Make Some Cash. Help FWC and Bears.
Are you smarter than the average bear? Tired of having a bear drag your trash around your yard? Or, have you already figured a way to keep them out of the garbage can? The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) wants to see your design idea at this year’s Florida Black Bear Festival in Umatilla, just south of the Ocala National Forest, on March 27, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
FWC Asks for Your Help!
FWC asks anglers to help gather reef fish dataBiologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) request angler assistance with a research project focusing on red snapper and other reef fish on Florida’s Gulf Coast. This project will provide fisheries researchers and managers with much of the catch-and-release survival information they need for assessing reef fish stocks.
New Shoreline Fishing License Requirement
This is very important information from FWC. As of 8/1/2009 everyone fishing from shore, wading, or boat will be required to have a fishing license. See below:
Shoreline fishing license requirement starts Aug. 1Florida’s new shoreline fishing license requirement takes effect Aug. 1. Resident anglers who fish for saltwater species from shore or a structure affixed to shore must have a $9 shoreline fishing license or a $17 regular saltwater fishing license.
Scallop Season Opens July 1, 2009
Bay scallop season opens July 1The recreational harvest season for bay scallops begins July 1 and continues through Sept. 10. Open scalloping areas on Florida’s Gulf coast extend from the west bank of the Mexico Beach Canal in Bay County to the Pasco-Hernando county line near Aripeka.
You can take bay scallops only within the allowable harvest areas. It is illegal to possess bay scallops while you’re in or on state waters outside the open harvest areas, or to land bay scallops outside the open areas.
Local Fish Lab Produces 4 Million Fish!
4 million fry produced at Blackwater this springThe staff at the Blackwater Fisheries Research and Development Center has been busy this spring producing more than 4 million fish for Florida waters.
Dave Yeager, one of the senior fisheries biologists at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) facility near Holt, said the fish include striped bass, white bass, hybrid striped bass and largemouth bass. The fingerlings were either stocked in Panhandle waters or taken to the Florida Bass Conservation Center in Webster or the Welaka National Fish Hatchery in Palatka.