing bag limits and putting slot limits in place. Fisheries throughout the state have responded with far better fishing for quality bass.

Problems Still Exist

The science of lake-level management largely evolved in Florida in the 1980s by state fishery biologists. Today, that system, drawing down water levels and letting the bottom solidify, has proven effective in dozens of lakes here and in other states.

Not to say that there are not still enormous problems in water quality, particularly in the Kissimmee and St. Johns river chains. These issues are direct results of development, both agricultural and residential.

Though progress is being made in some areas (the recent drought was a big help), restoring clean water to massive areas such as Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades will take decades and hundreds of millions of dollars. And along the coast, the threat of red tide, perhaps increased by urban runoff, is ever present with the solution not yet in sight. Research is under way on many fronts, however.

In short, for a state undergoing long-term growth on a scale rarely seen anywhere in the world, Florida's fisheries and its watery habitat are generally doing very well.

That continues to make it a great place for boaters, anglers and all who love the shore.