ST. PETERSBURG — Hundreds of local fishermen rallied Friday to protest the extension of a ban on catching gag grouper. The rally was held at the National Marine Fisheries Service in St. Petersburg.
The ban will be lengthened by several weeks starting this spring.
In the past, the ban has been in place for February and March in federal and state waters. This year, that ban has been extended until July 1 in federal waters for gag grouper.
The Fishing Rights Alliance's Executive Director Dennis O'Hearn who helped organize the rally said the new rule is a job killer.
"It's something that if you can't fish for gag grouper you're probably not going to go offshore," O'Hearn said. "There's other species you can catch, but if you can't come home with your gag, it's just not going to be worth it,"
Fishermen call the science behind the ban into question.
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