Salt Water Sportsman – August 2019

CCA Florida announced the recent

deployment of a freighter, creating

the CCA Curtis Bostick Reef, a new

artificial reef named after the found-

ing member of CCA Florida, who was

involved in fisheries management for

many years, a founding board mem-

ber of Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, and

served as treasurer of the Center for

Sportfishing Policy.

Sunk on June 23, 12 nautical

miles southeast of Fort Pierce Inlet,

Florida, (approximate coordinates

are 27° 23.485'N and 80° 02.124'W),

in approximately 100 feet of water,

the freighter was donated to St. Lucie

County’s artificial reef program by

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, which

seized the ship for smuggling. MMPS

Environmental Services, McCulley

Marine, St. Lucie County staff, and vol-

unteers with the People’s Reef Project

removed all environmentally damag-

ing substances to meet permit require-

ments, and McCulley technicians cut

six large holes into the hull for sinking.

Added weight was needed to sta-

bilize the 180-foot vessel in an up-

right position, allowing its high-pro-

file sides to mimic the pinnacles of the

Oculina Banks deepwater coral reefs

unique to Florida’s Treasure and Space

coasts. Kelley Samuels, an Orlando

environmental consultant, heard the

Orlando Utilities Commission want-

ed to dispose of 200 tons of concrete

from a recently acquired concrete

plant, and she put Frank Gidus of CCA

Florida in touch with Terry Torrens

of OUC, which donated and paid for

transporting the concrete to the ship.

I have been reading SWS for

50 years, and I regret to say that

our fisheries managers at the

federal level still tinker around the

edges. Saltwater fishing remains one

of two purely extractive industries,

the other being mining. Nothing is

being done to replace what we take.

The cod didn’t disappear from the

Grand Banks on their own.

The reason is greed on the part

of fisheries managers, under the

influence of political campaign con-

tributions that keep their bosses

happy. All the senior managers are

political operatives.

What allows this mismanagement

to continue is apathy on the part of

sport fishermen. We desperately

need a lobbyist. No one speaks for

us. That’s not the case for the com-

mercial crowd.

We gripe and moan and lament,

happy to remain in our stupor and

let our beloved sport go largely to

foreign fleets to fish with impunity.

Peter Paul

Surry, Virginia

TOD / CASTS + BLASTS

Fort Pierce, Florida,

Welcomes CCA

Curtis Bostick Reef

Cooperative Statistics Program, with
the Citizen Science Association serv-
ing as a fiscal sponsor. The app provides
an easy-to-use platform for fishermen
to collect data on scamp grouper that
are released, including information on
length, depth and location of the fish,
as well as the release treatment and the
condition of the fish when released.
Information on released fish is a re-
search priority identified by the council
and an important data component for
stock assessments. The data collected
by individual anglers through the pilot
project will be confidential. With the
app in anglers’ smartphones or tablets,
a stock assessment for scamp grouper
in South Atlantic waters is scheduled to
begin later this year and be completed
in 2021.
“We are now recruiting offshore fish-
ermen that target snapper and grouper
species to participate in this initial pilot
project,” says Julia Byrd, the council’s
Citizen Science Program coordinator.
“Timing is key, so we need fishermen
to begin collecting data now,” she says.
“The ability to collect this important
data through the SAFMC Release app
offers a unique opportunity, and we’re
excited about the prospect to supple-
ment data that will be used in future
management of scamp grouper.”
The aim of the council’s Citizen
Science Program is to engage fisher-
men, scientists and fishery managers in
co-creating projects that align with the
council’s research needs.
This pilot project is designed to show
that citizen science is a cost-effective
way to supplement existing data -
collection efforts.
Additional information about the
SAFMC Scamp Release pilot project
is available on the council’s website
at safmc.net/cit-sci/scamp-release.
Fishermen interested in providing data
through the SAFMC Scamp Release
pilot project should contact Julia
Byrd at [email protected], or call
843-571-4366.

NEWS LINES

14 SALTWATERSPORTSMAN.COM SEPTEMBER 2019

WHO SPEAKS FOR US?

LETTERS

REPURPOSED: Former cargo ship is now

an artificial reef off Fort Pierce, Florida.

continued from page 13

South Atlantic Council Launches First
Citizens Data-Collection Project

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