TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - A restriction on fishing for red drum and snook was extended to next spring and will stretch north to Pasco County, as the state continues trying to limit impacts from a red-tide outbreak along the Gulf Coast.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission agreed Wednesday to extend until May 10 an executive order imposing a mandatory catch-and-release rule on red drum and snook.
The order has been in place for a month from Anna Maria Island to Naples. The commission also announced it is immediately ending the scallop season in Northwest Florida’s Gulf County, where red tide has recently appeared.
FWC Chairman Bo Rivard says the commission will pursue “innovative testing” to reduce the often-annual outbreaks of red tide.
“We’re putting our best foot forward to learn what we can from it and be better prepared next time," said Rivard.
The catch-and-release order, which was set to expire next month, now will be reviewed by the commission next May.
It covers waters from Naples north to the Pasco-Hernando County line. Commission Executive Director Eric Sutton says the action was taken with “an abundance of caution.”
“I certainly hope that the message is that ‘catch and release’ means you can still catch them, and you can. If you go out on those waters, you will see that it’s patchy," said Sutton. "There are places to still catch fish. We just want to make sure we are returning them back to the water to help with the recovery.”
Red tide produces toxins that kill fish, birds, sea turtles, manatees and dolphins and can cause neurotoxic shellfish poisoning in human.
The outbreaks occur in salt water and are separate from the inshore toxic blue-green algae that has plagued areas from Stuart to Cape Coral and has been tied to the release of polluted waters from Lake Okeechobee.
The current red tide problem is the longest since 2006, when an outbreak lasted about 17 months.
