The Marine life fishery in Florida, 1990-98

Marine Fisheries Review, Wntr, 2003 by Sherry L. Larkin, Charles M. Adams

The landings of the majority of marine ornamental species are measured in terms of the number of specimens collected live by the harvester. Landings of some species of invertebrates are, however, measured in pounds (e.g. live rock and live sand) and gallons (e.g. snails and plants). To facilitate comparisons between fish and invertebrates and among invertebrates, data is most frequently summarized by landed value (i.e. harvester revenue calculated from the quantities and prices reported on the trip tickets) vs. volume.

Results

Industry Participants

The number of licensed marine life dealers increased significantly in the mid 1990's, but by 1998 this number had declined to the level observed in the early 1990's (Table 1). In 1998, there were 66 licensed dealers in the State of Florida. Individuals can be licensed as both a collector and dealer, and many hold both licenses (Larkin and Degner, 2001). Information on all other permits, licenses, and endorsements are also summarized in Table 1 for the 1990-91 to 1998-99 seasons.

The MLE is the only license/permit that applies exclusively to the marine life industry. The total number of MLE's increased from 1990 to 1997. In 1997, about 800 endorsements had been issued, whereas fewer than 200 were issued in 1990. The number of active marine life endorsements (i.e. endorsements with reported landings), however, has remained fewer than 230. Only 128 MLE's were active in 1998. The total number of MLE's issued declined recently due to a moratorium established 1 July 1998 that will remain in effect at least until 1 July 2005. However, there continues to remain a significant amount of latent effort in the fishery (33% in 1990 and 83% in 1998).

Product Types

A total of 318 marine ornamental species were landed in Florida for commercial purposes from 1990 to 1998. The total includes 181 species of fish (57%) and 137 invertebrate species (43%), which includes live rock, live sand, and various plant species. Slightly over 70% of fish species (121) and about half of the invertebrate species (71) are classified as "restricted" (i.e. requiring an additional license to harvest).

Aside from the type of organism and restricted status, each specimen is identified by its common name, genus, species, and/or family by FMRI. For the fishes, species that share a common name typically are from the same family. For example, there are nine species of parrotfish that are all members of the Scaridae family. Of the 181 fish species landed, there are a total of 67 common names representing 51 families (e.g. bass, groupers, hamlets, and perch are all members of the Serranidae family). The common fish and invertebrate names for live marine specimens harvested for commercial use in Florida are listed in Table 2.

For the invertebrate species, common names do not match specific families as closely as the fish species. For example, the 26 "snails" represent 21 different families and the 15 "crabs" represent 10 families. When grouped by common name, however, the 137 species are reduced to 32 common-name groups. In this analysis, live rock and live sand are frequently distinguished from the remaining invertebrates, which are not further divided.