# Florida Gigging Ban Being Pushed



## bowdiddly (Jan 6, 2010)

Guys,
I read an article in the latest edition of Florida Sportsman magazine about the flounder fishery and there is an effort by some in the state to petition FWC to ban gigging, both recreational and commercial.
I agree that some changes need to be made in the size and bag limit for both, but the commercial limit is currently "Unlimited" and I did not know that either or never looked into it.
Please help protect this long standing Gulf Coast tradition by providing your comments to FWC at the link below and then select flounder. 






Saltwater Public Comments


Saltwater Public Comments




myfwc.com


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

I hope They will never completly ban the take. I have been complaining about to much being taken. I have also proposed complete closure for 3 years in the months of Nov, Dec and January. This would allow the fall spawn to occur. And yes I have been as responsible as anyone for the decline.


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## LY-zer (Jan 16, 2019)

It is unfortunate that we need legal limits to regulate things like this for locals. It would kill me to know a resource is being wasted by way of greed or ignorance. If we all just take what we need to use then this would not be a huge issue. It sickens me to see commercial fish being tossed out in stores because it wasn't purchased, just so a yankee store can say they offer Gulf Red Snapper. What a waste.


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

Commercial fishing puts fish available to everyone. The commercial industries are regulated almost perfectly. And when flounder become regulated a little more they will also be available to everyone again in a few years.


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

sealark said:


> Commercial fishing puts fish available to everyone. The commercial industries are regulated almost perfectly. And when flounder become regulated a little more they will also be available to everyone again in a few years.


Put more sustainable fish on the commercial market. Mahi, for example. Not everyone needs to be 'entitled' to have every kind of fish there is. I don't want to render locals unable to catch walleye in Maine so I can go buy some walleye here. Allowing commercial boats to deplete the resource so that people who actually live here can't enjoy the resource seems wrong to me.


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

Surf, Every species is and always will be available for recreational and Commercial. I have been through the haydays of the 50s decline of the snapper of the 70s. Now look at the Snapper, with sensable regulations. Commercial and Recreational. Get the facts.


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

sealark said:


> Surf, Every species is and always will be available for recreational and Commercial. I have been through the haydays of the 50s decline of the snapper of the 70s. Now look at the Snapper, with sensable regulations. Commercial and Recreational. Get the facts.


Tell that to the land "species" not allowed to be commercially harvested! Farm raised, yes. Commercially harvested wild, NOPE! Any animal species on the planet open to commercial enterprise can and will be wiped out if not stopped in time!


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## X-Shark (Oct 3, 2007)

When I was giging we self regulated.......A 12in fish is legal, but we wouldn't take any or tried not to.....if a newbe was on the boat the'd get excited and stab it............ Anything under 14in. There just isn't enough meat on a 12 or 13in to justify the harvest.


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

X-Shark said:


> When I was giging we self regulated.......A 12in fish is legal, but we wouldn't take any or tried not to.....if a newbe was on the boat the'd get excited and stab it............ Anything under 14in. There just isn't enough meat on a 12 or 13in to justify the harvest.


Yes, I am self regulating myself also by not going hopefully they will put some restrictions during the spawn in the fall. Gonna try again now that the spawn is over get a few for the freezer.


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## LY-zer (Jan 16, 2019)

Use shrimp for example. When I was a child there were at least 10 shrimp boats out in the bay every morning. I have heard there is still a few but I cant remember the last one I have seen in the bay. Was that over fished by rec fishermen?


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

LY-zer said:


> Use shrimp for example. When I was a child there were at least 10 shrimp boats out in the bay every morning. I have heard there is still a few but I cant remember the last one I have seen in the bay. Was that over fished by rec fishermen?


No shrimp isn't overfished and Never will be. 
Shrimp only live about 8 months. They go and spawn then go out into bay when they get to size to have spawned the season is opened. Catche all you can because all the shrimp left will die. Next season that last spawned shrimp will spawn and enter the bay. An endless totaly controled and regulated cycle. Plenty of shrimp year around.


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## Tail Chaser (Jun 22, 2008)

sealark said:


> No shrimp isn't overfished and Never will be.


Never say Never ! If one thing has been proven at all through the years; it is that We as Humans can screw anything up!


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## Oceandweller (May 15, 2016)

sealark said:


> Commercial fishing puts fish available to everyone. The commercial industries are regulated almost perfectly. And when flounder become regulated a little more they will also be available to everyone again in a few years.


How the #'s are way down. I have seen a ton of people catching barely limit in size the last 5-10 years while prior to 08 people were hammering 20+ in the 16-18+ range with quite a few doormats which you RARELY see anymore.


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## Oceandweller (May 15, 2016)

I also wish they would go with an 18" flounder limit on size and maybe consider allowing 2 undersize fish 14" or above. That would solve much right there. I personally think we need to aquaculture flounder, Specs, shrimp, and baby blue crabs and release them into Mobile, Perdido, and Pensacola over the reef areas to get the #'s up. That or stop fishing them because the #'s are down HARD.


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## Oceandweller (May 15, 2016)

Here is a good read Blue crab stock declines are concern for Gulf Coast fishermen (video)


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## bigtee (Jan 1, 2018)

I think pushing a ban is going too far but I know they are looking at closing the season for late October and November and upping size limits and reducing bag limits. Hopefully this is enough to keep them happy and we don't see more regulation.


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## WRM (Jul 31, 2012)

Chef Paul decimated redfish near singlehandedly way before there was an interweb. Now, every time somebody posts anything, 40 new people rush out to "do that, there". Regulators were nearly always way behind the curve long before our insta society, so they best get to steppin if they are going to do anything now. No regs for so long was real damn stupid.


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

LY-zer said:


> Use shrimp for example. When I was a child there were at least 10 shrimp boats out in the bay every morning. I have heard there is still a few but I cant remember the last one I have seen in the bay. Was that over fished by rec fishermen?


No...fuel prices killed shrimping...and so many were being caught plus imported from China that the price of shrimp went way down, while the price of diesel tripled and quadrupled.


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## WRM (Jul 31, 2012)

And can you recreational shrimp trawl in the bay--nope! Used to enjoy that too.


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

WRM said:


> And can you recreational shrimp trawl in the bay--nope! Used to enjoy that too.


Welcome to part of the net ban recreational fishermen voted for. Your nets were not equipped with turtle shooters and fish shooters nor rollers on the chain line...items you demanded...and got. Recreational trawls were too small for a turtle shooter ( turtle exclusion device) to fit, so there was no way to make a recreational trawl net legal.

Be careful what you ask for...you just may get it.


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## Walton County (Aug 23, 2016)

kingfish501 said:


> Welcome to part of the net ban recreational fishermen voted for. Your nets were not equipped with turtle shooters and fish shooters nor rollers on the chain line...items you demanded...and got. Recreational trawls were too small for a turtle shooter ( turtle exclusion device) to fit, so there was no way to make a recreational trawl net legal.
> 
> Be careful what you ask for...you just may get it.


This may have affected around 100 people that can't reasonably recreationally trawl. The merits of the overall net ban have a much greater impact on 90% of the folks that fish the bay systems.


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## WRM (Jul 31, 2012)

kingfish501 said:


> Welcome to part of the net ban recreational fishermen voted for. Your nets were not equipped with turtle shooters and fish shooters nor rollers on the chain line...items you demanded...and got. Recreational trawls were too small for a turtle shooter ( turtle exclusion device) to fit, so there was no way to make a recreational trawl net legal.
> 
> Be careful what you ask for...you just may get it.


Yep, you well may. I never noticed a commercial fisherman or backer group ask for any significant eco sustaining reg to be placed on them, but maybe they have. I have seen them fight them tooth and nail, hammer and tong, however. Sometimes you gotta ask for some help and just take the good with the bad. 

We (being the world, not just you and me) are depleting the resources in the ocean (and elsewhere) just as surely as ice is melting that didn't used to DURING OUR LIFETIME. There is good, solid research that many points in the oceanic food chain are in jeopardy. Even if we weren't actively doing it, ya pretty much gotta have krill in the ocean to support significant life. As the oceans warm, start saying bye-bye to them. That's not tomorrow or next week, though. Geologically and universally speaking, our lifetimes (even on the multi-generational level) don't really mean jack shit. We are a speck of dust, on a dust mite's ass. Ever read Horton Hears a Who? We'll be gone (or at least mostly so--like cockroaches) long before the sun burns out and goes supernova. That process will take so long, we may even have a chance to rise again before it happens. Doubt we'll be any smarter about things that time around either. Who knows? I sure don't. But, I've got no problem saving a turtle or ten. Hopefully, a few of them will still be swimming when we are gone and our condos are long since swept away by hurricane winds blowing though empty dunes.


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

WRM...you do know that krill exist in EVERY ocean and sea...right? Even in the Caribbean and also in the equatorial bands of the Pacific and the Atlantic. 

Also...that the earth goes through cyclic stages of extreme cold ages (Glacial) and extreme warm age (Inter Glacial). Earth has always done this....long before man existed and will do the same long after man is gone.


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## WRM (Jul 31, 2012)

I am aware of that, thanks. Krill is what forms the basis for life in all the oceans and seas of the world. My point was a warming of the seas is endangering that system. Many of the top of the food chain species we like to devour don't range in the oceans and seas you mention so, so what? What I did not say (and you seem to assume I did) was: OH MY GOD WE HAVE TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING, NOW! GREEN NEW DEAL! HAIR ON FIRE! SAVE US AOC, PLEASE!

We ain't stopping shit on a global basis. I kind of thought that was the point of what I wrote, but maybe it was just too obtuse. There also is good evidence we may yet have a global ice age before we really have to be concerned about "death" by global warming. Which theory is right--I dunno. Again, we ain't stopping shit. It's about like the Titanic: you can turn it a little bit in a short time span but your still gonna whack that iceberg. Our efforts (which geologically and universally are WAY in the short time span) at affecting climate on a global basis would be pitiful, at best. So, party on, Wayne.


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## WRM (Jul 31, 2012)

And why on a fancy sponsored board like this is there no "hair on fire" smiley?


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

Actually, krill contribute to global warming. The photoplankton krill feed on break down CO2 in the water, back into oxygen and free carbon. The krill eat the photoplankton, not only stopping the process, but then emit more CO2 themselves...and the CO2 in the ocean is what scientists are saying will kill mankind...plus it turns the ocean acidic.

Little shrimp have a master plan to become the dominate species.


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

WRM said:


> And why on a fancy sponsored board like this is there no "hair on fire" smiley?


Same reason they took all our other smileys away. Too violent for them?


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## WRM (Jul 31, 2012)

kingfish501 said:


> Actually, krill contribute to global warming. The photoplankton krill feed on break down CO2 in the water, back into oxygen and free carbon. The krill eat the photoplankton, not only stopping the process, but then emit more CO2 themselves...and the CO2 in the ocean is what scientists are saying will kill mankind...plus it turns the ocean acidic.
> 
> Little shrimp have a master plan to become the dominate species.


I never said they didn't. What living thing not in the plant species on this planet doesn't contribute some CO2 in some process or fashion or some other chemical or compound that works "negatively"? We were dying the day we were born. So is the planet. Don't know when. Doubt it's tomorrow. Guess if JoePa wins and he now makes the Reagan gaffe of saying the missiles are launched it could end in a few weeks. We'll see on that one, I guess.

As far as I'm concerned the krill pretty much jump started it all, so they might as well get it back.


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## WRM (Jul 31, 2012)

@````````` best hair on fire I can create


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## WRM (Jul 31, 2012)

For that matter, we are killing the planet with this board. Server farms maintaining all this crap forever are the landfills of the new age. They consume a voracious amount of energy keeping all our bits and bytes cool for posterity. Maybe 10,000 years from now someone (some thing or some being) will "mine" that landfill and marvel at how pathetic and odd we must have been!


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## 69Viking (Oct 30, 2008)

That ice age you mention might come sooner than you think, the Midwest is shattering cold and snow records for October this week. Minneapolis had 8" of snow two days ago shattering the old record of 3"! Just wish some of that cool air would filter South, going to be sitting in the deer stands in shorts this year at this rate! This past week of mid to upper 80 highs hasn't done much to help cool the Gulf either so no doubt we have at least one more tropical system in the Gulf before the season ends or maybe after the season ends! Off topic I know LOL!


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## WRM (Jul 31, 2012)

69Viking said:


> That ice age you mention might come sooner than you think, the Midwest is shattering cold and snow records for October this week. Minneapolis had 8" of snow two days ago shattering the old record of 3"! Just wish some of that cool air would filter South, going to be sitting in the deer stands in shorts this year at this rate! This past week of mid to upper 80 highs hasn't done much to help cool the Gulf either so no doubt we have at least one more tropical system in the Gulf before the season ends or maybe after the season ends! Off topic I know LOL!



Don't I know it! I've had issues the last two years out West with snow. Last year was terrible. Got there and they could never recall having snow on the ground starting from Oct 1 and three storms already. I got my camp set up, had a 3 day window before a real bruiser was coming and left to spike camp. Got spike set up and snowflakes started blowing past my shelter. Checked the weather--sure as shit, total forecast change and the next day was going to snow me in on top of the mountain. Alan Strum was not involved, but I bet it was his cousin. Tear everything down and hike out and drive off the mountain before I couldn't until...spring? I watched two nice mulie bucks about a half mile further in for 5 minutes before I left, but I never could have gotten one out alone in those conditions. 

Weather has been happening for millennia. It's really hard for us to make solid predictions based on "changes" we observe over 20 or so years. But, I have a 24 hour Circle K across the street from me, and, when I wake up to blue lights rolling on my ceiling at 3 am, I don't need Keanu Reeves to tell me something is afoot at the Circle K (watch Bill & Ted, the original, if you don't get it). 

There's "stuff" happening in the biosphere/atmosphere that has some affect on our climate. What exactly that means--who knows? Not the Democrats nor the Republicans, for damn sure. I have seen several studies and programs that go into issues with the Greenland ice sheet. Meltwater is accelerating at an alarming pace, augmented by black ice. That basically greases the skids, so to speak, for huge pieces of the sheet to slide off intact. Some say, so what? Take a look at how much ice is involved. Take a guess what's been safely trapped in that ice. Stuff that's bad for us, that's what! It's a tipping point and world changer, eventually. When is "eventually"? Who knows. Can we stop it? I doubt it. Slow it? Maybe, a little. But for how long and at what cost? AOC sure don't have the answer. Similar issues with tundra that is starting to thaw. It's going to release bad stuff that has been trapped by permafrost for..... well forever, as far as we're concerned. We still live in caves, temporally speaking, in comparison to the forces at work here. Those forces don't care about us. They'll continue to cycle over millennia long after we are gone and forgotten. 

I am prepped for hot weather hunting. I AM NOT a KUIU fanboy, but I'll give them a shoutout on this:Tiburon shorts in new Valo pattern. Man do those shorts ventilate! I'll be wearing those with long socks and short boots; probably most of archery. Or I could be bundled up in 2 weeks. Ya never know. 

And, this thread might benefit from some off topic!
.


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## specktackler57 (May 15, 2011)

Damn you long winded ain’t ya


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## WRM (Jul 31, 2012)

Skip reading it.


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## 69Viking (Oct 30, 2008)

WRM said:


> Skip reading it.


I thought it was great, had me LMAO!


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## WRM (Jul 31, 2012)

Without punctuation, I didn't know if he was telling me or asking me. But, I'm not making money on it--so skip it.

Summary: Shit is happening. No one knows exactly what or why, or how to effectively address it."No one" does in fact include: Dems, Republicans, Trump, Biden, Pelosi, AOC. Get you some Tiburon shorts. And a parka from somebody.


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## WRM (Jul 31, 2012)

Hopefully, that is direct and concise enough.


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## Catchemall (May 8, 2018)

And I thought this thread was about a flounder gigging ban. Silly me.


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## WRM (Jul 31, 2012)

Catchemall said:


> And I thought this thread was about a flounder gigging ban. Silly me.


In a very roundabout way, it is. We got off on a krill farts subthread. But, flounder eat things that ate krill. Might even eat krill themselves in the Gulf. Krill will be affected when the ice sheet slides off. Thus, flounder will be affected.


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## WRM (Jul 31, 2012)

Plus I heard Tiburon shorts are made from flounder skin and ground krill.

Just read post 36--it was my summary--and move on.


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## Bigwill4life (Mar 3, 2009)

I had a friend go out on a local flounder charter with afew adults and several teens but he said that on that charter atleast 8 undersized flounder were taken by the teens 13 to 15 years of age and after the flounder was killed and measured to be undersized it was thrown overboard like it was no big deal. My thoughts are if this happens afew times a week times 52 weeks a year how many fish are truly wasted do to negligence? I know not every charter captain will let this happen but if it does and the captain raises a fuss over the short fish how many repeat customers will he have. At the end of the day we all have to do our part in order for our children's,children to have the experience that we all love so much FISHING!!!!!


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