NPS Photo

A recreational fisher proudly displays his catch, a large wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri), caught in Biscayne National Park

Updated January 24, 2008

Archaeological evidence shows that fishing has been part of the heritage of Biscayne Bay for 10,000 years. The Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) is a long-term plan to manage fish and shellfish within the parks to help ensure that the tradition of fishing can continue for generations to come. The purpose of the FMP is to guide management actions to protect and perpetuate the park’s fishery resources, and to enable park visitors to have the best possible fishing experience. The FMP is being developed cooperatively by the Park and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) with input from members of government agencies, area universities, and the public.

The development of the plan is a public process, and public involvement in creating the plan is essential to its success. To gain public input on FMP development, we held public comment periods and public meetings (in Miami, Homestead, and Key Largo) in May 2002 and April 2003. The FMP working group, which consists of recreational and commercial fishers, divers, scientists, and members of the conservation community, was formed to issue recommendations on the FMP. The Working Group held their sixth and final meeting in October 2004, at which time they finalized their recommendations for the FMP The recommendations were endorsed by the Sanctuary Advisory Council (SAC) of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, which added a recommendation that the park strongly consider establishing a marine reserve under its General Management Plan. The recommendations were then forwarded to the FWC and the park, which incorporated the recommendations into a draft FMP (in the form of a draft Environmental Impact Statement), which is still under review by the NPS and the FWC. Additional public meetings will be held following the internal review.

Additionally, since the FMP is a cooperative plan developed with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), and since many of the proposed actions in the FMP will require regulatory changes by the FWC, the plan must also be approved by the FWC Commissioners. In September 2005 at a FWC Commission meeting in St. Petersburg, FWC Marine Fisheries Director Mark Robson presented the draft FMP to the Commissioners, noting that the draft FMP was built on the recommendations of the Working Group. The Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the FMP in concept, with the understanding that a final FMP would be brought before them for approval following final public meetings and address of public comment. 

The FMP has been in development since 2000, and while much progress has been made since 2000, Biscayne National Park has faced many challenges that have delayed progress. The replacement of employees crucial to the development of the FMP, including the superintendent, assistant superintendent, chief of resource management, and fishery biologist, led to delays in progress. In the cases of the chief of resource management and fishery biologist, these positions were each vacant for more than a year before replacements were hired. With all four of these critical positions now filled, Biscayne National Park is committed to implementing an FMP that is based on sound scientific studies and will have measurable beneficial effects on the fishery resources of Biscayne National Park. Recent progress includes the following:

1) Biscayne National Park sought assistance from scientists from The University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (UM-RSMAS) and the National Park Service Water Resources Division (NPS WRD) to help Biscayne National Park and FWC meet fishery management goals. In April of 2007, UM-RSMAS and NPS WRD cooperators produced a report entitled “Fishery Management Analyses for Reef Fish in Biscayne National Park: Bag & Size Limit Alternatives”, which summarizes how changes to minimum size limits and decreases in bag limits are likely to affect seven targeted fish populations, including Hogfish, Black Grouper, and Mutton Snapper. The findings of this report were intended to help Park management explore the feasibility and success associated with different options for managing some of the Park’s declining fishery-targeted species. 

2) Biscayne National Park hosted a multi-agency meeting in November of 2007 to review the most current information on the status of fisheries-targeted species and fishing activity within the Park, and to receive valuable insight on the management techniques that are most likely to maintain healthy fisheries in the park while maximizing fishing enjoyment for the visiting public. Meeting participants, which included National Park Service employees, FWC staff, scientists from FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI), UM-RSMAS scientists, and researchers from NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Miami, Fl, provided an abundance of expertise and experience related to research, monitoring, and management of fisheries resources located within Biscayne National Park. 

 3) The working agreement between Biscayne National Park and FWC, which expired in October of 2007, was renewed for an additional 5 years, following approval from the Commission at the September 2007 and December 2007 Commission meetings. As a result of this renewal, Biscayne National Park and FWC staff to continue to work together to develop and implement Biscayne National Park’s FMP.

What Next?
Biscayne National Park staff members are in the final stages of editing the draft Environmental Impact Assessment, in order to incorporate the science and management recommendations offered at the November multi-agency meeting. Once completed, the Environmental Impact Assessment will be presented at a series of public meetings, planned to be offered in Miami, Homestead, and Key Largo in mid-2008. The public will have a chance to provide comments on the plan, and after addressing public comments, we will finalize the FMP within a period of several months. 

For further information on the FMP developmental process, contact the Park’s Resource Management Division by phone at 305-230-1144 or by e-mail.