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What’s All The Hubbub, Bub?
By BRANDON DANE
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South Florida captain says regional fishermen ignored in Dry Tortugas closings
Capt. Rob Hammer is beside himself these days with the notion
that even more of the Dry Tortugas will be closed
to recreational fishermen. Hammer claims this is simply
another attempt to stop fishing in Florida. It is a conspiracy, he
says, being orchestrated by the government.
“Our National Park System [NPS] listened to the socalled
experts and decided to close off a large majority of the
Dry Tortugas,” Hammer wrote via e-mail. “This, after the
[National Marine Fisheries Service] closed off a large portion
a few years ago. [Acting Regional Director of the Southeast
National Marine Sanctuary Program] Billy Causey – selfproclaimed
savior of our sea-life – was the brain child of this
stunt.”
In Key Largo last May, a town meeting was held to
gauge public opinion on the restriction of still more of the
Dry Tortugas National Park area. The Dry Tortugas region
has been a protected area since 1908 when it was designated
as a wildlife refuge. In 1992, it was renamed Dry Tortugas
National Park. Located 70 miles west of Key West and more
than 140 miles from the Florida mainland, the Tortugas have
been a lush, thriving area for fishermen with a vast portion
of the national park open to recreational fishing. At the
meeting, Hammer listened to local environmentalists express
concern over the fish population problems occurring in the
Tortugas due to over-fishing and were seeking replenishment
zone. Furthermore, Hammer said he looked on as the NPS
told anglers, reporters and other citizens that the NPS “had
contacted the local fishermen, captains and fishing clubs
that frequented the Tortugas and [most] were in favor of this
closure.” He refutes this claim since he, in his words, is “No. 1
on the list of captains that visit the Dry Tortugas”
and he “was never contacted even though [he has] a permit
to fish down there” and his phone number and address are
easily accessible. Lastly, Hammer says he challenged the NPS
to their statistics on the rise in recreational fishing tourism
in the Dry Tortugas, claiming that on the Fourth of July, the
busiest boating weekend of the year, his boat was the only one
fishing. And, while Hammer agrees that tourism is up in the
Dry Tortugas, he does not agree that recreational fishing has
risen. The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS)
reported that between 1984 and 1998, yearly tourism
expanded from 18,000 to 72,000 visitors. Yet, the Associated
Press reported in May 2006 that the annual tourism numbers
were around 60,000.
On July 1, 2001, the Tortugas 2000 proposal was enacted
and The Tortugas Ecological Reserve became a reality.
The reserve was broken into Tortugas North – west of Dry
Tortugas National Park, comprising 90 square nautical
miles of ocean habitat; and Tortugas South – southwest of
Dry Tortugas National Park, comprising 60 square nautical
miles of ocean. The new regulations prohibited the taking of
marine life as well as restricted vessel discharges, prohibited
“anchoring and the use of mooring buoys by vessels more
than 100 feet in combined length” in Tortugas North. Diving
and snorkeling were still allowed, but tourists were required
to obtain a permit to ensure that all vessels had access to
mooring buoys, to ease enforcement and to monitor visitor
impacts. In Tortugas South all taking of marine life was
prohibited and vessel discharges restricted.
All diving was banned because most of Tortugas
South is “beyond recreational diving depth.” Vessels
were required to be in “continuous transit through the area
with fishing gear stowed.” These regulations continue through
today.
The NPS along with National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and the FKNMS have been working
to designate a no-take area referred to as a “Research Natural
Area” (RNA) since 1998, when the Tortugas 2000 Proposal
was in its beginning stages. The initial idea put the RNA
within Dry Tortugas National Park so as to be compatible with
the Tortugas Ecological Reserve. According to the FKNMS,
the RNA along with the Tortugas Ecological Reserve “would
result in a world-class ‘no-take’ ecological reserve in the
Tortugas.” It is the RNA that has Hammer riled about taking
away his right to fish in the Tortugas.
In a conversation with acting Regional Director Causey,
he told Worldwide Angler, “When we initiated the Tortugas
2000 in 1998, the RNA was always a part of it. The problem
has been that there was a jurisdictional dispute over the
ownership of submerged lands. This is not a new effort.”
During the development of the Tortugas 2000 proposal,
Causey was the acting superintendent of the FKNMS. The
jurisdictional dispute, Causey said, was between the U.S.
Department of the Interior (DOI) and the State of Florida.
Either way, he said, every effort that has been made to
implement the RNA and resolve the jurisdictional disputes has
been “highly publicized” as Florida law requires.
[Author’s Note: Section 286.011 of
the Florida Statutes, also known as the Florida
Sunshine Law, states that any public meeting of
two or more public officials where any action or discussion
might directly or indirectly affect the citizenry must be
duly advertised. Public officials who knowingly violate the
ordinance risk being prosecuted on criminal misdemeanor
charges. Those who unintentionally violate the law risk civil
fines.]
The legal implications of the non-advertisement of any
public meeting concerning the Tortugas 2000 proposal, the
RNA, or the settlement of the submerged lands dispute, would
suggest that it is highly unlikely that government officials did
not follow every letter of the law. Tom Tuell, editor of the Key
West Citizen, told Worldwide Angler that after five years the
federal and state government decided to “agree to disagree,
but allow the plan to be finalized” in order to implement the
RNA, but that it was fairly common knowledge from the
beginning. He said further that the there had been minimal
uproar from local fishermen, “but there have been some who
have resisted all conservation measures since before the
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary was created.”
The Research Natural Area will close another 46 square
nautical miles of the Dry Tortugas National Park to the taking
of any marine life including “recreational fishing and other
consumptive activities,” according to the NPS, but 54 percent
of the park will remain open for recreational fishing.
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