Just when things start getting good, the commercial guys want to come in and screw it all up again. For several years now, the ban on commercial longlining in the Straits of Florida and along Florida's east coast fueled a resurgence in the number of game fish caught by recreational anglers. The once-dead recreational swordfishery bounced back quickly, spurring a huge economic boon to south Florida. Now, before that same successful fishery gets a chance to spread up the coast, the longliners want to move in and sweep it up. The commercial longline fishery wants to put 13 "experimental" longliners back into the closed areas under the guise of bycatch research.

I'm just wondering why the millions of tons of bycatch already attributed to this industry haven't convinced them that this is a bad method of harvesting seafood. I'm also wondering why they couldn't do their research in areas that are already open to longline fishing. I'm all for those guys testing new gear to eliminate bycatch, but why do they have to do it in closed waters where they'll never actually be using the gear in the first place? That’s a lot like testing your wetsuit in the desert!

The government did a good thing by closing the coast of Florida to longline fishing ... It would be a huge mistake to allow that good deed to come undone. If you'd like to see the state of Florida keep a healthy recreational swordfishery — one of the few that exists anywhere in the world — then write your senators at [email]Mel_Martinez@martinez.senate.gov[/email] and [email]Senator@billnelson.senate.gov[/email]. You can also email Michael Clarke of the Highly Migratory Species Management Division, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, at [email]sf1.030107@noaa.gov[/email].