Anglers fret over Florida Bay regulations

KEY WEST, Fla., May 12 (UPI) -- Recreational fishing enthusiasts say they're worried they will lose access to the Everglades' Florida Bay because of proposals to preserve its seagrass.

Members of Florida's extensive angling industry are worried the most drastic environmental alternatives being considered by the Everglades National Park could shut them out of most of the 800-square-mile bay and hurt the Florida Keys tourist trade, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Tuesday.

Park officials say increasingly powerful motorboats used by the anglers in the shallow bay tear up vital seagrass, which is needed to maintain the ecosystem. They claim at least 325 miles of scars have been gouged by the craft.

"It's too much regulation," Tracy Bennett, a member of the West Palm Beach Fishing Club, told the newspaper. "When you get too regimented -- you have to stick to this trail, you can't go here -- it just takes the fun out of it."

"(Boaters) just feel they can power over whatever they come across," countered David King, the Everglades' Florida Bay District ranger. "Florida Bay has the potential to be one of the phenomenal natural areas of the world. It's not that today. It's been beat up."