The Gulf Stream off of Florida’s East coast and the DeSoto Canyon area off of the Florida Panhandle have been closed to commercial swordfish longlining for several years. The longlining ban has resulted in a dramatic recovery and increased abundance of sailfish, swordfish, dolphin and wahoo in these areas. But, under the guise of “research,” longliners are pressuring the National Marine Fisheries Management Service (NMFS) to open these areas to commercial longlining.

“Putting 13 large commercial longline boats into these protected areas under the guise of “research” and “fisheries data collection” is unwarranted, unnecessary, and bad public policy,” said Ted Forsgren, Executive Director of CCA Florida.

Forsgren added that, “The commercial longliners and the National Marine Fisheries Service have virtually the entire Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico to conduct the so called by-catch research –-they absolutely do not need to longline in the closed areas.

SEND YOUR STRONG OBJECTIONS TO:

Michael Clark
Highly Migratory Species Management Division (F/SFI)
Office of Sustainable Fisheries
1315 East-West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910
E-MAIL ADDRESS – SF1.030107C@NOAA.GOV
(Include this ID in email subject line I.D.030107C)