Florida Administrative Code › 68 - FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION › 68B - Marine Fisheries › Chapter 68B-13 - STONE CRABS › Section 68B-13.010 - Stone Crab Trap Limitation Program

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
(1)
				PURPOSE AND INTENT. Rapid growth of Florida's stone crab trap industry has led
				to an excessive number of traps in the water, declining yields per trap, and an
				increase in conflicts between stone crabbers and shrimp trawlers. The expanding
				number of traps, buoys and ropes impede navigation and damage hard bottom and
				sea grass beds. In an effort to solve these problems, the Fish and Wildlife
				Conservation Commission is establishing a trap limitation program for the stone
				crab fishery in which the principal goal is to stabilize the fishery while
				generating an optimum sustainable yield utilizing the fewest number of
				traps.
(2) CERTIFICATES AND TRAP
				TAGS. Each holder of a stone crab trap endorsement must have a certificate on
				record for each stone crab trap used or possessed in or on the water. In
				addition, attached to each trap shall be a tag, issued annually by the
				Commission, which corresponds to a valid certificate.
(a) Certificates.
1. A person is eligible for the initial
				allocation of stone crab trap certificates if he or she possessed a saltwater
				products license (SPL) with a restricted species endorsement and a stone crab
				endorsement during the 1999/2000 fishing season, and can establish pursuant to
				Commission trip ticket records generated under the provisions of Section
				379.365, F.S., that he or she
				had at least 300 pounds of stone crab claw landings associated with any one
				SPL, during any one fishing season from 1993/1994 through 1998/1999. A SPL with
				less than 300 pounds is not eligible to receive stone crab trap
				certificates.
2. Once eligible, a
				person will qualify for the initial allocation of certificates for each SPL
				based on whichever is less, the number of traps listed on the SPL application,
				or the pounds of claws landed divided by 2, as reported through the trip ticket
				program during any one of the applicable fishing seasons. The number of
				certificates allocated will be based on the highest cumulative total of
				qualified certificates for each SPL during one fishing season, 1995/1996
				through 1997/1998.
a. A person who possesses
				an individual SPL and a vessel SPL with the number of traps listed only on one
				license's application form and landings primarily reported on the other license
				shall be considered to have only one SPL for purpose of this section and
				allocated trap certificates as described above.
b. A person who has purchased another's stone
				crab business, between July 1, 1995 and July 1, 2000 shall receive the trap
				certificates allocated to the seller, without a passive reduction, provided
				that they can submit documentation showing that the seller's landings history
				was specifically part of the sale-purchase agreement. Acceptable documentation
				includes a copy of a contract or bill of sale specifically identifying landings
				history as one of the items included in the sale of the business or a letter
				from the seller to the Commission stating that he/she is the recipient of the
				original trap certificate allocation and describing what specifically was
				included in the sale of the business. The seller of a stone crab business that
				included the landings history cannot receive an additional allocation of
				certificates based on landings subsequent to sale of that business. Any trap
				certificates obtained through purchase of a stone crab business after July 1,
				2000 will be subject to passive reduction at the time of
				transfer.
3. Certificates
				shall only be issued to natural persons. For the purposes of this section, the
				term "natural person, " or "person, " refers to a human being and does not
				include a firm, organization, partnership, association, corporation, or other
				business or legal entity or group or combination. All endorsement holders other
				than natural persons shall designate the person or persons to whom they are
				assigning their certificates and the number thereof to each, if more than one
				person is designated, on Commission Form DMF-SL3070 (07-01) (Certificate
				Designation for Business or Corporation), incorporated herein by
				reference.
4. A firm, organization,
				partnership, association, corporation, or other business entity or legal entity
				or group or combination can neither receive an initial allocation nor purchase
				and possess in their name stone crab trap certificates.
5. Certificates shall only be issued to
				persons who possess a current year saltwater products license with a stone crab
				endorsement, neither of which are under suspension or revocation.
6. The Commission shall notify all holders of
				a 1999/2000 saltwater products license with a stone crab endorsement of their
				initial allocation of stone crab trap certificates; those persons will indicate
				either their acceptance of or intent to appeal the initial allocation on
				Commission Forms DMF-SL3050 (07-01) (Statement of Acceptance or Appeal of Stone
				Crab Certificate Allocation), and DMF-SL 3060 (07-01) (Application for
				Appeal/Review of Stone Crab Trap Certificate Allocation), incorporated herein
				by reference.
7. In no event shall
				any person, firm, corporation, or other business entity, possess or control,
				directly or indirectly, more than 1% of the total available certificates issued
				in any fishing season.
8.
				Certificates will only be issued in whole numbers; there are no fractional
				certificates.
9. There must be one
				or more certificates allocated to a certificate holder in order for the
				certificate holder to have a trap certificate account established. A person may
				have a saltwater products license/stone crab endorsement with no trap
				certificates; a person may not receive trap certificates without a stone crab
				endorsement.
10. Partial payment of
				annual certificate fees will not be accepted. However, upon receipt of the trap
				certificate billing statement for 2002/2003 stone crab trap tags, a certificate
				holder may submit fees for only those trap certificates that they wish to
				retain in their account. Any trap certificates for which the fees are not paid
				at that time will be forfeited and permanently removed from the
				fishery.
11. Stone crab trap
				certificates and tags shall not be issued to certificate holders until all
				license fees, certificate fees, surcharges and any other outstanding fees owed
				the Commission have been paid in full and are current and the certificate
				holder's SPL, stone crab endorsement are not otherwise inactive.
12. Trap certificates are considered to be
				inactive if:
a. The certificate holder fails
				to renew his/her saltwater products license or has his/her license suspended or
				revoked,
b. The certificate holder
				does not renew his/her stone crab endorsement or the endorsement has been
				suspended or revoked,
c. All annual
				certificate fees have not been paid in full, or
d. The certificate holder is
				deceased.
13. After the
				2002/2003 fishing year, the fees for unpaid certificates will accumulate each
				year a certificate holder fails to pay his or her annual certificate fee.
				Partial payment of accumulated certificate fees will not be accepted. However,
				any number of certificates may be permanently surrendered by the certificate
				holder at any time by completing Commission Form DMF-SL0500 (7-04),
				incorporated herein by reference. In the event a holder's annual certificate
				fee is not paid for a period of 3 years, the certificates shall be considered
				abandoned and permanently removed from the pool of available certificates. All
				prior certificate fees must be paid in order to keep certificates current and
				avoid a declaration of abandonment.
14. In the event a holder's trap certificates
				are inactive pursuant to sub-subparagraphs 12.a.-12.c. for a period of 3 years,
				the certificates shall be considered abandoned and permanently removed from the
				pool of available certificates.