It was expected that the most active fishermen in Looe Key were those 

 closest to it. Using average marine travel data (Mathis et al , 1979) as 

 a base, it was decided that an area with a 15 mile radius would be adequate 

 to obtain an statistical sample for measuring total commercial fish catch 

 value at Looe Key. In the course of the survey, the choice of the sample 

 survey area seemed validated. At the fringes of the area, some commercial 

 fishermen, dive shops and others reported little or no activity connected 

 with Looe Key. 



The twenty-five fishermen in the sample survey all owned their own boats, 

 averaging 33 feet in length. The average fisherman had spent 10.32 years in 

 the business and had been fishing in the Looe Key 5 nmi zone for 7.6 years. 

 They employed a total of 36 crew (34 non-family). The average weekly wage for 

 these crewmen was $195.95 per week and they worked an average of 41.5 weeks per 

 year. Total yearly payroll, not including family members, was $276,499,56 or 

 $8,132,34 per employee, which was lower than the county average for private 

 non-farm wage earners. 



Fish catches vary seasonally in the Looe Key area. From February to late 

 July, before the start of the lobster season, the fishermen depended mostly on 

 yellowtail, mangrove and mutton snapper, and grouper. In the fall and early 

 winter, they caught mainly lobster with little reported snapper or mackerel. 

 Spanish, cero and king mackerel began to plan a major role in the catch in 

 December and continued to March. 



The most productive fishing areas reported were those between and includ- 

 ing Looe Key Reef and Big Pine Shoal, the area surrounding American Shoal areas 

 in Hawk Channel off Sugar Loaf Key and Cudjoe Key. 



Most of the boats fished for more than one species, using a combination 

 of methods, such as hook and line part of the year and trapping during 

 the lobster season. Trapping for lobster, crab and fish amounted to 

 57.7 percent, 24.9 percent used hook and line, and 17.4 used nets. 

 (Table 2) Based on survey tabulations, commercial fishermen did not 

 all depend on Boundary Option #2 exclusively. Of the 597,356 lbs. caught 

 in the total area in and around Looe Key, 167,970 lbs. were landed in 

 the 5 mile area encompassing Looe Key. Most boats seem to fish the Looe 

 Key 5 nmi zone only part of the time, since the desired species migrate 

 both seasonally in and adjacent to Looe Key and throughout the entire reef 

 tract. (Table 1 ) 



This sample of 25 boats is roughly one-fourth of the estimated boats (100) 

 that could be affected by the Looe Key Sanctuary proposal, according to the 

 consensus of leading fishermen in the area. In order to obtain the total 

 estimated catch value of the Looe Key area, it was necessary to get an average 

 income per boat from the sample survey and multiply it by the total estimated 

 100 commercial fishing boats. 



C-3 



