COMMERCIAL AND SPORT FISHERIES 



Ed Joyce 

 Route 1, Box 1804 

 Tallahassee, FL 32312 



INTRODUCTION 



OVERVIEW 



The State of Florida is known for its valuable coastal resources and 

 their potential. The State has 11,000 mi of tidal shoreline (second longest 

 in the United States) and over 15 major estuarine systems. Climatic condi- 

 tions range from subtemperate to tropical. The vegetation ranges from 

 tropical hammocks of the Keys to the massive mangrove stands of southwest 

 Florida, and to the juncus and spartina marshes of northwest Florida and the 

 panhandle. These habitat types are undergoing more and more stress. About 

 75% of Florida's more than nine million residents (1980 Census) live within a 

 few miles of the coastline and over 60% of the 36 million tourists who come to 

 Florida annually engage in fishing, swimming, sun bathing, boating, beach 

 combing, and other water-related forms of recreation. In combination, these 

 activities are depleting or threatening Florida's natural coastal resources. 



This paper concerns the sport and commercial fishing industries, the 

 fishes and their biology, and fish production, value, and management. Much of 

 the catch data are from the National Marine Fisheries Service annual catch 

 reports. Much of the economic analysis is provided in publications by Cato 

 (1973), Prochaska (1976), Prochaska and Cato (1977), Prochaska and Morris 

 (1978), and Prochaska et al . (1981) at the University of Florida in Gaines- 

 ville. Much of the biological data are from Steidinger (1980). 



Southwest Florida (Pasco, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hillsborough, Lee, 

 Manatee, Monroe, Pinellas, and Sarasota Counties) has some of the most beauti- 

 ful beaches in the State and valuable sport and commercial fisheries. Rapid 

 population growth in Southwest Florida and intensified residential and indus- 

 trial development are destroying or altering natural coastal environments. 

 The massive dredge and fill operations that created waterfront-canal home 

 sites in Boca Ciega Bay, Pinellas County, is an example of extreme habitat 

 alteration with thousands of acres of productive estuarine habitat being 

 dredged and filled. Another example of a major change was the modification of 

 freshwater flow through the Everglades for flood control and land reclamation. 

 The reduced and otherwise modified seasonal freshwater flow has contributed to 

 excessive change in the salinity of estuaries. Long-term salinity changes may 

 have far reaching effects on the distribution and abundance of fish and 

 shellfish. 



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