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FWC AWARDED FEDERAL GRANT TO HELP FLORIDA KEYS TRAP FISHERMEN
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has received a $4.8 million award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to assist spiny lobster and stone crab fishermen in the Florida Keys who had uninsurable gear losses due to severe storms in 1998.
The much-anticipated relief assistance was pursued by Gregory P. DiDomenico, executive director of Monroe County Commercial Fishermen, Inc., a Marathon-based non-profit organization composed of professional seafood harvesters and processors in the Florida Keys.
"This financial award will help commercial fishermen in the Florida Keys recover from back-to-back natural disasters which caused severe economic hardships on the communities in this area," DiDomenico said.
Hurricane Georges and Tropical Storm Mitch delivered a one-two punch to the region in the fall of 1998. The impact of these storms on the Keys' spiny lobster and stone crab fisheries was devastating. The fiscal hardships of this uninsurable loss combined with reduced incomes to fishermen unable to fish were significant. Disruption of the spiny lobster and stone crab fisheries adversely affected Monroe County's economy because these fisheries comprise approximately 75 percent of the value of all seafood harvested in the Keys.
In late March 1999, Florida Governor Jeb Bush formally requested a declaration of a fishery resource disaster from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Governor Bush's request received strong backing from the department's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Key members of Florida's congressional delegation and the Florida Legislature, several Florida state agencies and regional fisheries management councils and commissions, and Monroe County commissioners added their support for the governor's request.
In September 1999, the Commerce Department officially determined that Florida had suffered a fishery disaster with losses nearing $6 million. The agency further concluded that use of any funds provided to assist fishermen must be consistent with Florida's plans to gradually reduce traps in the spiny lobster and stone crab fisheries. Congress then passed an emergency appropriation for the disaster assistance in June 2000.
"Everybody involved deserves an enormous amount of credit for helping us receive this appropriation," DiDomenico said. "Governor Bush led the charge, and Senators Bob Graham and Connie Mack, Congressmen Peter Deutsch and C.W. Young, Representative Ken Sorensen, and NMFS acting administrator Dr. William Hogarth and their respective staffs all played crucial roles in gaining support for our relief efforts."
FWC's Division of Marine Fisheries received official notice of the award on March 14, and is currently developing and implementing a process to identify affected fishermen and reimburse them for some, if not all, of their eligible losses in a timely manner with minimal administrative cost. The program will also assist in updating current knowledge of the effectiveness of spiny lobster and stone crab trap reduction programs and gathering information to guide management decisions regarding trap reduction programs.
"We have been working very closely with FWC staff all along, and a program of this size takes time to develop," DiDomenico said. "I ask our fishermen to please remain patient. The assistance will be coming."
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