FWC proposes year-round ban on sabiki rigs on Skyway Fishing Pier to protect pelicans

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - There is a brand-new proposal on the table to protect pelicans from fishermen on the Skyway Fishing Pier, but not everyone is happy with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's plan. 

Fishermen feel the new rules go a little overboard, but bird advocates said they don't go far enough.

"These pelicans are going to continue dying and dying terrible deaths if we don't start to do something about it," volunteer rescuer Fairl Thomas said.

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Fishing Captain Dillon Hubbard agrees it needs addressing but feel drastic steps would unfairly impact Florida's longtime fishing culture. 

"The fishing pier is a place for other fishing interests to access this fishery," Captain Hubbard said.

The Skyway Fishing Pier is a popular spot to catch bait something Hubbard said requires a Sabiki rig. Sabiki rigs are the same type of hook bird rescuers say are the most harmful to pelicans. 

"Due to the severity of the injuries and deaths that they cause, we don't think they should be allowed at all," Friends of the Pelicans Vice-Chair Kim Begay said.

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FWC is proposing a ban on Sabiki rigs year-around, but Hubbard feels a seasonal restriction from December to February when entanglements are most common is more practical. Among the other proposed rules prohibiting rigs with multiple hooks from November to March instead anglers say it should be December to February.

Hubbard says another proposal which would limit anglers to the use of two sets of hook-and-line gear is something they're okay with, but Begay feels it's not enough and instead would like to see it limited to one set.

"If you have five people fishing, that's 10 fishing poles, so it just gets to be too much. It's not safe," Begay said.

The proposed restrictions come after FWC held multiple public meetings with both groups where dozens of people on both sides sparred over how the problem should be addressed.

"It seems very sudden to the people who are going out there for recreational fishing, but to us who have been watching these animals suffer for years on end, it's not a jump," Thomas said.

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FOX 13 obtained a draft of this three-page letter multiple fishing organizations are in the process of signing to be sent to FWC Wednesday, laying out proposed compromises. 

"We're willing to work with the bird groups and try to reach a solution," Hubbard said.

FWC is also proposing an education requirement to anyone who wants to fish at the pier informing fisherman on how to properly rescue pelicans. A big sticking point to that is if you do a hook a bird never cut the line advocates say that is a death sentence for these birds. 

Both sides are in full agreement with the education requirement.

As for the proposed rules, those will be presented at FWC's regional meeting next Tuesday in Jacksonville. Then, depending on what happens, the seven commissioners could hold a vote to finalize the rules at their following meeting on May 10-11.