Conservation: Feeling the Squeeze in the Race for Space

Port Canaveral charter fishermen are feeling the impact of area's expansion of rocket launches and cruise ships.

April 23, 2025 By Ed Killer

Ed Killer is Managing Editor of Florida Sportsman magazine.

Across half of central Florida almost any day of the week, all anyone needs to do is to turn their eyes toward Cape Canaveral on the horizon. There’s a reasonable chance one will see a rocket launch. Sure, the launches don’t light up the sky with fire and smoke, or shake the ground a few minutes later, like the powerful old Space Shuttles of the 80s, 90s and early 2000s. Still, even the smaller rockets of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) kindle wonder, imagination and our drive to explore inside many of us who get to witness these events.

In this part of the Sunshine State, it’s become obvious a new space race is underway. Launch frequencies are at an all-time high and growing—156 are scheduled to take flight in 2025, according to the Florida Today newspaper, kicking in $1.5 billion to Florida’s economy. Increases in cruise ship sailings, cargo operations, commercial shrimping and longlining, military submarine movements, and the recreational fishing fleet’s daily charters are forcing changes to Port Canaveral’s flexibility and business plan.

SPACE RACE IS NOW RACE FOR SPACE

Scheduled rocket launches impact fishing captains and crew earning a living. Daily, they steer clients—who hail from every corner of the world—to a few hours of fishing memories reeling in dolphin, kingfish, sharks, snapper, tarpon, redfish and tripletail.

Charter fishing is never easy. Several factors impact a captain’s decision on where and when to fish. Weather, wind, sea state, tide and current are uncontrollable and keep vessels at the dock about 100 days a year. Angler availability and fish migration patterns are also variable, but captains have a little control on where they can fish. Until recently.

Prior to every launch from Cape Canaveral, the U.S. Coast Guard posts a “launch security zone” and “launch danger zone” advisory to mariners. Cruise ships and cargo vessels must stay in port or at sea. The Coast Guard and U.S. Space Force, stationed nearby at Patrick Space Force Base in Satellite Beach, would rather not have fishing boats traversing through these zones two hours before and just prior to a launch.

Zones are clearly marked daily for each launch, even including latitude and longitude to delineate, based on each rocket’s planned trajectory. Red danger zones printed on the digital maps often cover inshore and nearshore waters including the southern Mosquito Lagoon, northern Banana River Lagoon, parts of the Indian River Lagoon and the nearshore waters of the Atlantic Ocean including the port itself. A larger blue zone often extends eastward for 10 to 100 miles into the ocean. The Coast Guard advises on its “Space Operations Rocket Launch Advisory” website that “mariners are advised to remain clear of all zones during time of activation.”

To be fair, the Coast Guard sets the zones to help protect mariners from falling debris or rocket launches that go awry. Imagine being engaged in a 20-minute tug-of-war with an 80-pound amberjack when a sizeable chunk of space junk careens into an angler or takes out a vessel. The publicity from that kind of collision would spread further than news of another Tesla battery fire.

Enforcement, however, is variable, according to Capt. Gregg Rapp of Sea Leveler charters in Port Canaveral.

“I’ve got to put my people onto fish, so I roll the dice a little bit,” Rapp said, adding that he has yet to be told by the USCG to move from or avoid an area he wants to fish. “I have yet to get in trouble.”

Relentless charters of Port Canaveral owner Capt. Scott Bussen did have an instance where he was told to move.

“We had a Black Hawk helicopter from Space Force drop messages to our boat telling us to move a couple of miles one time. A couple of other times we were radioed by Coast Guard to move from our spot,” Bussen said. Sometimes payloads for the rockets may determine the size or shape of a hazard zone, Bussen added. Sometimes boaters are told they can’t go north from the inlet, for example.

“I expect those restrictions to increase with Elon turnin’ and burnin’ once a week now,” he said.

“The need to build and improve space ports is critical to national security, economic competitiveness, and our future work force. We need space activity to support our everyday lives with communication, navigation, weather forecasting, financial transactions and agriculture,” Neal told NBC News.

It often comes down to the money, as usual. And leadership at Port Canaveral and state and county elected officials have dollar signs in their eyes.

Captain John Murray, Port Canaveral CEO, in his “State of the Port” annual address in November said that 2024 was the first year the port became a “$1 billion enterprise.” Among the most interesting statistics, he delivered the following figures for upcoming fiscal year 2025:

$175 million from cruise industry
$24 million from cargo sector
$12 million from non-ship revenue
16 homeported cruise ships
8.4 million passenger movements
1,030 cruise ship calls
728 cargo ship calls
12 million tons of commodities and fuels

To Murray’s credit, he’s working on solutions that include both recreational and commercial fishing sectors.

“It’s getting harder for fishermen to make a living. They go where the fish are, and if the fish are in the security zone and they can’t go in there, then it hurts their business. We’re looking for ways to streamline that,” Murray told Viera Voice.

Rapp isn’t hitting the panic button yet, but he says charter fishermen and recreational anglers need to remain vigilant and connected to the process. That can be tricky because anglers are often dealing with many issues simultaneously. For example, a pending federal 3-month closure of all bottom fishing from Melbourne to the Georgia state line immediately springs to mind.

“We don’t want to be a thorn in their side, but when they have a port meeting about the zones, fishermen need to show up,” Rapp said. “People who don’t charter fish don’t realize we can’t just go south if they close off us going north. We have to go where the fish are.”

Mike Krenn, vice president of the Florida Sport Fishing Association, a recreational fishing club on Florida’s Space Coast, said the hazard zones imposed by USCG haven’t had much of an impact on his trips—yet.

“Sometimes they’ll shut off going north for us for 15 miles out or so. It impacts your day a little, but we work around it,” Krenn said.

Additional space needed for cruise ships could start squeezing out fishing businesses. In 2023, the port authority targeted Bluepoints Marina—which includes a 560-berth, 150 mph wind-rated dry storage facility and 26 wet slips—for development as a cruise ship terminal. Plans are tabled for now, but Murray said he's working to find room for the marina elsewhere at the port.

As for the charter fishermen, attend port meetings and have meaningful, rational conversations with local leadership. It’s the only way to be sure your needs are met regarding security zones. To check current launch hazards visit www.navcen.uscg.gov/chart.

Proposed 10-Knot Speed Restriction Rule Withdrawn

Anglers who fish out of Canaveral and other ports in Northeast Florida were justifiably alarmed by a NOAA proposal in 2024 to implement a 10-knot speed limit over much of the offshore fishing grounds during the North Atlantic right whale migration season. Recently, the proposal was withdrawn.

The Center for Sportfishing Policy, based in Baton Rouge, LA, was among groups opposing the measure, which would’ve brought vessels of 35 feet or larger down to slow speeds for 20 miles or more—essentially prohibiting access to the world-class wahoo trolling and other fisheries. NOAA had deemed larger vessels as potentially problematic when it comes to right whale collisions.

The CSP called the Biden Administration’s initial ruling “misguided” and “a zealous pursuit” and were very happy to see it withdrawn.

“Its sweeping, overly restrictive measures—issued without consultation with affected stakeholders—threatened to disrupt livelihoods of coastal communities, anglers, boaters and all who enjoy America’s public waters,” said Jeff Angers, Center for Sportfishing Policy President. “It was a deeply flawed approach that ignored the advanced marine technologies available to better protect marine mammals.

“We strongly encourage the federal government to work alongside stakeholders on a science-driven plan that genuinely protects the North Atlantic right whale, supports the sustainability of our oceans and ensures public access to America’s public waters.” It’s worth pointing out that NOAA already has in place certain regional/seasonal restrictions on large vessels which may pose a strike risk to the whales, and issues recommendations for all mariners. A 500-yard buffer must be given any North Atlantic right whale observed.

Right whales generally are seen along the Florida Atlantic coast between mid-November and mid-April, after which they migrate north out of our waters.

There’s a free Whale Alert App easily downloaded to a phone or tablet; the app includes updated whale sighting icons which can help boaters steer clear of areas the whales are frequenting—or post an extra vigilant lookout. App users may also post sightings. Download it in the app store or email info@whalealert.org for more information.