New law allows bass to be farm-raised, sold in Florida markets

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – Coming soon to your vicinity seafood market: farm-raised Florida largemouth bass. Thanks to a instrumentality passed this spring, bass volition grow its popularity from a favourite sportfishing people to the seafood income database successful the Sunshine State.

At look value, the contented seems simple. Allow a fashionable well-known taxon of food to beryllium farmed and sold successful Florida — 2 things that person not been allowed for decades.

However, erstwhile Florida authorities collide with food absorption policy, thing is easy. That was evident Thursday during a presumption astatine the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission gathering successful St. Augustine.

How did bass go a meal choice?

The Legislature this twelvemonth passed HB 669, introduced by Rep. Dana Trabulsy, R-Fort Pierce, to let for the aquaculture manufacture to see the Florida strain of largemouth bass arsenic a taxon it tin rise and sell.

“It’s a large accidental for radical to bask bass, conscionable similar they bask catfish oregon tilapia oregon salmon and the different food that are farmed,” Trabulsy told Florida Politics successful April.

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There are implicit 4,300 aquaculture facilities successful the U.S., including implicit 1,000 successful Florida, wherever determination are implicit 1,500 types of fish, mollusks, crustaceans, reptiles, amphibians and plants grown. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) oversees this industry.

The authorities was based connected economics. Farm-raised largemouth bass is valued astatine $5.75 per pound, a 90% summation from 2013, and 195 farms reported producing largemouth bass for nutrient successful 2018 for a full worth of $27 million, the FWC told TCPalm.

In Florida, bass is simply a restricted-species protected from becoming a commercially harvested commodity, similar snook and redfish.

Why isn’t this a bully idea?

Under the caller law, the FWC indispensable make a argumentation to let for farm-raised bass sales, but immoderate commissioners reason the measure, saying it should stay a athletics fish.

“I don’t deliberation we should bash this,” said Commissioner Gary Lester of Oxford. “Yes, we bash person an aquaculture industry. We person a batch of food and a batch of jobs successful it. But the largemouth bass has a peculiar iconic spot successful our authorities and successful our economy.”

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If a farm-raised bass escapes into a lake, volition determination beryllium a familial corruption of the unsocial Florida strain, Lester worried.

“If that happens, we could suffer familial purity. This bureau has the work to support that. I’m precise acrophobic erstwhile we person to usage presumption similar ‘chain of custody.’ That ought to archer america something. I don’t privation to beryllium the committee that lets that happen,” helium said. “Once that doorbell has been rung ...”

Can a doorbell beryllium un-rung?

That doorbell already has been rung, conscionable not with bass.

The authorities has allowed Norwegian salmon to beryllium raised successful Homestead and Australian barramundi, a freshwater food akin to snook, to beryllium raised successful unfastened ponds successful Osceola County. Our lakes, ponds, canals and marshes, particularly successful tropical South Florida, are teeming with non-native food that are affecting autochthonal fish.

A sportfishing travel to immoderate freshwater assemblage southbound of Orlando volition nutrient armored catfish from South America, Mayan cichlids from Central America, oscars from Africa and snakeheads from Southeast Asia. We’ve already seen 50-pound pacus and 6-foot-long arapaimas interval up successful the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, respectively.

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My biggest interest is commercialized fishers volition unit legislators to harvest largemouth bass from the wild. There is already implicit 2 cardinal pounds of food caught and sold from Florida freshwater bodies specified arsenic catfish, tilapia and bream.

That includes the toxic algae-covered waters of Lake Okeechobee, Florida’s largest and economically astir important lake. Consuming these food whitethorn not adjacent beryllium harmless owed to vulnerability to algae, but investigating has not been done — judge it oregon not.

While this grosses a mates cardinal dollars for the fistful of commercialized sportfishing operations moving these waters, the lure of recreational sportfishing for bass successful Florida chimes successful astatine $5.1 billion, according to the FWC.

The last question remains: Will I beryllium buying bass astatine the section market? Count maine successful the radical who astir apt volition not.

I occasionally drawback bass, but I haven’t eaten 1 since I was a kid and I wasn’t brainsick astir it then. I devour farm-raised catfish, tilapia and salmon and find it to beryllium fine, but I similar a fresh-caught fish. I cognize a batch of radical don’t person the opportunity, but I’m fortunate capable to beryllium capable to fool a snapper, a snook, a Spanish mackerel oregon a pompano erstwhile successful a while. I acold similar those to catfish and tilapia.

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The marketplace volition dictate however palmy farm-raised bass volition be. I’m definite it volition sensation conscionable good fried successful panko breading with a broadside of cauliflower, grits and hush puppies.

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