The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1947-09-18
TOO
LATE
TO
CLASSIFY
BY RUSSELL KAY

pooi sotAiiiSiSldI liSIlSi TiGIl, Uut
knowing some of them personal
| ly and realizing some of their
lproblems ! can't help but SYM
pathize with them.
They have certainly been TAX
ing it on the chin lately with the
''red tide" messing them up on
the Gulf Coast and the State
Fish and Game Department rid
ing herd on 'em from Tallahas-
see.
/ Publicity given the fred tide"
just naturally knocked the bot
tom out of the fish business as
far as the Gulf Coast is concern
ed. Despite the fact that health
authorities point out that fish
from uncontaminated waters are
good to eat, lot of floks still
refuse to eat any kind of sea-
| food.
Then along came the Game. and
Fresh Water Fish Department
with an order closing Lake Okee-
chobee, the st. Johns River and
Lake George to commercial fish
ing and as result commercial
fishing in Florida has been dealt
| a staggering blow and many
fishermen and their families are
on the verge of starvation.
The fight between sports and
commercial fishermen is an. old
one and both have place in the
Florida picture and much hooey
and misinformation has been
dished out on both sides.
Personally, l don't agree with
some of the rabid sport fisher
men who blame the commercial
fishermen for all the fish they do
not catch and insist that if all
commercial fishing were elimin-
ated our lakes and streams would
be so full of fish they would over
flow their banks.
| don't think that commercial
fishing in the waters of the st.
Johns or Lake Okeechobee are
hurting sports fishing to any ex-
tent; in fact. in removing des-
troyers of fish such as turtles,
gars and the like, they are help
| full.
AS far as protecting the black
bass in these waters, they are
already protected. and cannot be
sold so / don't see what all the
ruckus is about. The red tide"
has destroyed more fish han
commercial and sports fishermen
would catch in five years, but |
don't think it will ruin fishing
and / believe when the tide has
disappeared we'll still catch
about as many fish as we ever
did.
1t has been my experience that
| fishing today is darn sight bet
ter in Lake Okeechobee and the
st. Johns than in a whole hell
iva lot of the so-called protected
and stocked lakes that CONNER
cial fishermen never 60 near.
Why, l don't know, but I'll trade
you a hundred protected fresh
water lakes I've fished in for a
couple of acres of Lake Okeecho-
bee any time,
Commercial fishing is an inn
portant Florida industry and it
should be given encouragement.
1t provides an income to thous-
ands who have no other means
of livelihood and brings millions
of dollars into the state.
Today, commercial fishing is at
just about a standstill, fishing
boats are tide up and fishermen
are idle. Catfish fishermen along
the St. Johns River from Jack
sonville to Lake George will tell
you that the closing of those
waters to commercial fishing has
their business on the verge of
disaster.
| AS evidence of the situation
they point to rows of fishing
boats tied at the docks, dozens
lof nets on row after row and idle
employees hanging around. In the
LelakaGeorgetown area, what
commercial fishing is going on is
confined to the operation of few
traps and some trot-lines. The big
| LOO foot nets have been brought
in and racked.
| Here a 100000 industry is at
a standstill. The annual sale of
the blue-Skinned eats" princi-
lpally to western markets, ran be-
yond the two million dollar fig
ure in 1945. The State Board of
| Conservation reports that a total
of 3,326,l12 pounds were taken
from these waters.
AT an average of 34c per pound
which the fishermen say they re-
celve, that amounts to 1,l30,87S
which you will have to admit is
not hay. Take that kind of money
out of circulation and somebody
Is bound to go hungry and I'm
not talking about the folks who
have been eating the fish either
No one, APPARENTLY, has any &C.
curate figures on the amount OF
money invested in commercial
fishing equipment, including al