The Anna Maria Island Sun Newspaper

Vol. 15 No. 5 - November 26, 2014

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Mote hosts Fisheries Forum

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rusty chinnis | submitted

Captain Phil O’Bannon, from Boca Grande, came to
Sarasota to participate in the Fisheries Forum

On Thursday evening Nov. 20, I attended a Fisheries Forum hosted by Mote Marine Laboratory at the Keating Education Center. The meeting was geared toward anglers, but was open to anyone interested in the future of local fisheries. The forum is a partnership between the University of Florida and Mote and is funded by Florida Sea Grant. The goals of the forum are to brainstorm how such a forum might foster an independent, community-based discussion while informing fisheries management and science in a way that would help sustain Sarasota’s fisheries. Participants shared their ideas, knowledge, questions and comments.

The ultimate goal is to identify the health of the fishery and to ascertain factors that will enhance and sustain its vitality. This will be accomplished by taking advantage of local knowledge that can provide feedback to government agencies and researchers.

The meeting laid the groundwork for establishing a long-term Fisheries Forum for the Sarasota-Manatee area. Meeting leaders gave an overview of the concept and then participants worked in small groups to identify key local issues, discussing processes for creating and sharing information and recommendations.

According to a news release from Mote, “Saltwater recreational fisheries generate more than $6.5 billion per year for Florida’s economy, but they face increasing pressures from fishing, habitat changes and global climate change, along with natural challenges such as cold stress and Florida red tide. Populations of many key fish species have severely declined. Anglers and other fisheries enthusiasts play a critical role in supporting sustainable fisheries and uncovering new priorities for research and management. Many anglers already communicate with scientists and with government officials, but their insight, knowledge and creativity may be more powerful when collected, sustained and focused around a particular location.”

Recent research indicates that fisheries can successfully be restored. It has established that this can best be implemented by combining science-based fishery regulations, restoration, enhancement of habitats, fish stocks and encouraging stewardship of those who benefit from it.

“Our Fisheries Forums will bring together people who know and care about the fishery to have these conversations in a structured, enduring way — and it will really be place-based, focusing on fisheries issues in a local way that typically has not been done,” said Dr. Kai Lorenzen, a professor at UF in Gainesville, Fla.

“In Sarasota, it is ideal to have the forum hosted by our partners at Mote Marine Laboratory as they have been working with Florida anglers and serving as an independent source of fisheries information for over 30 years.”

Dr. Ken Leber, senior scientist at Mote, served as moderator of the Nov. 20 meeting. “Anglers and other fisheries stakeholders can be great ‘citizen scientists’ — many of them share our mission to better understand the status of our fisheries and work toward sustaining them,” Leber said.

“We were pleased to learn more from them about the place-based issues facing our fisheries, which will help us prioritize our research while empowering anglers to be even more effective in sharing what they know.”

Mote scientists guided the discussions on Sarasota Bay, while Florida Sea Grant led a related forum in Charlotte Harbor, which was conducted on Nov. 19. University of Florida scientists will continue to coordinate the development of Fisheries Forums, documenting the results and progress.

Overall the project aims to find ways to better engage people in fisheries issues through stakeholder meetings, interviews, surveys and public education. The ultimate goal is to expand the project throughout Florida for the good of fisheries statewide.

To get involved in the open community forums or to share your knowledge, ideas, suggestions and comments, contact Paula Clark at Mote Marine at pclark@mote.org or call 941-388-4441, ext. 691.


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