NEWS RELEASE

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

November 3, 1997

CONTACT: CONTACT: Fred Cross (850) 265-3676

GFC TO HOLD PUBLIC FORUM NEAR LAKE TALQUIN

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is holding a public forum on Nov. 13 at Fort Braden Elementary School near Tallahassee to receive public comment on a proposed statewide rule change that would reduce the daily harvest of black crappie from 50 to 25 fish per angler.

Currently anglers can keep 50 panfish a day including bluegill, black crappie, redear sunfish (shellcracker), spotted sunfish (stumpknockers), warmouth and redfin pickerel, individually or in total. The proposed regulation would remove crappie from the aggregate bag and establish a separate 25 crappie per day limit, while the panfish limit of 50 per day (excluding crappie) would remain the same.

The public may also use this forum to discuss other fisher ies issues in the region. These might include: Merritt’s Mill Pond bag and size limits for redear sunfish, bag limits for white bass, or the need for a change in size limits for largemouth bass in Lake Talquin after the 1997-98 drawdown.

The meeting is scheduled for 6 - 8 p.m. EST in the school’s cafeteria. It is an open house style meeting so the public can come at any time during the two-hour period to provide comments. FWC fisheries biologists will be on hand to answer questions and the public is encouraged to attend.