Official Fishing Regulations

[bullfighter]

I would like to compile a comprehensive index of saltwater fishing regulations. I want to focus on Florida, but I am also interested in federal regulations applicable to the Atlantic coast. I am interested in official statutes and regulations. Either recreational, commercial, or charter boat regulations. I realize the almost unlimited amount of regulations out there, but there is a wealth of knowledgeable people on this site, so any help (links to, or names of, the regulations) is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

John Chapman

[Another Grand]

I am interested in knowing this as well, as well as any rights a boater is entitled to. This is a good idea John.

[bullfighter]

Check you PM johnny.

[swordstalker]

HMS Guidelines
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/bro...ce%20Guide.pdf
June Revisions
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/Swo...ce%20Guide.pdf

[CAPTINMITCH]

Federal and State regs are pretty easy to find. What I'd like is a list of county regs. For instance, Broward county apparently limits the size of cast nets. I'll be damned if I can find the reg.

[bullfighter]

Captain Mitch:

I like it! Add regulations for county/city/block/street corner (you get my point) to the list. Anything specific to Florida or federal that people know of.

My motivation is that there are so many different regulations and competing jurisdictions out there, maybe it is time to simplify things.

[Uncle Buck]

Originally Posted by CAPTINMITCH

I'll be damned if I can find the reg.

Well then, I guess you'd better not find it.

[Tal-Jen]

The regs that they go by is the most stringent. If that is the fed regs, then that is the one that is in effect. If it is the state, then that one is the one that they follow.

[bullfighter]

Tal-Jen:

Right on. I know that the regs say the most strict laws apply. But I think some kind of guide (it may have to be volumes of books) should be created that breaks all the regs down by county. You have laws for HMS, other palagics, inshore, recreational, commercial, etc.

I regularly fish in at least four different counties, and sometimes that is in one trip! If you have all these conflicting, ambiguous, regulations it gets difficult to keep track of whats going on, no matter how dilligent you are.

So, I am testing the waters to see whats out there, and then maybe create a plain english guide of the regs. But this may be impossible because there are so many of them. We will see.

[LIGHTINING STRYKER]

international law I belive is derived from the magnuson stevenson act which is part of the treaties signed by several countries. that govern palagic fisheries worldwide.The chapmans book also is a good sorce of boating rules.The way I understand it I.C.A.T. which is comprised of recs. comm. an scientists come up with a game plan then that plan is givin to our federal government then they turn into a legal format.then after it is passed into law it is handed down to people like the N.M.F.S FWC. etc to impliment and enforce sometimes this takes a year or more. There are a couple of people on this site that hold seats they could probably give you more info.

[Tal-Jen]

Bullfighter, Your best bet would to be to call someone from the different agencies and ask them. Don't forget to get their names in case you have a problem later. If you do then you can say that so and so said to do this or that. This has gotten me out of a bind before.

[Big Squid]

My brother is an attorney and he is currently researching this very topic for a friend of his who is writing a book about it. You would be very supprised about what you can get in trouble for. Ignorance of the law is no defense but after speaking with my brother about his research, I think I am pretty ignorant. If I can get some things out of him that are not common knowledge, I will pass them along but I know a lot of the stuff he was currently researching had to with what you can and can't do in the Bahamas and what you can and can not bring back from the Bahamas.

[bullfighter]

Big Squid: check your p.m.

Tal-Jen: good idea.

L.S.: I believe you are correct.

[RiskTaker]

John:

I suppose you will compiling the John Chapman's guide versus the latest Chapman's Manual.

Here are few spots to have bookmarked:

FWC Law and Code Manual

Highly Migratory Species

Recreational Stone Crabbing Information

Fishing Areas - Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes :->2007->Chapter 370 : flsenate.gov

2001 CFR Title 34, Volume 1

and if you want to have Bahamas:

The Bahamas Experience


And one for Captain Mitch: Now pass me that boat drink because you cannot successfully use your computer with only one hand.

Municode.com |Online Library

http://www.municode.com/resources/ga...id=10288&sid=9

Sec. 13-3. Use of nets in salt waters prohibited; exception; penalty.
(a) No person, firm or corporation shall use or cause to be used any net or nets in the salt watersof Broward County, Florida, for the purpose of taking or catching fish, provided that this sectionshall not apply to a common cast or throw net which is not in excess of seven (7) feet in length.
(b) Anyone violating any of the provisions of this section shall be fined in the sum of notexceeding five hundred dollars ($500.00) or by imprisonment not exceeding six (6) months or byboth such fine and imprisonment.
(Sp. Acts 1949, Ch. 25714, §§ 1, 2)
Editor's note: Section 13-3, prohibiting the use of nets in the salt waters of the county except for a common castor throw net that is not in excess of seven (7) feet in length, and providing a penalty, was derivedfrom Sp. Acts 1949, ch. 27414. This act was repealed by a § 2(5)(a) of ch. 83-134, Laws of Fla.,and was continued in effect as a rule of the Department of Natural Resources upon theappointment of the marine fisheries commission created by § 1(1) of ch. 83-134.


Oh this should be fun.... Zen and the art of Craftful Law Yerring

[bullfighter]

RT/Swordstalker: Thanks

Ron/BBP: anything to add?

[Nick C]

Originally Posted by CAPTINMITCH

For instance, Broward county apparently limits the size of cast nets. I'll be damned if I can find the reg.

Throwing a net in Broward is like crossing the street... aways look both ways before you throw

[Myctophidae]

Half of the people that own a net don't know how to throw it anyways.

[espada]

Originally Posted by Nick C

Throwing a net in Broward is like crossing the street... aways look both ways before you throw

Stay within the legal limits and know the laws and you do not have to look over your shoulder.The laws are made for a reason so respect them!

[Nick C]

I would like to know the reasoning for the 7' net law in broward? Laws are laws and I respect them... but this is one I don't get.

[RiskTaker]

Nick C:

Well I do not know for sure if I know the reasoning for this county ordinance but let me tell you a story from my youth.... this goes quite a ways back to 1969 or so. I cannot recall whether Hurricane Camile had already whacked the Mississippi gulf coast or not, as that was where my grand-daddy was living prior to that event, recently retired Capt. of the U.S. Army.

Anyway, my grand-daddy and grandma were down here in south Florida visiting his daughter, my mama, and somehow we were invited to go out on a commercial fishing boat with one of the family members. I think this was in Fort Pierce where one of my extended family uncles lived and worked. He was a knarly looking fella with rough skin, not the neatest clothes and his teeth were not in perfect shape.

I recall passing by a bridge close to the inlet with uncle "Cliff" , not sure if I can remember his name vividly, but he was positioned up front with a very large cast net, draped all over his body and some was held by what his front teeth were worth. (In the daytime)

Cast away! After he threw the cast net, and after some time, somehow he pulled the net aboard the aft of the vessel. Once the net was cleared away, there was a substantial load of fish slapping away on the deck. These were nice fish, not just bait fish such as pilchards. I recall lots of lookdowns and mullet and I cannot remember all the rest. He only made one throw from what my memory recalls, but who knows, maybe he made a 1/2 dozen casts. I was young at the ripe age of 4-5.

Needless to say, it may not take too many repetitions of the same events just recanted to you before the supply of fish at a localized haunt can take a beating, especially in rapidly expanding cities such as Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach, with newly sliced up canal ways and such. The same story was likely back then as we are grappling today with freshly expanding fishing pressure. So many big cast nets being tossed by the commercial fisherman and the recreational fisherman alike, from his newly constructed water front home. And Voila, formidable fishing pressure in concentrated places.

Maybe we should limit the general angler to a 7 foot net? Perhaps the same questions were raised 50 years ago or so when these regulations first went into effect. The fishing activity has certainly not let up any since then. And that's the way it was Springtime, summer or fall of 1969, with your host RT.

And maybe if the internet holds up for another 50 years and Mike G. gets an endowment to keep these SFC journals alive and on the web for future generations, perhaps these tales can be told an exchanged for several generations to follow.

Now wouldn't that be a Pirate's booty of tales to tell?