The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission will be further restricting the catch of Permit, Pompano, and African Pompano for both recreational and commercial fishermen. They will also be extending state rules into federal waters, which they are apparently allowed to do. According to the FWC, ‘potential spawning aggregation problems’ make it necessary to add new layers of regulations and restrictions in order to protect the three species….. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but hasn’t ‘potential’ become the favorite new word of fishery managers. The beauty is, that now we don’t need a real problem to make new rules, just a potential problem. I guess it’s another one of those mandates from the Magnuson – Stevens Act.
