The Record Setters®
20,449,673 pounds of black mullet were landed during 55,483 reported trips. In 2009, 10,308,202 pounds of mullet were caught on 23,837 trips using cast nets and legal seines. There are similar com- parisons in the data for sardines and Spanish mackerel. Commercial fisher- men received compensation to buy out their gear and job training to switch occupations. Many transitioned into aquaculture or began guiding recre- ational anglers.
The economic benefits of improved fish stocks have been a huge boost to the state’s economy. Data from the National
Marine Fisheries Service
shows that Florida’s recreational anglers spent $1.2 billion on trip expen- ditures and $9.9 billion on durable goods. That level of expenditure sup- ports
90.056 jobs. For fiscal years
2008/2009, more than one million indi- viduals bought a marine recreational fishing license (646,000 Floridians and 384,000 non-residents). More than 3,400 for-hire licenses were purchased, producing more than $1 million in rev- enue. Total
revenue for all marine
recreational fishing license sales was more than $29 million. In contrast, the commercial saltwa- ter fishing industry in Florida lands only $122.1 million in seafood, sup- porting $755.3 million in sales and 17,485 jobs. Capt. Mike Hakala, a guide and lure manufacturer in New Smyrna Beach, has watched the shift over the last two decades.
“I made the decision to go into guid-
ing based on the net ban vote. If it didn’t pass, I was going to change my career path because I didn’t see a future guid- ing inshore otherwise,” Hakala explains. Today the former tackle shop owner has a very successful lure business (Aqua Dream Living) in addition to his guide service. “The ban has been a boon to inshore fishing and the indus- try in general. There are tons of anglers fishing the flats now and that’s spurred phenomenal growth with tackle manu- facturers of all kinds and boats, too. After the ban you could find fish in the lagoon again and it was like the good old days were back.” Another lure manufacturer, Eric Bachnik, the chief executive officer of MirrOlure, has also noticed the im- provement on the opposite coast. “We fully supported the net ban
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effort and we’ve noticed the resurgence of fish stocks since it passed, especially for speckled trout, which is the mar- quee species for MirrOlure,” Bachnik says. “A little over a year after the ban
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went into enforcement, we started catching lots of trout on the West Coast. Within three years, 4- to 5-pound fish were not uncommon and that didn’t happen before the ban. Our fishery is now extremely healthy. Mullet stocks are up and commercial castnetters have no problem supplying the local market with a fresh, better quality product. We now enjoy Spanish mack- erel runs in Tampa Bay all summer long. They’ve also made a tremendous comeback, thanks to the ban.” Capt. Baz Yelverton is yet another net ban success story. The Gulf Breeze- based fly and light-tackle guide ran 177 trips last year despite the difficulties associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Yelverton worked the polls on election day in 1994 and has reaped the benefits of the ban since. “You couldn’t do a sight-fishing
guide service like I do before the ban,” he says. “The fishery just wouldn’t support it. Now, we’re seeing more mullet and menhaden in the bay than I’ve ever seen. That’s bringing in red- fish, tarpon, kingfish, everything. And pompano, there’s just no comparison. It’s not uncommon to catch double- digit numbers of pompano today. That was unheard before the ban. I see schools of hundreds now. Anyone who spends any time on the water realizes the impact of the net ban. It’s like night and day.”
CHALLENGES PERSIST Despite all the feel-good stories,
problems still exist. A commercial group filed another lawsuit in Decem- ber in an attempt to increase the seine mesh size to gill-net dimensions. Poaching is still common, especially around Sebastian, Chokoloskee and Manatee, Wakulla and Franklin coun- ties. FWC officers counter with arrests, like the one last September off Coon Key in southwest Florida where two Chokoloskee men were caught using a 400-yard monofilament gill net. The arresting officers found 70 live and dead pompano and ladyfish entangled in the net, with more fish dumped on the deck. An endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle was also found alive in the net. In another bust near Naples in March 2009, four men were arrested with 48,000 square feet of gill net and 4,000 pounds of fish.
“The FWC continues to do good
undercover work going after the major poaching rings,” Forsgren explains. “Once the third-degree felony rule
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