CCA FLORIDA BACKS PROGRESSIVE NEW PLAN

CCA FLORIDA BACKS PROGRESSIVE NEW PLAN

Florida Saltwater Hatcheries Initiative to Expand Stocking Capabilities. Let’s face it; hauling a couple of youngsters across the state in a car is not the easiest of undertakings. Imagine how hard it must be to haul a couple of hundred thousand juvenile fish from coast to coast! This challenging scenario is what the folks in charge of Florida’s fish hatchery operation are now facing. However, this difficult task of helping maintain our game fish populations may be getting just a little bit easier.

Presently, all of the state’s captive breeding is conducted at the Stock Enhancement
Research Facility (S.E.R.F.) at Port Manatee. Most of the fingerlings are released in the Sarasota and Tampa Bay area, but when past projects called for East Coast stockings, juvenile reds were loaded in portable tanks, carefully chauffeured across the peninsula, and released in Atlantic waters. When it comes to moving fish - even juveniles - the shorter the travel, the better, and this long across-state haul was not good for the young fish.

However, that will soon change, thanks to the Florida Saltwater Hatcheries Initiative – a progressive plan for piscatorial population in which CCA Florida will play an integral role. The initiative centers upon the belief that geographic expansion of Florida’s marine hatchery production capacity will assist conservation and restoration of declining fisheries and stimulate economic growth.

The initiative seeks to eliminate overland transport of hatchery-spawned fingerlings by establishing networked saltwater hatcheries and grow-out facilities on both coasts and in the Panhandle. Complementing the benefits of proximity, the new plan will allow hatchery managers to maintain the genetic integrity of stocks by using locally-captured brood fish (spawning adults) and releasing their offspring into their home waters. Any time artificially stocked fish can be obtained from an area’s native population, the potential success and long-term success of the stocking is enhanced.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will lead the initiative and serve in an advisory role to ensure operational efficiency and address regional needs. A $2,000,000 legislative appropriation for FY 06-07 will cover front-end costs including site evaluation, planning, initial engineering and determination of overall design costs. Private donations, grants, and other funds obtained from local, state, and federal sources will pay for the remaining construction.

That’s where CCA Florida’s grassroots network will play an integral role. Working in conjunction with the Wildlife Foundation of Florida – the group charged with developing a private/corporate fundraising campaign – CCA Florida will leverage its far-reaching influence to raise awareness for the Florida Saltwater Hatcheries Initiative and assist WFF in generating donations through 2012.

“We are excited about the opportunity of lending our influence and expertise for a project with such great potential for Florida’s recreational fishing scene,” said CCA Florida Chairman George Geiger. “The long-term positive impact of establishing an integrated state hatchery network is monumental. We look forward to working with WFF and expect to reach great heights with this organization.”

WFF Executive Director Bret Boston said, "We are thrilled to have this opportunity to work with CCA Florida. Their well-established integrity and stellar reputation in the state lend instant credibility to the project, and being able to tap into their resources and expertise will help ensure success."

A non-profit organization with 28 chapters statewide, CCA Florida is the state’s premier conservation group, and one of 15 state chapters of the Coastal Conservation Association. For more than 20 years the organization has fought to protect Florida's saltwater fishing resources and the interests of saltwater anglers. In 2001, CCA Florida was instrumental in securing a state appropriation for an additional $435,000 in saltwater fishing license monies to expand the production capability at the state's only existing saltwater hatchery.

Among the abilities planned for the new hatchery facilities is the use of extensive

(pond-based) fingerling production with intensive (tank-based) production of larger-sized fish (called “Phase 3”) which have higher chances of post-release survival. Also, hatcheries will employ indoor Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS), which allow a major portion of water used in a culture operation to be reconditioned and reused. This means lower water use, higher control of the hatchery environment, and strict bio-security measures for fish quality and health.

For more information, please contact Rob Hendricks at 407.854.7002

To join CCA Florida, visit the newly revised website, www.CCAFlorida.org. There, you can find CCA’s advocacy positions and plenty of other interesting information.