Department of Fish and Wildlife

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Mercury in fish: Inadequate advisory hurts consumers, state
Florida is a fish-eater's dream come true: the abundance and variety of fresh, succulent fish translates night-after-night into delectable meals. -- Yet that luxury is endangered by mercury, the unhealthy chemical that travels largely through the air and falls into streams, lakes and the ocean, where it enters the food chain. Changed into methylmercury by microorganisms, it is swallowed by bottom-dwelling fish, which are then eaten by other fish. Because mercury is persistent and bioaccumulative, the highest levels of contamination can be found in the larger fish, such as sharks, swordfish and large-mouth bass. -- The result is that a lot of the popular fish on the market today may have been exposed to mercury. -- Yet people don't know for certain if the fish they plan to eat is safe -- whether they buy it or catch it. Florida's methods of measuring mercury contamination and informing the public are inadequate and inconsistent. 7/23/02

Florida's catch o' the day not mercury-free
When Mike Thompson found an outdated brochure listing fish with high mercury levels in Florida, the old-time angler became worried about potential dangers of local fish he catches and eats. 7/21/02

Who is bigger nuisance, gators or newcomers? -It is time to stop the wholesale slaughter of alligators to placate hysterical Yankees who move to lakefront homes in Florida.
Now, I don't doubt there are mean gators out there that need to be turned into shoes. What I do doubt is that there were 7,279 of them last year, which is how many were whacked with the state's blessing.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has set up a system that encourages the killing of gators whether dangerous or not. 5/16/02

Marina proposal raises concerns in Franklin
Some residents say more boats will pollute waters ALLIGATOR POINT - Arvida's proposal to build a marina in eastern Franklin County was met with criticism Tuesday during an open house meeting. Arvida, The St. Joe Co.'s development arm, proposes building a marina as part of a gated community of 499 homes on 784 acres around Florida State University's marine lab near St. Teresa.

Lest we forget:
Florida's parks system facing a budget crunch

 

 News clips: updated 06/22/04

Ugly scenarios - adios ecoysystems!

OPS workers vital to FMRI

Privatization won't work in FMRI

Jones first woman to lead major Florida state police agency
TALLAHASSEE — Col. Julie Jones, Florida's new top conservation cop, will be the first woman to head one of the state's major police agencies. She will become law enforcement director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Aug. 9, the agency announced Friday. The commission's executive director, Ken Haddad, chose her from 26 applicants. 8/3/02

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

News clips:

(news clips have not been kept updated - check archives)

Foxes outfox Panhandle wildlife officials
BLOUNTSTOWN — State game officers have been outfoxed by three suspected animal smugglers and 96 red foxes in the Florida Panhandle. The foxes are on the lam in Calhoun County after tunneling out of an enclosure where they had been held after Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers confiscated the animals brought illegally into the state. 11/27/02

Reclassification of species delayed
PENSACOLA BEACH -- The reclassification of protected species, such as the bald eagle and gopher tortoise, will wait a few more months, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has decided. 9/7/02

State to test deer for chronic wasting disease - State wildlife officials will test 500 deer killed by hunters this year for chronic wasting disease.-- The disease has ravaged some deer herds in western states, but hasn't been detected in Florida 9/7/02

Wildlife officials block plans to restore Broward's beaches -... The $45 million project would widen 12 miles of beach using 2.5 million cubic yards of sand from offshore deposits. The work has created deep divisions between beach residents and businesses, including the new Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, concerned about erosion and environmentalists concerned about the impact on the reefs. 7/25/02

EPA's catch of the day: Anxiety
By Sally Swartz, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Celebrating clean water with poisoned fish. 7/24/02

Minnow-Size Fish Put Bite On Mosquitoes - HOMOSASSA SPRINGS - A larvae-loving fish is putting a big bite on mosquitoes in Citrus County.-- The mosquitofish, also known as gambusia, have been used for years. But the mosquito control office recently leased a hatchery in Hernando from the county and received stock fish from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. 7/23/02

U.S. to attack nasty snakehead fish
Interior Secretary Gale Norton plans to announce today the initial step in banning the Asian fish. -- the bizarre, voracious fish with razor-sharp teeth that has attacked people and has been found from Maine to Broward County. 7/23/02

New rules may snag grouper catch
New regulations would cut by 45 percent the amount of red grouper that commercial fishermen can take from the Gulf of Mexico. 7/22/02

Grouper crews fear new rules
Long-line rigs may be pushed farther into the gulf, beyond an overfished species. 7/11/02

Florida rivers could save Gulf sturgeon
By Jeff Nesmith, Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau
Seven rivers are proposed as refuges to help save the fish from extinction.6/14/02

Commission holds hearing in Dania on protecting ocean-- Dying coral reefs. Vanishing fish stocks. Commercial fishing ships that haul vast amounts of life from the oceans.-- 
These were among the concerns that brought about 40 recreational fishermen, divers and others interested in marine issues to a meeting on ocean policy at the International Game Fish Association Fishing Hall of Fame in Dania Beach. 6/10/02

Researchers plunge into fish `census'
How do you count all the fish in the sea? That's the challenge facing researchers conducting one of the most ambitious surveys of marine life ever undertaken off South Florida, a full-scale census stretching from patch reefs off Key Biscayne to coral forests in the Dry Tortugas 70 miles west of Key West. 6/10/02

Scientists find toxin in puffer fish in two rivers TITUSVILLE — Scientists investigating 13 cases of puffer fish poisoning have found a toxin in puffer fish in the Indian and Banana Rivers. 5/19

Park reservations
Numerous complaints have dogged the Florida Park Service since it switched its camping reservation system to Reserve America, a private concessionaire.

Panther refuge land is bought - A large slice of wilderness in Hendry County was purchased by the state Wednesday as part of a project to buy and protect land important to the Florida panther

Privatizing camping
The state Department of Environmental Protection, which runs the state's park system, has contracted with Ticketmaster to handle reservations for the parks.

Ticketmaster sets up camp
The company, the subject of consumer complaints, is hired by Florida to handle reservations at state parks.

State lowers protection status of woodpecker
The red-cockaded woodpeckers in the Apalachicola National Forest don't realize it, but state wildlife officials no longer consider them to be threatened. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Wednesday voted to continue steps to reduce the state's protective status of the bird, which timber groups blame for reduced logging in the national forest.

Florida to allow campers to use web to make reservations at parks - State parks officials are preparing to launch a new computer reservations system that will allow people nationwide to book and pay for reservations at state parks and campsites over the Internet.

One for the bears
A U.S. District Court order will oblige the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take another look at the plight of the Florida black bear.

Officer raised an alarm on `blacked out' patrols- Six weeks before the head-on collision that killed two Florida wildlife officers patrolling in the Everglades with their lights off, another officer sent a memo to her supervisor raising concerns about having to patrol ``blacked out'' in a rural wooded area without adequate radio contact

Experts worry about woodpecker, manatee
Manatee- and bird-watchers want the state to toughen rules protecting the manatee and red-cockaded woodpecker, contending both could be extinct before getting any protection from existing regulations. In the past three months, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has agreed to consider lowering the protected status of the manatee and red-cockaded woodpecker.

Species' endangered status at risk
First, a proposal by the state's wildlife agency to lessen the level of protection for a controversial woodpecker set the feathers flying among bird experts.

Red ink threatens wildlife agency
The commission will have to cut back its protection of endangered species if its finances don't improve, a report shows.

Too Many, Or Not Enough?
How many manatees is too many or not enough?- Believe it or not, that bizarre question is now confronting officials from federal and state governments and environmental, boating, fishing and marine industry groups. It's almost as strange as the medieval debates among theologians as to how many angels could dance on the head of a pin.

Endangered cranes glide to safety
CHASSAHOWITZKA - Six endangered whooping cranes made a safe landing at a wildlife refuge Monday, completing an experimental, 48-day journey researchers hope will help save the endangered bird. The birds ended their 1,200-mile journey behind an ultralight aircraft shortly after dawn. A seventh bird that had trouble staying on track arrived by vehicle.

Shark feeding banned
Commission says practice may alter natural behavior KEY LARGO - Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted Thursday to ban shark feeding, saying the practice by some scuba boat operators could be altering the animals' natural behavior.

Proposal could remove manatees from list of endangered species - The marine mammals have been protected for three decades, but a federal agency may change their status.

Agency releases manatee protection measures
The Fish and Wildlife Service's interim guidelines include dropping permit fees for waterside projects in manatee areas.

Manatee protection regulation dropped

Marine Lab needs FSU's protection
Florida State University's unique marine lab at Turkey Point is in an ideal location for not only academic study of marine life but the enjoyment of human pursuits as well.  

FSU official says marine lab stays
Development may be coming to eastern Franklin County, but the Florida State University marine lab at Turkey Point isn't leaving.

 

 

Ugly scenarios - adios ecoysystems!

Here is an ugly scenario. If agencies like the Florida Marine Research Institute in conjunction with FFWC get dismantled, what will happen to the health of our ecosystems? Can you imagine private for-profit companies protecting lands and waterways and doing vital research to manage wildlife populations? We all know how much clout the Florida Sportsman Magazine has with the legislators, (e.g. the net ban), essential they and other organizations will be in control of fish regulations. Imagine a fish stocking program greater than Texas just for the sake of catching more fish per effort. No science involved, or skewed science at the least. WE can say goodbye to commercial fishing and the seafood they provide, we'll be buying fish from regular anglers before long. And since the Manatee populations seem to be "booming" there will be no sense in regulating boat traffic or protecting seagrass beds. All of sudden, the effluent pipeline from Buckeye Papermill on the Fenholloway will seem like a grand idea because of private research. In my opinion, the sea levels can't rise fast enough to swallow up this mess!!
...Lacyfish 4/10/01

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So, Service First will limit OPS employees to 100 hours per month. 100 hours per month... 


Let's look at FMRI for a second. We've got 400 or so people employed with FMRI. A very large proportion of these 400 is OPS just like me. We are the ones who gather the info. We are the ones who do the legwork. We are the ones who know the regions of our state like the back of our hands and can walk in an out, gathering sensitive information without so much as a blink from the locals. 

We are the unseen part of FMRI that does the HARD work for low pay, no benefits, and no credit. As it is now, the creation of FTE positions is really an impossibility. We OPS in FMRI understand this (we don't like it, but we understand). We understand that it takes roughly twice as much money to create an FTE position as it does an OPS position. We understand that it takes a mountain of political hoohaw to create an FTE position. 

So basically, the way that I understand Service First is that the House and the Governor are saying "You can't have new FTE positions AND you can't have full time OPS people." 

How is this supposed to work? How is this not going to devastate FMRI? Will Service First make it easier to create FTE positions? Will Service First provide MORE money for FMRI (doubtful) to create said positions? These positions are needed! We aren't talking about 14 man crews of line painters on the interstate... We aren't talking about redundant positions that do nothing here... We are talking about every position with FMRI needing to be there, AND MORE! We have a huge mandate, to understand and educate about the condition of Florida's recreational fisheries, commercial fisheries,  seagrass, harmful algal blooms, coral reefs, manatees, right whales, water quality and more! We don't have enough people as it is!! We don't have enough resources as it is!!

 

How is this supposed to work?

 

How can you look me in the eye and say this is good for the state of Florida?
...am 4/6/01


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Privatization won't work inFMRI

We used a private firm when we first implemented our saltwater angler survey. The data gathered was unreliable because they had no formal training in identifying fish, etc. Currently, the majority of our entry-level employment are OPS. Cutting these jobs back to 100 hours while adding the FTE jobs to OPS is not even realistic to maintain our status as the best agency in the U.S. (FMRI). Whose is going to accept a part time position with no benefits? This is extremely serious. Our agency is charged with sustaining fish and wildlife populations. That simply will not happen with LESS people and LESS data.
...lacyfish; 3/26/01

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