COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS - as of January 1998 (last modified - December 31, 1997)
Fork length: Tip of snout to fork of tail
Curved fork length: Tip of the upper jaw to fork of tail measured along the contour of the middle of the body
Carcass length: Curved measure from posterior edge of gill opening to anterior portion of caudal keel
Total length: Tip of snout to tip of tail
Dressed weight: Fish has been gutted and the head and fins removed, but is otherwise in whole condition.
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ADDITIONAL REMARKS: |
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Stone Crab |
Stone crab traps must have a biodegradable panel, and must be permanently marked with their Florida stone crab permit number and color or their federal number and color. |
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Spiny Lobster |
Only diving, bully nets, hoop nets, and traps not to exceed 2'x2'x3' allowed. Bycatch of 5% allowed with trawls. Removal of spiny lobster tail allowed only when fishing exclusively in the EEZ on a trip of 48 hours or more, and requires a tailing permit. |
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Cobia (ling) |
Drift gill nets are prohibited. |
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Allowable Octocorals |
Allowable octocoral means an erect, nonencrusting species of the subclass Octocorallia, except the seafans Gorgonia flabellum and G. ventalina, plus the attached substrate within 1 inch of an allowable octocoral. Note: An octocoral with attached substrate exceeding 1 inch is considered to be live rock and not allowable octocoral. |
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Tuna - Bluefin |
Allowable gear: rod and reel (including downriggers), handline, harpoon, bandit gear, purse seine nets. Incidental catch allowed with purse seine nets, fixed gear, traps, longline. |
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Tuna - others |
Allowable gear: rod and reel (including downriggers), handline, harpoon, bandit gear, purse seine nets, longline, and drift gillnet. |
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Billfish |
Retention prohibited on longline and driftnet vessels; must be released in water alive. |
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Swordfish |
Allowable gear: only drift gill nets less than 2.5 km, harpoons, and longlines may target, other gear is incidental catch. (dressed = gutted, headed and finned.) |
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Reef Fish |
Sea basses, grunts and porgies in the Gulf of Mexico are removed from federal management effective January 29, 1998. After that date, they may be subject to adjacent state regulations, even if caught in federal waters. |
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Sharks |
Large Coastals: Small Coastals: Pelagics: Illegal to remove the fins and return remainder of shark to sea. |
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COMMERCIAL PERMIT REQUIREMENTS: (Earned income qualification criteria apply to mackerel, reef fish and shark permits.) |
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Permit |
Required For: |
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Spiny lobster federal vessel permit or Florida commercial harvester license and certificates |
Florida commercial harvester license and certificates required for harvest or possession in excess of the bag limits in the EEZ off Florida or to land or sell in Florida. Federal vessel permit required for harvest or possession in excess of the bag limits in the EEZ other than off Florida or sale other than Florida. |
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Spiny lobster tail-separation permit |
Possession of a separated spiny lobster tail in or from the EEZ aboard a vessel. Also requires a spiny lobster federal vessel permit or Florida state license and certificates. |
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Mackerel vessel permit |
Harvest of king or Spanish mackerel under quota and in excess of the bag limits. A proposal for separate permits for king mackerel and Spanish mackerel, and a king mackerel permit moratorium, is under review by NMFS. |
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King mackerel gillnet endorsement |
Harvest of king mackerel in the Florida west coast subzone using a gillnet. Also requires a mackerel vessel permit. |
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Reef fish vessel permit |
Harvest and sale of all reef fish listed in the Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan under quota (where applicable) and in excess of the bag limits (where applicable), except jewfish and Nassau grouper (for which all harvest is prohibited). Issuance of new reef fish permits is under a moratorium until December 31, 2000. Existing permits are transferable. |
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Red snapper license |
Required in addition to a reef fish permit to harvest red snapper commercially. A Class 1 license is needed for a 2,000 pound trip limit. A Class 2 license is needed for a 200 pound trip limit. Red snapper licenses will initially be issued during January 1998 for the commercial season that opens February 1, 1998. No additional red snapper licenses will be issued, but red snapper licenses are transferable. |
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Fish trap endorsement |
Required in addition to a reef fish permit to harvest reef fish using fish traps. No new fish trap endorsements are being issued. Existing fish trap endorsements are transferable through February 7, 1999. Thereafter, endorsements are non-transferable except to another vessel owned by the endorsement holder, immediate family members or in case of death or disability of the endorsement holder. After February 7, 2007, all fish trap endorsements become invalid and the use of fish traps to harvest reef fish will be prohibited. |
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Aquacultured live rock permit |
Possession or harvest of cultivated live rock. Appropriate Florida state permits are also required to land live rock in Florida. Wild live rock possession or harvest is prohibited. |
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Allowable octocoral permit |
Harvest or possession of allowable octocoral, other than allowable octocoral that is landed in Florida. Appropriate Florida state permits are required to land allowable octocoral in Florida. |
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Atlantic bluefin tuna permit - General category Atlantic bluefin tuna permit - Charter/headboat Atlantic bluefin tuna permit - Harpoon boat Atlantic bluefin tuna permit - Purse seine boat Atlantic bluefin tuna permit - Incidental catch |
Vessels must have one of these permits to sell Atlantic bluefin tuna. Separate quota and gear restrictions apply to each category. An Atlantic bluefin permit will not be issued for more than one category. |
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Tuna (other )permit - Commercial Tuna (other )permit - Charter/headboat |
Vessels must have one of these permits to sell albacore, Atlantic bonito, bigeye tuna, skipjack tuna or yellowfin tuna.(An Atlantic bluefin permit, shark permit, or swordfish permit is also valid to harvest "other" tuna.) Purse seine harvest is restricted to those vessels with Atlantic bluefin tuna permits that reported landings of "other" tunas during 1989-1993. |
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Swordfish vessel permit |
Commercial harvest and sale of swordfish under quota. |
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Shark vessel permit |
Harvest and sale of sharks listed in the management unit of the Atlantic Sharks Fishery Management Plan under quota and in excess of the bag limits. |
Applications for permits may be obtained from National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Regional Office, Koger Building, 9721 Executive Center Drive, St. Petersburg, Florida 33702 (telephone 813-570-5326), except for tuna permits, which may be obtained by dialing 800-USA-TUNA..