Dear Keep Florida Fishing Coalition Members:
No, the subject line wasn’t supposed to say “Bring Back Bud Light!” But, it caught your attention!
Above: Bug Light offshore of Miami, FL before if was taken down. Image courtesy Bruce Marx | Facebook.
This is the Situation
Thanks to the efforts of concerned south Florida anglers, and especially Bruce Marx and Rodney Barreto, the Bent Range Marker was saved from demolition. Unfortunately, it took the unannounced demolition of the Biscayne Channel (“Bug”) Light on a Sunday afternoon to raise the necessary awareness for the fishing community to rally behind the Save the Bent Range Marker cause.
The Save the Bent Range Marker campaign is a great example of unheard of cooperation between the U.S. Coast Guard, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami Beach among others – spurred on by concerned anglers.
There is now a similar campaign to Bring Back Bug Light. This campaign seeks to secure the necessary funding and support for the installation of a Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) in the location where Bug Light had previously stood since 1929. A formal dialogue with the Biscayne National Park Service and the U.S. Coast Guard is under way in order to obtain support for this action. The FWC is also in the loop as the potential caretaker of the FAD.
We are hopeful that the precedent set by the Save the Bent Range Marker will serve as the blue print for the Bug Light FAD campaign. But we have to kick it up a notch. Several notches, in fact!
We need letters and emails from you explaining why the Bug Light is so critical to our bait fishery and why we need the installation of a new FAD where Bug Light once stood—especially given the adverse effects which the Government Cut dredging project has had upon the bait fishery to the north.
How You Can Help!
Please address your letters and/or emails on this issue to the attention of Superintendent Brian Carlstrom. You can send your letters and/or emails to Bruce Marx at Bmarx@marlowadler.comand he will ensure that they are presented to Superintendent Carlstrom.
It’s vital that Superintendent Carlstrom understands how important that something such as the Bug Light is to recreational fishing and that a FAD must be installed in the location where Bug Light once stood.
If you do not have the time to send a letter or an email, we would appreciate it if you offered your comments about the importance Bug Light in a post to Bruce’s Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/bruce.marx.52?fref=nf.
As with the Save the Bent Range Marker campaign, your comments on this issue will be archived and provided to the involved government officials as this campaign progresses.
Thanks in advance for any support you can lend to this campaign. If you are so inclined, it would be much appreciated if you shared this with your fishing and boating network.
Best regards,
Gary Jennings
Keep Florida Fishing Manager
American Sportfishing Association
6514 Sawyer Shores Lane
Windermere, FL 34786
407-719-2970
