1) Blue Crab License Fees, Penalties, and Trap Retrieval; Black Sea Bass Trap Retrieval; Counterfeit Lobster Trap Tags Penalty
This legislative proposal will resubmit SB 2490/HB 1345 from the 2006 Legislative Session. When the bill did not pass, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (Commission) extended the moratorium on blue crab commercial fishing in June 2005. The implementation of the effort management program in July 2007 is contingent on legislative action. The proposal establishes a hard shell blue crab endorsement fee of $125, a soft shell blue crab endorsement fee of $250, a displaced-netters blue crab endorsement fee of $125, an incidental take blue crab endorsement fee of $25, and a trap tag fee of $0.50 per tag. Fees generated would be used to fund blue crab research and blue crab management programs; however, $25 from the soft shell, hard shell, and displaced-netters endorsements, would be dedicated to funding the derelict trap retrieval program. Along with adding blue crab traps to the derelict trap retrieval programs already in place for the spiny lobster and stone crab fisheries, the proposal includes a fee of $10 for every blue crab trap retrieved by the program. The retrieval fee would be waived, however, for the first five traps belonging to a holder of a blue crab trap endorsement. The blue crab trap retrieval fees are consistent with those in the spiny lobster and stone crab trap fisheries. The proposal establishes administrative and criminal penalties for the commercial blue crab fishery: up to $5000 administrative fine, suspension or revocation of saltwater fishing privileges, and up to a 3rd degree felony. The penalties would apply for any judicial disposition other than acquittal or dismissal. These penalties would provide consistency with those in the stone crab fishery. They would also provide consistency with those in the spiny lobster fishery, subject to passage of the bill, which establishes an administrative penalty for counterfeit lobster trap tags (see below). Counterfeit Lobster Tags
The proposal establishes an administrative penalty of up to $5000 and a suspension of commercial saltwater fishing privileges for up to 24 months to be assessed for making or possession of counterfeit spiny lobster trap tags. This penalty would apply for receipt of a judicial disposition other than acquittal or dismissal. Establishing this penalty would provide consistency of administrative penalties with the stone crab trap fishery and with the requested administrative penalty for the blue crab trap fishery. Black Sea Bass Trap Retrieval Fees
The proposal adds black sea bass traps to the post-season derelict trap retrieval program including a $10/trap retrieval fee. 2) Sustainable Conservation Funding
This proposal would offer funding strategies to overcome projected budget deficits and pave the way to user-pay, user-benefit operations. The strategies include authorizing up to 10% of specialty license tag revenues to be used for marketing of the manatee, Florida panther, and largemouth bass specialty license plates; a check-off on hunting and fishing license purchases for voluntary donations; repealing the recreational saltwater fishing license exemption for shoreline fishing; and potentially increasing hunting and fishing license fees. The strategies are based on the strong conservation ethic of Florida's hunters and anglers and the desire of all Floridians to contribute to the natural resources they value. At current levels, budget deficits for Florida's conservation programs could approximate $12.6 million by FY 2010-11. The 2006 Legislature required that licensing state agencies explore self-supporting funding strategies to pay for agency programs in SB 1678 and FWC is utilizing this philosophy to demonstrate its need for additional revenues. Back to top
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