NEWS RELEASE

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

December 10, 1997

CONTACT: John Crew (850) 892-8000

NEW REDEAR SUNFISH REGULATION TO START ON MERRITT'S MILL POND

The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) will begin Jan. 1 enforcing a new fishing regulation for redear sunfish on Merritt's Mill Pond in Marianna.

The FWC has established a 14-inch minimum size limit and a five fish daily bag limit for "redears," also known as shellcrackers, on the 202-acre fish management area.

This action to restore a failing fishery represents the first reduced bag limit or size limit on redear in Florida. Historically, Merritt's Mill Pond has been known for producing large redear sunfish. Seven state records and the current world record (4.86 pounds) redear were caught there.

Merritt's Mill Pond's habitat is unique to Florida in that it has extremely clear and hard water which supports a large snail population -- the primary food supply for redear. It is a world-class redear fishery as evidenced by the last two world records.

Following two years of intensive harvest during the early 1990s, the popularity of redear fishing declined as anglers began catching fewer and smaller fish.

"Our surveys show that harvest of redear declined 70 percent between 1992 and 1994," said FWC fisheries biologist John Crew. "This poor fishing was then followed by an extended two-year drawdown of the lake for dam repairs."

The poor fishing prompted local anglers to ask the FWC to do something to restore the redear fishery that made Merritt's Mill Pond famous.

Crew said the new rule will produce a trophy redear fishery by allowing fish to survive early harvest, live longer and utilize the abundant food supply to grow to a larger size.

"We expect the fishery to produce considerably larger redear within three years after this new regulation kicks in." Crew said. "We also will see some faster growing fish living even longer resulting in world-class sizes."

Fishing regulations for other species will remain the same.