FWC to hold online & in-person meetings for input on largemouth bass aquaculture for food
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) wants your input on largemouth bass aquaculture for food. Recent statutory changes now allow the in-state production and sale of aquaculture Florida largemouth bass as a food fish. The FWC is hosting several public meetings on rule changes to protect the genetic integrity of Florida largemouth bass, (Micropterus salmoides floridanus).
FISHERIES MANAGEMENT STAFF WILL DRAFT RULE LANGUAGE TO:
• Allow for production and sale of Florida largemouth bass.
• Incorporate genetic authentication standards.
• Establish documentation, verification and inspection processes.
• Prohibit the importation and transport of live largemouth bass into Florida except for genetically authenticated Florida largemouth bass.
VIRTUAL MEETINGS
Share your input by attending one of these public Virtual meeting via Microsoft Teams. Workshops will begin at 6:00 p.m. ET unless noted on Monday, October 18; Tuesday, October 19; and Wednesday, October 20. At lionk to each meeting can be found here: myfwc.com/news/all-news/bass-aquaculture-1021.
IN-PERSON MEETING, RUSKIN, FLORIDA
An in-person meeting will be held on Thursday, October 21, 2021 at the Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory, located at 1408 24th SE, in Ruskin, Florida.
CALL OR EMAIL YOUR INPUT
If you can’t attend a workshop and would still like to provide comment, end your comments by email to LargemouthBass@MyFWC.com. If you have questions related to the workshops, contact Trevor Knight by phone at 352-620-7341 or by email at Trevor.Knight@MyFWC.com.