MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. -- Florida leads the country in recreational fishing. According to FWC, the industry brings in $8-billion a year, has 2.4 million anglers and supports nearly 115-thousand jobs.
Red Tide is putting a dent in sports fishing for charter boats.
Some fishermen are seeing their profits sink to the bottom.
Captain Scott Moore has been helping anglers catch the big one for 40 years, but red tide in Manatee County’s Palma Sola Bay is making it harder to reel one in.
We took a ride with Captain Scott Moore with Moore Fishing. We spot fish littering the water’s surface.
Captain Scott points to a fish in the water. He says, “He’s dying to see the pinfish spinning. Red tide is killing fish right there.”
From bait fish to large game fish, red tide is suffocating them.
“When it comes to game fish, one of our prized fish is the Snook and it’s been really detrimental,” says Captain Scott.
“I can’t save him, he’s going to die,” says a worker at the Coquina Beach South Boat Ramp as she pulled a 42-inch Snook out of the red tide infested water. “Look at him, he’s twitching like crazy,” said the worker before calling FWC to pick him up.
Snook season starts September 1st and lasts for two months. Captain Scott says the state needs to change the rules to ‘catch and release’ only.
“Be smart about it. If you release that one fish and let it spawn next year, the survival of that population and chance to rebuild will be that much better,” said Captain Scott.
Sarasota Bay has seen more dead game fish than Palma Sola Bay.
“A lot of the bigger fish race away, it gets out of it unless they get trapped in canals,” says Captain Scott.
We’ve seen mullet trapped and red tide get to fish faster than they can swim.
Captain Scott shouts to Justin and Benjamin on their crab boat. “Seen any red game fish?” Benjamin responds, “Seen red water!”
Crabs aren’t biting a lot either.
“Got a trap over here, four big crabs,” says Justin. But he adds that red tide has cost him $500-600 a week. Justin says, “Luckily, I have a job with a guy up the river or I’d be broke.”
Reeder says it’s the worst red tide they’ve seen and Benjamin is 80 years old. He has been fishing since he was 16.
Justin says, “It’s the most deadly. Not the biggest, but the most deadly.”
There is some good news: Captain Scott says there is game fish to be caught as little as five miles away in Tampa Bay and the Manatee River, and even further out.
“I’ll go 20-30 miles to produce fish. I’m not going to produce fish in this water right now, or in Sarasota Bay,” says Captain Scott. His philosophy when taking out a customer is ‘no fish, no pay,’ so he makes sure to find the fish.
Meanwhile, the smaller fish that have recently died won’t go to waste. Pelicans and dolphins are having a feast.
Captain Scott also suggests having everyone pay a $10 fee for a saltwater fishing license. He says it’s money that can be used for research and restocking.
Salt water licenses bring in $30 million in revenue to the state, but not everyone has to pay. Captain Scott says there should be a one-time fee for everyone. He says a property owner 65 years or older does not pay.
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Source: https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/red-tide/red-tide-sinking-profits-of-tampa-bay-sports-fishing-charters/67-585904669
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