Everglades National Park

Everglades National Park
Since 2003, Florida has been working to update the General Management Plan (GMP) for Everglades National Park which will guide Park management for the next 20 years. This is the first update since the park’s 1979 master plan was written. This update will address issues that have arisen since that time.

A critical issue for the sportfishing industry and for anglers is whether updates to the plan will restrict or prohibit fishing in the Park.

The National Park Service (NPS) released for public comment four preliminary alternatives to the GMP in the summer of 2007. Some of the recurring themes heard from the public in response to the preliminary alternatives were:

• Boater education is key to protecting resources
• Better-marked "preferred boat channels" would help prevent bottom damage from propellers
• Little scientific evidence was present to support boating restrictions
• Preliminary alternatives appear to be an attack on motorboaters
• There should be enhanced recreational opportunities to experience the park's resources
  

In response to public comments, the NPS conducted scientific studies to gather information about boat use in the park and about the extent, pattern, and trends of seagrass damage caused by motorboat propellers. The results from these studies, as well as from public input, were incorporated into four revised preliminary alternatives, which were released on February 27, 2009.

Under the revised preliminary alternatives, Alternative 1 continues the current management direction, whereas and Alternatives 2 to 4 all share new management strategies such as a mandatory boating education program/permit system, a new system marked channels, and an adaptive management process. Within the new management alternatives (2-4) is a considerable range of boating access restrictions, with Alternative 2 being the least restrictive and Alternative 4 closing off most of the park from boating access.

The public comment period ended May 15, 2009. In early February 2010, the GMP planning team presented its draft preferred alternative in internal briefings for key NPS staff in the regional office in Atlanta, GA. 

The planning team, with assistance from consultants, is now in the process of writing the draft Everglades General Management Plan/East Everglades Wilderness Study/Environmental Impact Statement, which is expected to be released by the end of 2010.

Recreational fishing has been an historic use of the Everglades, and was in existence long before the Park was established.  However, implementation of a management plan as restrictive as Alternatives 4 of the GMP poses serious questions regarding sportfishing’s future in the Park and presents a serious challenge to Florida sportfishing because:

• The GMP and the various designations made under it is a complex process making it difficult for anglers and the public to understand.
• Certain zones under the GMP, including “Management by Water Depth,” “Backcountry,” “Research” and “Management by Vessel Length” will exclude traditional access by motorized recreational fishing boats.
• The Everglades GMP could be used as the model plan to designate and/or expand fishing closures in other national Parks.