The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) informed that it has passed rule amendments that will allow Florida commercial shrimp harvesters more ways to avoid the unintended catch of marine animals and protected sea turtles in their fishing nets. The FWC has required the use of bycatch reduction devices in shrimp trawls for more than 10 years.
It is told that these devices are designed to reduce unwanted fish in shrimp trawls by providing a way to let them and other accidentally captured aquatic animals escape through an opening in the trawl while still allowing shrimp to be harvested. As per the report the new rules will allow the use of bycatch reduction devices for shrimp trawls in Florida waters that have recently been cleared for use in adjacent federal waters.
The new rules also will automatically allow future federally approved bycatch reduction devices to be used in state waters. Shrimpers still will be able to use the Florida finfish excluder (fisheye) in inshore and nearshore state waters, along with several other federally certified shrimp trawl bycatch reduction devices in state waters. These devices have been required in shrimp trawls used off Florida’s coast for nearly 20 years and are designed to allow a turtle caught in a shrimp trawl to escape through an opening in the trawl.
