Background

Last summer, a video went viral of a fishing boat off the coast of the Panhandle capturing a distressed manta ray from state waters. It was displayed at a SeaWorld in Abu Dhabi. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission granted a permit to an aquarium supplier company, Dynasty Marine Associates, to catch the manta ray. The video outraged viewers across the state for the way the animal was treated and led to the discovery that the company captured two additional manta rays for SeaWorld Abu Dhabi two years prior, and one had to be euthanized after its health declined in a holding tank in the Florida Keys.

Bill summary

This bill aims to prohibit the collection and transportation of endangered or threatened marine animals from state waters and prohibit FWCC from issuing, renewing, or approving anymore special activity licenses that previously allowed this.

The U.S. is a member of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a global treaty that aims to ensure international trade in wild plants and animals is legal, traceable, and biologically sustainable. CITES currently protects the trade of endangered species or species that could become threatened from unregulated trade on the international level, which includes species like sea turtles and manta rays. If anything were to affect the U.S.’s commitment to CITES in the future these species would still be protected from trading.

However, this bill also ensures state protection of sea turtles and other keystone aquatic species from other kinds of take. The FWCC currently has the ability to approve special activity licenses that allow the capture of marine life for educational, exhibition and research purposes with the objective of increasing “the public’s knowledge and awareness of Florida’s marine resources.”

The bill clarifies that it does not prohibit or restrict the rescue, rehabilitation, or scientific study of marine animals when such activities are conducted under state or federal authorization consistent with the Endangered Species Act and applicable commission rules. So important research like the Sea Turtle Conservancy conducts to monitor and research turtles is unaffected.