FWC Proposes Change to Lobster Traps Rule

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) on Thursday proposed a draft rule amendment to help control the number of traps allowed in the commercial spiny lobster fishery.

{sidebar id=1}The proposed rule amendment would end the moratorium on the reduction of lobster trap certificates and reduce the number of trap certificates by 10 percent when individuals sell or transfer their certificates to someone outside their immediate family.

The number of traps used by commercial lobster harvesters in Florida grew rapidly until the early 1990s, when a program was implemented to reduce the number of traps in the fishery. The goals of this program included reducing user conflicts on the water, lowering the mortality of undersized lobsters used to attract legal-sized lobsters, increasing the yield of lobsters per trap, and reducing trap debris that can harm the marine environment.

Commercial lobster harvesters are required to have a certificate for each trap they use, and there have been several mandated reductions in the number of certificates that have been issued since the trap reduction program began in 1993. The FWC estimates that the total number of lobster traps used in the fishery has dropped from about 940,000 to about 490,000 today.

The FWC set a goal of approximately 400,000 traps in the lobster fishery; however, a moratorium was placed on further trap reductions in 2004 to give the Commission time to reevaluate the management of the fishery.

A lobster industry group recently recommended allowing the trap reduction moratorium to end as scheduled on July 1, 2009, and begin a “passive” trap reduction instead.

This action would help continue to decrease the total number of traps used in the lobster fishery and benefit both the fishery and the sensitive South Florida habitats where lobsters are harvested.

A final public hearing on this proposed rule amendment will take place in February in Destin.

This article originally published on December 7, 2008.

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