It started in 2005, to bring people together from different backgrounds to opine about Florida’s freshwater fisheries. Today, it’s an up- and-running Web site which updates stakeholders about future meetings and the latest FWC news concerning freshwater fisheries. See the site at www.myFWC.com/fishing/roundtable.

As part of the fisheries roundup, preliminary studies wanted to find out what was most important to freshwater anglers, and what they were most concerned about.

The following issues were most important to Florida’s freshwater recreational fishing community—point-source pollution, water quality, management of aquatic vegetation, managing non-native nuisance fish, habitat enhancement, conservation, recruiting and retaining future fishermen, increased access to fishing areas, and lastly, educating the general public about their impact on fisheries habitat.

The most important opportunities the agency should pursue to improve freshwater fisheries are habitat and water quality, pollution management, aquatic vegetation, better management of water levels, stocking more gamefish and greater enforcement of limit laws.

The most important threats facing freshwater fisheries are water quality, pollution, population growth and resulting overdevelopment, overfishing and release of non-native nuisance fish.

Stakeholders at the first official roundtable meeting in 2007 in Celebration included outdoor writers, university professors, fishing tackle manufacturers and retailers, fishing tournament sponsors and professional fishing guides. Items of interests from October included programs to prioritize fishing license renewal and an education grant from the Conservation Fun.