Got this email when I got to the office this morning if anyone is interested.
Greetings,
The first draft of the Florida Black Bass Management Plan is available for your review and comment. It is in a formative stage. We are looking for additional ideas and juggling ideas provided by the public over the past six months. During that time, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) staff has sought public input to identify issues and possible solutions to incorporate into this first draft. This is a very flexible document, and we need your input to make it work for you. You'll see in the survey that none of the proposed actions are set; your guidance will help to add/delete or refine appropriate management actions (www.SurveyMonkey.com/s/Florida_BBMP).
Nearly 5,000 people completed the first survey or spoke with our biologists. Their input was reviewed by a Technical Assistance Group (TAG) representing a variety of public stakeholder segments such as avid anglers, tackle shop owners, lure manufacturers, tournament anglers, fishing guides, outdoor writers, university researchers and tourism destination marketers. Subsequently, fishery biologists, law enforcement officers, research scientists and program administrators made their best effort to flesh out a series of action items to implement proposed solutions to problems identified by the public. They also provided some background to document the current situation and tools available to fisheries biologists to improve your bass fishing enjoyment, compiled a glossary to explain some terms and acronyms the general public may not routinely encounter, and added a series of literature references for further information. Finally, some of the more complex issues have a pro-con dialogue available to help inform you and other stakeholders of the complexities of some of these management issues that must accommodate multiple users.
We realize the amount of information contained here may be more than many of you wish to wade through. Therefore, this survey is formatted as an outline to allow you to comment on the sections that are of interest to you, and skip those areas you choose not to read. The entire draft Florida Black Bass Management Plan (PDF 400kb) can be downloaded if you want, or read online.
We look forward to your input, and ask that you please respond by October 18, 2010, so we can compile public comments, discuss them with the TAG and our staff and create an even more refined plan, for further public review. Together we will make Florida the undisputed “Bass Fishing Capital of the World.”
Thank you for participating,
Tom Champeau, Director
Division of Freshwater Fisheries Management
