The December meeting of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission will be held December 11th and 12th in Panama City. On the agenda are several marine fisheries management items, including the final proposal for changes in spotted seatrout management.
Florida’s spotted seatrout fishery is currently managed in four geographic zones: Northwest, Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast. A stock assessment completed by FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute suggests that spotted seatrout are not meeting the Commission’s management target in some of these zones and that the population status is declining in all zones.
At the October 2019 Commission meeting, the Commission approved a series of draft rules intended to improve both the fishery and angler satisfaction. At the December Commission meeting, FWC staff will present a final rule proposal that incorporates input heard at and since the draft rule hearing.
The proposed changes of interest to anglers in the Gulf Coast Council (extreme northwest Florida) include:
– splitting the Northwest Zone into a Western Panhandle Zone and Big Bend Zone
– adjusting the slot limit in the WPZ to 15″-19″, with one over the slot limit allowed per day
– reducing the daily creel limit in the WPZ from 5 to 3 fish
– impose winter closures in the WPZ for the month of February
More information on the final proposal can be found by clicking on this link.
