Invasion of the Blue Crab

May, normally a time for keys crabbers to rest showed an unprecedented swarm of blue crab over Memorial Day weekend. The blue crab normally not seen until winter waters,  filled the night time waters of the Conch Republic.  With nets in hand Old Conch’s headed for the passes and channels bringing in a record number of crabs, at a time there should be none. According to Captain Al in 40 years I’ve never seen anything like this.  

Stone crab season is finally open in the Conch Republic and with a new season here King Ron also had a new captain behind the wheel. Captain Angelo led us out into the waters for our first catch of the year. After throwing out the traps less than 24 hours before the captain told us to go and check the traps (probably because he didn’t have to pull them haha). Sure enough as we pulled up the first trap the first catch of the year was there. Five traps went out and when we came in there were seven claws on board. I asked King Ron himself what he expected out of this season he replied, “With Captain Angelo here I am sure that no one in the republic will go hungry this season.” In the photo below on left is Captain Angelo and on the right the birthday boy Ray Wright holding the first catch of the season.

Its that time of year in the Republic  when the Dolphins come to visit. This week has been spectacular,  ths seas laid down and the Dolphins came in.  Captain AL Bunner lead the attack and dolphins where everyware off Islamirada.  The two day take included the above two Bulls and 35 schoolies between 22" and 35".  The fish where found in  250 to 750 feet of wateron Birds with skirted Ballyhoo.

Information Courtesy of Weekly Fisherman

“You probably have a whole bunch down there in the Keys,” said Purdy. “It takes a few months after they settle before people start seeing them.” The first Pacific lionfish spotted in the Bahamas was reported by one of Purdy’s Blackbeard’s Cruises boats in November 2004. Now, the venomous lionfish are common throughout Bahamian waters.

“Some of the areas are getting overwhelmed,” Purdy said. “The population explosion is incredible. The numbers are huge compared to what they were just two years ago.”

The first confirmed sighting and capture of a Pacific lionfish in the Florida Keys happened last week on a deep reef at the Benwood Ledge, off Key Largo.

“Remember that nobody goes to two-thirds of the [Keys underwater] habitat,” Purdy said. “Lionfish can be on the deep reefs, or in the mangroves or way out in the Dry Tortugas. Nobody knows.” South Carolina diver Becky Fowler photographed the Keys lionfish in about 65 feet of water not far from the Benwood wreck.

“I thought that can’t be a lionfish, they don’t have lionfish in the Keys,” recounted Fowler, diving off a Silent World boat. “But there wasn’t anything else it could possibly be.” Fowler read in the Reef Environmental Education Foundation newsletter about efforts to keep lionfish out of the Keys. She also has seen the spread of lionfish in the Bahamas while on vacation from her accounting profession.

“I was in Freeport last September,” she said. “There are quite a number of them. It was common to see three or four lionfish on every dive.”

A dive team from REEF, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Quiescence Diving Center quickly found and netted the lionfish Jan. 7 at the site described by Fowler. Lionfish sport an array of feathery plumed spines, all of which pack a strong venom jolt.

“The first time I got hit, the spine nearly went through my hand,” Purdy said. “It hurt so bad I wanted to cut my hand off with a meat cleaver. It’s much worse than an urchin sting.” While usually painful and occasionally causing temporary paralysis, lionfish stings are not considered fatal. But any serious injury at depth can threaten a diver’s life.

Treatment with hot water, a common remedy for jellyfish stings, helped make the pain bearable, Purdy said.

“A bunch of people [in the Bahamas] have been stuck,” he said, “but you almost have to work at it. Usually somebody moves their hand and hits one, or isn’t looking where they’re going.” Lionfish are not aggressive, but the potent protection of their venom means they feel no need to flee from people or large predators.

The primary concern, say experts, is that lionfish breed rapidly and eat just about anything. That could upset the ecological balance at the Keys reef, and reduce the numbers of food fish and popular reef fish.

Lionfish apparently have no natural predators in the Atlantic Ocean.

“We have a response plan to control them if possible,” said Dave Score, the Keys sanctuary superintendent. “We believe we have the opportunity because of the large number of divers in the Keys. They can be part of the solution.”

One suggestion: Find a cooking recipe for lionfish, like the blackened-redfish craze that nearly depleted the redfish stock.

“They actually are very tasty. I’ve eaten a lot of them,” said Purdy. “The problem is that a lionfish filet is about what you’d get from a small grunt.”

The best hope, he believes, “is to spend a bunch of money finding out what controls the populations in the Pacific.”

Anyone seeing a lionfish should report it immediately, but do not attempt to capture it. Call REEF at 852-0030 or the Mote MEERA project at 395-8730.

Source: http://www.keysnet.com/diving/story/60019.html

“We got a reprieve in December when the NMFS abandoned the closure as an interim rule,” said Islamorada charter captain Bill Kelly, “but the [proposed permanent rule] is exactly the same.”

The January-through-April closure for most types of shallow-water grouper in federal Atlantic waters is contained in Amendment 16 to the Snapper-Grouper Fishery Management Plan administered under the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

A comment period on the draft plan ends Feb. 23.

“After all the comments are collected, staff will review them before publishing the final rule,” said Kim Iverson, spokeswoman for the South Atlantic Council. “Then a new round of public hearings will be held.”

The grouper closure, which the feds say is needed to protect spawning fish, seemed like it would take effect Jan. 1, 2009, after an emergency rule was endorsed by the South Atlantic Council.

But when various delays threatened to reduce the length of the closure, the closure was dropped for 2009.

In announcing there would be no 2009 closure, NMFS regional administrator Roy Crabtree said the permanent rule could be adopted “by late spring or early summer,” setting the stage for a closure starting in January 2010.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that won’t happen,” Kelly said. “My personal thought is even if additional protections are warranted for the shallow-water grouper, it’s doubtful that it would be as severe as a four-month closure across the board for black grouper, red grouper and gag grouper.”

State fishery biologists are taking the lead in a new stock assessment for red and black grouper, expected to be released next January.

Kelly, who will serve on the study’s advisory panel, said it makes little sense to adopt permanent rules this year when more complete species population studies will be available early in 2010.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is moving to ease rules on grouper, he said. “The dividing line [from South Atlantic waters] would be the yellow line down the middle of U.S. 1,” he said. “How can we have such drastically different stock assessments?”

A grouper closure this year would have devastated the sportfishing industry in the Keys, Kelly said.

“Look at the fire at Cheeca Lodge, which was responsible for hundreds of bluewater and backcountry fishing trips,” he said.

Draft rules under Amendment 16 are available online at the National Marine Fisheries Service Web site, Sero.NMFS.NOAA.gov.

Source: http://www.keysnet.com/fishing/story/61566.html

Listed as endangered in 2003, the sawfish population has declined by 95 percent from its historical numbers, hovering around 2,000 today, said Shelly Norton, who worked on the recovery plan for National Marine Fisheries Service. Before 2003, the sawfish regularly was spotted from New York to Texas. Today, most are seen between the Everglades and the Keys.

The new protections, which were listed in the Federal Registry on Thursday, run along the southwestern coast of Florida, from Florida Bay north to Charlotte Harbor. The rule proposes to protect areas in Florida that are essential for the conservation and recovery of the sawfish, Norton said.

The federal government is accepting comments on the proposed critical habitat designation for the smalltooth sawfish for 60 days.

Source: http://keysnews.com/node/7 696