Found Some Interesting Information About Collecting in Florida - Page 3

Treeman · #51 05/15/2007, 07:11 AM

Exactly as Chris and Rick said above.

If you collect, you need a license. If you look at the first link of the first page. It states that you need a fishing license. Just remember the park rangers are not there to enforce fishing laws. Or, at least not to the extent that the game officer is.

liverock · #52 05/15/2007, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MR PALM BEACH
You dont need a saltwater fishing license If your fishing from any fixed structer etc: pier, beach, bridge, and even a charter boat they carry a license on there own to cover the boat. Now If your on a friends boat now you do need a license. I dont now what the laws are In the Keys but I know there pretty strict and have people watching, but I snorkel alot and catch my live stock right of the Inlet while my son catches Blue legs of the shore. And as Im walking back to the car with my catch I got the park ranger asking my son how many crabs did you catch today! with a big smile on his face.

If you follow the news, you will know there is activity now Tallahassee to change the shore/pier rule, soon EVERYBODY that fishes in Florida, regardless of the location will be required to possess a fishing license.

Richard TBS

liverock · #53 05/15/2007, 08:35 AM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by MR PALM BEACH
[B]I guess It all depends, I mean corals could be different from fish.

Yea real different from fish, NOBODY can collect corals...unless you possess a live rock aquaculture license, and the corals are growing on the cultured rock, can be harvested and sold, as long as they are ATTACHED to the cultured rock.

I suspect you ranger friend is a bit ignorant of the laws, as if the FWC catches you doing ANYTHING wrong, you will go down.

The FWC guys are REAL serious and any/smallest infraction will land you in front of a judge, especially a coral violation.

Richard TBS

chrisaggie · #54 05/15/2007, 09:08 AM

Richard, there are many corals that can be legally collected (and many that can't) with a normal saltwater fishing license. What did you mean by your last statement?

liverock · #55 05/15/2007, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisaggie
Richard, there are many corals that can be legally collected (and many that can't) with a normal saltwater fishing license. What did you mean by your last statement?

There are no corals that can be legally collected.

Richard TBS

chrisaggie · #56 05/15/2007, 09:21 AM

That is not true. If you go back and read the first link Kathy posted you will see many corals can be collected. Seems like there is a lot of confusion about collection laws. Maybe a good topic for a monthly meeting. Hmmm.

jessp · #57 05/15/2007, 09:22 AM

yeah that would be a great idea if we could get an official to come to one of our meetings and provide us w/ a real easy to understand guidelines.

liverock · #58 05/15/2007, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisaggie
That is not true. If you go back and read the first link Kathy posted you will see many corals can be collected. Seems like there is a lot of confusion about collection laws. Maybe a good topic for a monthly meeting. Hmmm.

Sorry but that is incorrect info, and is VERY true. You cannot collect/possess any coral in the state of Florida.

Richard TBS

chrisaggie · #59 05/15/2007, 09:30 AM

Richard please go read the laws....here are a few quotes from the regs...

"Aggregate bag limit of 20 species (in any combination), of the species included in the Marine Life rule as listed below. Of those 20 species, no more than 5 may be angelfish, and no more than 6 may be colonies of octocorals (each colony or part thereof is included in the aggregate bag limit). The bag limit for plants listed in this rule is 1 gallon." (note octocoral)

"Species included in this rule are as follows:...

Soft corals - Any species of the Subclass Octocorallia, except sea fans Gorgonia flabellum and Gorgonia ventalina."

RicksReefs · #60 05/15/2007, 09:30 AM

no Scleractinian (stony) corals, but Octocorallia (gorgs, etc) and Cnidaria (mushrooms, anemones, zoanthids, etc) are in the restricted species and collectable (except seafans).

liverock · #61 05/15/2007, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by RicksReefs
no Scleractinian (stony) corals, but Octocorallia (gorgs, etc) and Cnidaria (mushrooms, anemones, zoanthids, etc) are in the restricted species and collectable (except seafans).

Prohibited Species: All harvest is prohibited of the following species:
Live rock, Bahama starfish (Oreaster reticulatis), longspine urchin (Diadema antillarum), Venus sea fan (Gorgonia flabellum), common sea fan (Gorgonia ventalina), any hard or stony coral (Order Scleractinia), or any fire coral (Genus Millepora).

Octocorals ,, are not hard corals, and some species can be collected.

Richard TBS

chrisaggie · #62 05/15/2007, 09:32 AM

Thank Rick, I knew you would chime in.

chrisaggie · #63 05/15/2007, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by liverock
Prohibited Species: All harvest is prohibited of the following species:
Live rock, Bahama starfish (Oreaster reticulatis), longspine urchin (Diadema antillarum), Venus sea fan (Gorgonia flabellum), common sea fan (Gorgonia ventalina), any hard or stony coral (Order Scleractinia), or any fire coral (Genus Millepora).

Octocorals ,, are not hard corals, and some species can be collected.

Richard TBS

Octocorals may not be hard coral but they are still coral none the less. It is not true to say all coral can not be collected.

tperk9784 · #64 05/15/2007, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by RicksReefs
no Scleractinian (stony) corals, but Octocorallia (gorgs, etc) and Cnidaria (mushrooms, anemones, zoanthids, etc) are in the restricted species and collectable (except seafans).

Rick I went to your website but a lot of pics are not working for me.

I tried to PM you but your box is full.

RicksReefs · #65 05/15/2007, 12:21 PM

I'm going thru an overhaul, both on the web and in RL, I'm hoping to be back up soon..

liverock · #66 05/15/2007, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisaggie
Octocorals may not be hard coral but they are still coral none the less. It is not true to say all coral can not be collected.

Very true, but they are octocorals, not corals as described in the rulebook.

RC is a source of information, and saying it is ok to collect some "corals", is going to get some guy from Ohio in a heap of trouble in the Keys, when he has read it is ok to collect some "corals"

I was simply trying to inform folks of the terminology when trying to intemperate the rules and regulations of the state of Florida.

When one speaks of "corals" the state interperates that as

any hard or stony coral (Order Scleractinia)

and when speaking of octocorals, Venus sea fan (Gorgonia flabellum), common sea fan (Gorgonia octocoral, described in the rulebook as, octocorals.

Terminology is the key here, the correct description and knowledge will keep you out of the pokey!

Richard TBS

ReefWreak · #67 05/15/2007, 02:31 PM

So don't touch it if it has a calcerous skeleton or is a seafan, to be on the safe side?

RicksReefs · #68 05/15/2007, 02:35 PM

yup, AND if you collect zoas, etc, make sure they stay together. your allowed 6 colonies/animals and if one falls apart, you've just exceeded the limit.

ReefWreak · #69 05/15/2007, 02:38 PM

So you can collect up to 6 individual zoa polyps, or 6 together colonies? That's what I was wondering about. People keep telling me about these FL-only Blue Zoanthids, I want some at some point...

RicksReefs · #70 05/15/2007, 02:46 PM

as long as they're still connected, they're considered one animal (colonial), if you have 6 loose polyps, that's the limit. also take into account that you can't take any hard substrate with them, so they can fall apart quite easily after being scraped off a rock.

jeffbrig · #71 05/15/2007, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisaggie
Seems like there is a lot of confusion about collection laws. Maybe a good topic for a monthly meeting. Hmmm.

I'm not sure I agree.

Sure, there's lots of confusion, but are our local reefs best served by educating everyone on how to go out and take whatever they can? I tend to err more on the side of conservation, and would actually prefer if most people thought corals were off limits.

chrisaggie · #72 05/15/2007, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jeffbrig
I'm not sure I agree.

Sure, there's lots of confusion, but are our local reefs best served by educating everyone on how to go out and take whatever they can? I tend to err more on the side of conservation, and would actually prefer if most people thought corals were off limits.

I see your point Jeff and to some point agree. Its the people that are taking illegal coral/livestock ,that may or may not know it, that I'm concerned about. We are all here to learn and this is a subject that everyone could brush up on. Personally I wish harvesting of all coral was illegal, but that's not the case. The club has historically been a group of collectors and we should at least revisit the subject from time to time.

liverock · #73 05/15/2007, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisaggie
I see your point Jeff and to some point agree. Its the people that are taking illegal coral/livestock ,that may or may not know it, that I'm concerned about. We are all here to learn and this is a subject that everyone could brush up on. Personally I wish harvesting of all coral was illegal, but that's not the case. The club has historically been a group of collectors and we should at least revisit the subject from time to time.

I have to agree with that also...harvesting octocorals should be limited more than it already is......I think the magic number is 80,000 per year before it closes, but the season has never been closed before, as far as I know.

The abuse comes from collectors who start on one end of a reef, and take every legal octocoral that exists there. I think that practice is not sustainable, and should somehow be regulated, but it is not, just as like catching every legal sized grouper from a ledge is legal, but there should be more conservation minded practices in place.

Richard TBS

RicksReefs · #74 05/15/2007, 03:30 PM

agreed, and is the reason why I'll never respond to a "where do I collect.." thread.
can you imagine how long those blue zoas would last if a location was put on the web? they'd be gone by lunchtime.

liverock · #75 05/15/2007, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RicksReefs
agreed, and is the reason why I'll never respond to a "where do I collect.." thread.
can you imagine how long those blue zoas would last if a location was put on the web? they'd be gone by lunchtime.

Yup

just like the millions upon millions of blue legs that USED to be at Spanish Harbor, I collected there for years, somebody put it on the net and it was WIPED out, where there were millions, there is not one now.

Richard TBS