Bonefish Given Gamefish Status in Florida

[Onshore]

Bonefish Given Gamefish Status in Florida

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission voted last week to elevate the Bonefish to Saltwater Gamefish status in order to elevate it's reputation as one of the states' leading sportsfishing targets.

Rodney Barreto, chairman of the FWC, explained why the commission felt gamefish status was necessary. "Bonefish are one of the major reasons Florida is the 'Fishing Capital of the World. We took this action to emphasize how important the bonefish fishery is to Florida anglers, visitors and our recreational fishing industry"

Although they are eaten in the Bahamas and in the tropics, there's never been a commercial market threat in the U.S. They are very boney and most fishermen release the fish after it has given them the good fight for which it is known. There has been an 18-inch minimum size limit and a one fish per day bag limit for those wishing to keep one.

[maximmax]

Making the striped bass a gamefish will simply mean that those who wish to catch their own will be given priority over those who want to buy their own at market. copied from Stripers Forever

[sweet+salt]

I have not been tempted to try eating a bonefish, not only because I love them but for their boney reputation as table fare too.

Perhaps we need to exercise a fact-based public relations campaign informing anglers and the public alike of the long-term health risks of eating striped bass. I like to shock folks at cocktail parties by proclaiming bass "inedible" by virtue of nearly all of them being spawned in the Chesapeake or Hudson. "Go ahead, eat stripers and permanently saturate your body with PCB's, Mirex, Mercury, Dioxin, heavy metals...why not just take a cancer pill now and be done with it!", I like to proclaim. Oh, I eat fish for my health, they like to say. You are uninformed and a victim of special economic interests who hope to profit from the slaughter of the only wild animals it is legal to sell as food in the US until the seas are devoid of anything with a fin, I say. Of course, I happen to have equal interest in the health and well being of fishes along with humans. Eat reproducible animals grown in captivity, I suggest. Oh, but they could have hormones and anti-biotics...not as bad as the stuff NOT listed in the ingredients of the striped bass you, in the future, are not going to eat.