JACKSONVILLE – July 30, 2010 – With Florida fishermen facing painful restrictions on where and how to fish, new legislation by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson could be one of their last chances for a reprieve. But there may not be enough political will for it to make any difference in the rules, which affect dozens of species in order to protect red snapper populations that researchers say are heavily overfished.
New rules to shut down bottom fishing in about 4,800 square miles of ocean off Florida and Georgia prompted Nelson to try this month to change the federal government’s main fisheries law, the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Read the complete story from The Florida Times-Union.