SOFA Holds May 5 Commercial Fishing Meeting

The Southern Offshore Fishing Association Inc., in conjunction with the Fishing Recreational Alliance out of St. Petersburg, will hold an important meeting for all commercial and recreational fishermen on Monday, May 5 at 3 p.m. at the Armory in Apalachicola.
"Everybody's' unified on this. They just want to protect the fishery," said Bob Spaeth, director of SOFA, out of Madeira Beach. "We believe it is time for all commercial fishermen, all charter fishermen and all recreational fishermen to put aside their differences and work together to ensure the National Marine Fisheries Service does not continue on its course to put us all out of business.
Spaeth said the meeting will bring fishers up to date on the IFQ rules for grouper fishing, and how the groups are hiring their own scientist to watch over the stock assessments in Gulf of Mexico.
For more info, call Spaeth at (727) 643-9558