Reserves and no fishing area are the way to go.
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SEFCRI is coordinated by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s (FDEP) Coral Reef Conservation Program. .
The proposal for limited Marine Protected Areas (RMA N-146) seems like a really excellent idea to start protecting the reefs and wildlife of SE Florida.
The proposal to ban spearfishing on scuba is entirely separate (RMA N-59)
You may view all of the proposals and leave your comments on the website, I did: OUR FLORIDA REEFS | OUR FLORIDA REEFS is a community planning process of the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative (SEFCRI) to develop recommendations for coral reef management options in South Florida.
They want to BAN ALL DIVING in the most productive areas.. That is what I read in that proposal. Do we support that? You can't even LOOK at the reef?
"Protect habitat by ELIMINATING damage from boating, fishing AND DIVING IMPACTS."
Another (different) proposal involves elimination of all shipwrecks as artificial reefs - going forward... We need to read the documents carefully before we give them a thumbs up on any of their proposals... even something that sounds as nice as "establish Coral Gardens".