Florida Administrative Code › 68 - FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION › 68B - Marine Fisheries › Chapter 68B-42 - MARINE LIFE › Section 68B-42.006 - Commercial Season, Harvest Limits

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
(1)
				The regulations in this section apply in all state waters and, in absence of
				any regulations for the species in federal waters, apply in adjacent federal
				Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) waters.
(2) Except as provided in Rule
				68B-42.008, F.A.C., no person
				shall harvest, possess, or land quantities of tropical ornamental marine life
				species or tropical ornamental marine plants in excess of the bag limits
				established in Rule 68B-42.005, F.A.C., unless such
				person is fishing under or harvesting under a valid saltwater products license
				with both a marine life fishery endorsement and a restricted species
				endorsement issued by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
(3) Persons harvesting tropical ornamental
				marine life species or tropical ornamental marine plants for commercial
				purposes shall have a season that begins on October 1 of each year and
				continues through September 30 of the following year. These persons shall not
				harvest, possess, or land tropical ornamental marine life species in excess of
				the following limits:
(a) A limit of 75
				angelfish (Family Pomacanthidae) per person per day or 150 angelfish per vessel
				per day, whichever is less.
(b) A
				limit of 50 butterflyfishes (Family Chaetodontidae) per day per unique
				saltwater products license number with a marine life endorsement, and a maximum
				possession limit of 100 aboard a vessel at any time with two of more unique
				saltwater license numbers with marine life endorsements aboard.
(c) A limit of 75 porkfish
				(A
nisotremus virginicus
) per day per unique saltwater products
				license number with a marine life endorsement, and a maximum possession limit
				of 150 porkfish aboard a vessel at any time with two or more unique saltwater
				products license numbers with marine life endorsements aboard.
(d) A limit of 50 Spanish hogfish
				(
Bodianus rufus
) and 50 Cuban (spotfin) hogfish
				(
Bodianus pulchellus
) per day per unique saltwater products
				license number with a marine life endorsement, and a maximum possession limit
				of 100 of either aboard a vessel at any time with two or more unique saltwater
				products license numbers with marine life endorsements aboard.
(e) A limit of 400 dwarf seahorses
				(
Hippocampus zosterae
) per person or per vessel per day,
				whichever is less.
(f) There shall
				be no limits on the harvest for commercial purposes of octocorals unless and
				until the season for all harvest of octocorals is closed. The quota for all
				persons who harvest allowable octocoral is 70, 000 colonies. When this quota is
				projected to be met, the season for harvest of octocorals shall close until the
				following October 1, upon notice given by the Executive Director of the Fish
				and Wildlife Conservation Commission, in the manner provided in Section
				120.81(5), F.S.
				Each person harvesting any octocoral as authorized by this rule may also
				harvest substrate within 1 inch of the perimeter of the holdfast at the base of
				the octocoral, provided that such substrate remains attached to the
				octocoral.
(g) A limit of zero (0)
				giant Caribbean or "pink-tipped" anemones (Genus Condylactis) per unique
				saltwater product license number bearing a unique marine life endorsement
				number with a maximum possession limit of zero (0) aboard a vessel at any time
				with two unique marine life endorsement numbers aboard.
(h) A limit of one gallon of starsnails
				(
Lithopoma americanum, Lithopoma tectum
, or
Astralium
				phoebium
) per day per unique saltwater products license number with a
				marine life endorsement, and a maximum possession limit of 2 gallons aboard a
				vessel at any time with two or more unique saltwater products license numbers
				with marine life endorsements aboard.
(i) A limit of one quart of blue-legged or
				tricolor hermit crabs (
Clibanarius tricolor
) per person or per
				vessel each day, whichever is less.
(j) A limit of 100 single polyps in the order
				Corallimorpharia per day per unique saltwater products license number with a
				marine life endorsement, and a maximum possession limit of 200 single
				corallimorph polyps aboard a vessel at any time with two or more unique
				saltwater products license numbers with marine life endorsements aboard. These
				polyps must be harvested using a flexible blade, such as a putty knife, razor
				blade, or paint scraper with a blade no wider than 2 inches.
(k) A limit of 1 gallon of polyps of the
				order Zoanthidea per day per unique saltwater products license number with a
				marine life endorsement, and a maximum possession limit of 2 gallons aboard a
				vessel at any time with two or more unique saltwater products license numbers
				with the marine life endorsement aboard. Zoanthid polyps must be harvested
				using a flexible blade, such as a putty knife, razor blade, or paint scraper
				with a blade no wider than 2 inches.
(l) A limit of 400 emerald crabs
				(
Mithraculus sculptus
) per person or per vessel per day,
				whichever is less.
(m) A limit of
				one quart of scarlet reef hermits (
Paguristes cadenati
) per
				day per unique saltwater products license number with a marine life
				endorsement, and a maximum possession limit of two quarts aboard a vessel at
				any time with two or more unique saltwater products license numbers with marine
				life endorsements aboard.
(n) There
				is no harvest limit of ornamental sponges as defined in Rule
				68B-42.001, F.A.C., however in
				all waters north of a line extending due west from the southernmost point of
				Egmont Key in the Gulf of Mexico, northward and westward these sponges can be
				collected with substrate within 1 inch of the perimeter of the holdfast at the
				base of the sponge and extending 1 inch below the holdfast of the sponge. South
				of this line, no substrate is allowed.
(o) A limit of 200 sea cucumbers (Class
				Holothuroidea) per person or per vessel per day, whichever is
				less.