Florida Anglers Demand Abundance

“What I once saw with my own eyes, and fished every day, is so far gone that when I tell stories about it, it feels like I’m talking about something that happened 100 years ago. Anyone who has fished here for a minimum of 10 years can tell you there’s nowhere near as many fish as there used to be [especially for snook and redfish.]” ~ Capt. Rhett Morris

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The “Sunshine State” has always been the hub of the domestic fishing community. Angling technique and gear innovation stems from the southeast and spreads outward to the rest of the country. An entire generation of aspiring outdoorsmen and women from Maine to California spent their indoor hours binging shows like Walker’s Cay Chronicles with Flip Pallot. For many, “Florida equals fishing”, and rightfully so. The tropic peninsula hosts a wealth of dynamic angling environments, a 12-month fishing calendar and biodiversity with so many game species it’s hard to pick a target for a given trip. Florida captains are not shy when it comes to making headlines – and no, we don’t just mean the “Florida man” style. These captains are relentlessly defensive of their waterways – and if discharges or mismanagement threaten the balance of their ecosystem, you’d better bet you’ll see a local guide take to a podium in Tallahassee on the news. This level of relentless advocacy is admirable and a model for other angling communities to follow.

Now you may think this blog is going to be about “you know what” (that highly debated red bottom fish). This paragraph will be one of the only times you see the words “red snapper” take form on the ASGA site. Regardless of how you feel about the ARS debate, our stance is pretty simple: you’re likely justified in feeling that way. A lot of parties have dropped the ball in this situation, on many levels, and right now unfortunately no one is winning. That being said, this blog is focused on Florida anglers making headlines in a very different way. Recently, a new campaign for proactive fisheries management caught our attention from a long-tenured guide out of the Charlotte Harbor area. Join us as we amplify the call for more fish in Florida…

More Fish Florida is a growing campaign of guides, anglers, conservationists, businesses, and everyday Floridians united around a simple idea: Florida’s fisheries are better when there are more fish in the water. Sound familiar? The campaign is focused on protecting and improving the health of Florida’s fisheries through proactive, science-based fisheries management and stronger stewardship of the state’s marine resources. At its core, More Fish Florida (MFF) recognizes that Florida’s reputation as the “Fishing Capital of the World” is built upon biodiversity and abundance. This moniker cannot survive on branding alone. The state needs the rich fishing opportunities to back up the title. Florida’s saltwater fisheries support coastal communities, small businesses, guides, tourism, and a way of life that millions of residents and visitors depend on. The state’s economic strategy is built entirely on this model. If people stop visiting, the entire ship sinks. 

The MFF campaign starts with elevating the voice of anglers in Charlotte and Lee Counties. In other states, a small county-level push for policy change would likely fall on deaf ears, but FWC recently swapped over to a regional management approach for key inshore species like snook, redfish and sea trout. As you may remember, AGSA was wholeheartedly in support of regional management when proposed for snook a few years back. The state is so large and different sections have vastly difference ecological dynamics at play: one may receive crippling annual freshwater discharges that are rapidly degrading key snook habitat, while another may be seeing a rebound in snook as warming waters and sub populations sprawl their way north. In theory, a regional management approach gives the Commission the flexibility to rebuild struggling areas while not penalizing others. A well communicated campaign like MFF fits perfectly into this regional model…

“Hey, things aren’t what they used to be around here. How about we make a few changes to get this area back on track? It would be better for everyone involved.”

Unfortunately, ASGA advocates know that fisheries management can never be so simple, but this campaign has the depth to strike a chord. MFF pushes the idea that anglers are not simply users of the resource — they are stakeholders with a responsibility to protect it. That philosophy closely mirrors the modern conservation movement increasingly seen across the recreational fishing community: better handling practices, habitat restoration, forage fish protection, improved data collection, and management strategies designed around abundance rather than decline. Importantly, the campaign is not anti-harvest or anti-fishing. It is pro-future. MFF is built around the belief that conservation and access are not opposing forces. In fact, long-term access depends entirely on healthy fisheries. 

The campaign calls for a suite of changes to improve red drum and snook fishing in local waters, including:

• A bump up in the redfish slot to increase escapement rates
• A redfish harvest closure in the fall to protect spawning seasons, as is used for other critical species in Florida
• A shift up in the snook slot to increase spawning production
• Angler accountability and better catch & release practices

We’ll keep our “time on the mic” brief and hand it off to Captain Rhett Morris who is leading the charge. We hope you’ll lend the following video a few minutes of your day and if you’re inspired by what you see and hear (it’s hard not to be), head on over to the More Fish Florida website to joni the movement. But before we go, our parting thought is as follows:

This is the modern fisheries conservation model. A grassroots built campaign from long tenured and respected anglers who recognize the complex nature of our fisheries ecology, while simultaneously understanding that fisheries management is a dynamic tool to ensure we have angling opportunities for decades to come. As the campaign grows legs, we may find that slots “an inch wider here”, or seasons “a week longer there” make more sense in line with the best available science and enforcement, and thoughtful conservationists like Captain Rhett and his crew are always open to those discussions. But a day when it’s not worth heading to Florida to experience world-class snook and trout fishing is a day we don’t want tos see. Take it away, Rhett!

Learn more about the More Fish Florida movement by heading to their website, www.morefishflorida.com.