During their meeting this week, FWC Commissioners …
“approved a resolution to request that Gov. Charlie Crist ask the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to provide disaster relief to Florida’s Gulf commercial reef fish longline industry and related seafood dealers. This action is needed because a pending federal emergency rule to protect sea turtles will effectively close down the use of longline fishing gear to catch reef fish in the Gulf.
Federal disaster relief would give the longline industry time to adjust to the closure so the industry and related seafood dealers can stay in business and continue to supply fresh grouper for consumers.”
(information quoted from the FWC website)
We have the full text of the resolution viewable here or you can download it in .pdf format from this link.