FWC works to give shrimpers more ways to avoid sea turtles

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is considering rule amendments that would give Florida shrimpers more ways to avoid protected sea turtles in their fishing nets. The FWC's will consider rules in September that would allow the use of bycatch-reduction devices for shrimp trawls in Florida waters that have recently been cleared for use in adjacent federal waters. The proposed rules would also automatically allow future federally approved bycatch-reduction devices to be used in state waters. Bycatch reduction devices, which are supposed to let fish and other accidentally captured aquatic animals escape from shrimp nets, have been required in state waters for over 10 years. Two types of bycatch-reduction devices have been allowed over that time – the proposed rules will allow several other federally certified devices to be used in state waters and allow the use of new designs when they are federally approved.