Ballot measure could enshrine hunting and fishing rights in Florida constitution

TAMPA, Fla. - A proposed amendment on the November ballot would preserve Floridians' hunting and fishing rights in the state's constitution.

If it's passed by voters, the measure would ensure hunting and fishing will "forever be preserved as a public right and preferred means of managing and controlling fish and wildlife."

"I really, really feel it's important to the future of our state, the future of our economy and the future of our industries to continue to preserve and protect the right to access hunting and fishing," said Dylan Hubbard, who owns Hubbard's Marina in Madeira Beach and whose family has relied on Tampa Bay's waterways for at least four generations. "This is what we've done the last 100 years as a family."

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Hubbard, a charter boat captain and the president of the Florida Guides Association, worked with state lawmakers to get the measure on the ballot.

Supporters of the proposed amendment worry anti-hunting and anti-fishing groups will try to impose future regulations.

"If you make it a constitutional right, it ensures that access to these fisheries, but also the conservation of these fisheries and these hunting resources will be preserved," said Hubbard.

But the idea is drawing the ire of animal rights groups, such as PETA.

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"I think it's a move to score political points for the special interest groups," said Klayton Rutherford, the manager of research and content for captive animal law enforcement at the PETA Foundation. "If Florida wants to follow public sentiment, they should look into enshrining animal rights in the Constitution, not the right to harm and kill animals."

Chuck O'Neal, the president of Speak Up Wekiva, is part of a statewide effort to urge voters to vote "no" on the amendment.

O'Neal points out the right to hunt and fish is already protected under Florida law and is overseen by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He also believes the proposal is too vague and would harm wildlife populations.

"It's a solution in search of a problem," O'Neal said. "I think there are a lot of things that Floridians don't want to see that this will open up. It's a Pandora's box for animal cruelty and other things like that."

According to lawmakers who support the amendment, FWC will still be responsible for enforcing the law. More than 20 other states have passed similar constitutional amendments.