REGULATORY PROBLEMS 



Florida's marine fishery resources currently are regulated by the State 

 legislature. The Florida Department of Natural Resources has rule-making 

 authority, but only to clarify the legislation and establish ways and means 

 for enforcing the regulations. The advantage of a legislated regulatory 

 authority is that any new law requires approval by the House and Senate and 

 the governor. This procedure serves to relieve political pressure on the 

 Department and allows it to avoid making a long-term decision in the heat of a 

 confrontation. The disadvantage is that it does not always work that way. 

 Far too many laws still are enacted in the heat of confrontation and many are 

 controversial and ineffective. 



In summary, resource laws should be based on the resource needs, not on 

 the votes of any special interest groups. This requires good biological judg- 

 ment and data and an ability to avoid the power of pressure politics. Flor- 

 ida's law says that the marine resources are to be managed for the benefit of 

 all citizens. That should include sport fishermen, commercial fishermen, and 

 seafood consumers alike. When the resource is shown scientifically to be in 

 jeopardy, then all resource users should share the burden of restoring the 

 resource. The Seven National Standards quoted earlier represent the Federal 

 attempt to ensure these rights to all fishermen in the FCZ; perhaps Florida 

 needs a national "Standards" for State legislation as well. 



Florida also has "local laws." These laws that govern fisheries may 

 apply only to one county or legislative district and are not necessarily con- 

 sistent with other laws based on biological principles or evidence. Partly in 

 response to this problem, the Florida Legislature passed an act in 1980 that 

 established a Saltwater Study and Advisory Council to review all fishery 

 management needs and problems and to establish criteria and guidelines for 

 such management. The work of the Council is extremely important to the citi- 

 zenry of Florida and the results of their work were completed in 1982. 



Industry Concerns 



Numerous problems confront the fishing industry. The cost of fuel is 

 causing serious concern. The scarcity and high cost of fuel is a continuing 

 consideration among fishermen. Although expensive, current supplies of fuel 

 are fully adequate, but an allocation system may be necessary in the future. 

 Currently, most fishermen feel they will be given preference for fuel on the 

 same basis as farmers; this has relieved some concern. Gasoline and sales tax 

 exemptions and fuel allocation procedures, as a relief for commercial fisher- 

 men, was reported by Cato (1973). 



Direct Federal assistance to members of the fishing industry has been 

 small although general assistance, such as the use of Sal tonstall -Kennedy 

 funds for marketing programs, has been helpful. The most recent example of 

 Federal assistance to the fishing industry of Southwest Florida was the aid 

 made available to members of the lobster industry when Bahamian waters were 

 closed to U.S. fishermen. 



Some Federal assistance is also available through the Small Business 

 Administration (SEA) and other similar agencies for low cost loans. These are 



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