The Florida Senate

¹370.14  Crawfish; regulation.--

(1)  It is the intent of the Legislature to maintain the crawfish industry for the economy of the state and to conserve the stocks supplying this industry. The provisions of this act regulating the taking of saltwater crawfish are for the purposes of ensuring and maintaining the highest possible production of saltwater crawfish.

(2)(a)  Each trap used for taking or attempting to take crawfish must have a trap number permanently attached to the trap and the buoy. This trap number may be issued by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission upon the receipt of application by the owner of the traps and accompanied by the payment of a fee of $100. The design of the applications and of the trap number shall be determined by the commission. Any trap or device used in taking or attempting to take crawfish, other than a trap with the trap number attached as prescribed in this paragraph, shall be seized and destroyed by the commission. The proceeds of the fees imposed by this paragraph shall be deposited and used as provided in paragraph (b). The commission may adopt rules to carry out the intent of this section.

(b)  Fees collected pursuant to paragraph (a) shall be deposited as follows:

1.  Fifty percent of the fees collected shall be deposited in the Marine Resources Conservation Trust Fund for use in enforcing the provisions of paragraph (a) through aerial and other surveillance and trap retrieval.

2.  Fifty percent of the fees collected shall be deposited as provided in s. 370.142(6).

(3)  The crawfish license must be on board the boat, and both the license and the harvested crawfish shall be subject to inspection at all times. Only one license shall be issued for each boat. The crawfish license number must be prominently displayed above the topmost portion of the boat so as to be easily and readily identified.

(4)  It is a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083, for any person willfully to molest any crawfish traps, lines, or buoys belonging to another without permission of the licenseholder.

(5)  Any crawfish licenseholder, upon selling licensed crawfish traps, shall furnish the commission notice of such sale of all or part of his or her interest within 15 days thereof. Any holder of said license shall also notify the commission within 15 days if his or her address no longer conforms to the address appearing on the license and shall, as a part of such notification, furnish the commission with his or her new address.

(6)  A person who takes more crawfish per boat or per person than that number set therefor by rule of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for recreational harvesters within any 24-hour period by any method other than with traps or similar devices must also pay a fee of $100 and obtain a trap number to be displayed on his or her boat.

(7)(a)  By a special permit granted by the commission, a Florida-licensed seafood dealer may lawfully import, process, and package saltwater crawfish or uncooked tails of the species Panulirus argus during the closed season. However, crawfish landed under special permit shall not be sold in the state.

(b)  The licensed seafood dealer importing any such crawfish under the permit shall, 12 hours prior to the time the seagoing vessel or airplane delivering such imported crawfish enters the state, notify the commission as to the seagoing vessel's name or the airplane's registration number and its captain, location, and point of destination.

(c)  At the time the crawfish cargo is delivered to the permitholder's place of business, the crawfish cargo shall be weighed and shall be available for inspection by the commission. A signed receipt of such quantity in pounds shall be forwarded to the commission within 48 hours after shipment weigh-in completion. If requested by the commission, the weigh-in process will be delayed up to 4 hours to allow for a commission representative to be present during the process.

(d)  Within 48 hours after shipment weigh-in completion, the permitholder shall submit to the commission, on forms provided by the commission, a sworn report of the quantity in pounds of the saltwater crawfish received, which report shall include the location of said crawfish and a sworn statement that said crawfish were taken at least 50 miles from Florida's shoreline. The landing of crawfish or crawfish tails from which the eggs, swimmerettes, or pleopods have been removed; the falsification of information as to area from which crawfish were obtained; or the failure to file the report called for in this section shall be grounds to revoke the permit.

(e)  Each permitholder shall keep throughout the period of the closed season copies of the bill of sale or invoices covering each transaction involving crawfish imported under this permit. Such invoices and bills shall be kept available at all times for inspection by the commission.

(8)(a)  A Florida-licensed seafood dealer may obtain a special permit to import, process, and package uncooked tails of saltwater crawfish upon the payment of the sum of $100 to the commission.

(b)  A special permit must be obtained by any airplane or seagoing vessel other than a common carrier used to transport saltwater crawfish or crawfish tails for purchase by licensed seafood dealers for purposes as provided herein upon the payment of $50.

(c)  All special permits issued under this subsection are nontransferable.

(9)  No common carrier or employee of said carrier may carry, knowingly receive for carriage, or permit the carriage of any crawfish of the species Panulirus argus, regardless of where taken, during the closed season, except of the species Panulirus argus lawfully imported from a foreign country for reshipment outside of the territorial limits of the state under United States Customs bond or in accordance with paragraph (7)(a).

(10)(a)  In addition to licenses required by s. 370.0605, any person who takes and possesses any crawfish for recreational purposes from any waters of the state must have a crawfish permit. The permit remains valid for 12 months after the date of issuance. The cost of each crawfish permit shall be $2. Each crawfish permit issued pursuant to this section shall be valid only during the times established by law for the taking of crawfish. The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, any tax collector, or any subagent may sell the permit and collect the fees therefor.

(b)  The intent of paragraph (a) is to expand research and management to increase crawfish populations in the state without detracting from other programs. Moneys generated from crawfish permits shall be used exclusively for programs to benefit crawfish populations.

(c)  All permit fees collected by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shall be transferred to the Marine Resources Conservation Trust Fund within 7 days following the last business day of the week in which the fees were received by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

(11)  The commission may conduct competitions to periodically select a designer of the crawfish stamp. Also, the commission may enhance revenues from the sale of crawfish stamps by issuing special editions for stamp collectors and other such special purposes.

History.--s. 2, ch. 28145, 1953; s. 1, ch. 29896, 1955; s. 1, ch. 65-53; s. 1, ch. 65-251; ss. 25, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 1, ch. 69-228; s. 1, ch. 70-140; s. 1, ch. 70-162; s. 1, ch. 70-369; ss. 292, 293, ch. 71-136; s. 1, ch. 72-76; s. 1, ch. 72-250; s. 1, ch. 73-45; s. 1, ch. 73-211; s. 2, ch. 74-220; s. 1, ch. 76-107; s. 110, ch. 77-104; ss. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ch. 77-142; s. 1, ch. 77-174; s. 8, ch. 83-134; s. 2, ch. 84-121; s. 1, ch. 85-163; ss. 16, 17, ch. 85-234; s. 11, ch. 86-240; s. 3, ch. 87-116; s. 3, ch. 87-120; s. 1, ch. 88-369; ss. 5, 12, ch. 89-98; s. 4, ch. 89-270; s. 10, ch. 90-243; s. 3, ch. 90-310; s. 2, ch. 91-154; s. 228, ch. 94-356; s. 91, ch. 95-143; s. 993, ch. 95-148; s. 12, ch. 95-414; s. 9, ch. 96-300; s. 32, ch. 96-321; s. 40, ch. 97-160; s. 22, ch. 97-164; s. 20, ch. 98-227; s. 155, ch. 99-13; s. 107, ch. 99-245; ss. 38, 42, ch. 2000-197; s. 7, ch. 2000-212; s. 42, ch. 2000-362; s. 40, ch. 2000-364.

¹Note.--Section 8, ch. 83-134, as amended by s. 2, ch. 84-121, and by s. 1, ch. 85-163, repealed the then-existing section, effective July 1, 1986, and further provided that if the Governor and Cabinet had not adopted appropriate rules by July 1, 1986, it would remain in force until such rules were effective. Section 9, ch. 83-134, provided that, prior to the adoption of rules amending, readopting, or repealing those provisions set forth in s. 8, the Marine Fisheries Commission would hold a public hearing thereon, and no such amendment, readoption, or repeal would be acted upon until it had been determined, based upon appropriate findings of fact, that such action would not adversely affect the resource. The Marine Fisheries Commission was transferred to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission by s. 3, ch. 99-245.