The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted a plan to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) which would phase out, and then prohibit, the commercial taking of Sargassum vegetation in offshore waters. However, the NMFS Southeast Regional Administrator Dr. William Hogarth has now provided written notice suggesting that "the Council give serious consideration to developing management measures that would allow for the continued, but restricted, harvest of pelagic Sargassum."

The NMFS letter implies that if the Council does not include a commercial take provision, they will reject the Sargassum protection plan.

"The NMFS position is unbelievable," said CCA Florida Executive Director Ted Forsgren. "We are about to enter a new millennium and our federal fisheries agency is actually promoting the taking of unique and vital fisheries habitat."

"When saltwater anglers and coastal states are spending millions of dollars to restore and create fisheries habitat, it is ludicrous to allow the offshore mechanical removal of an important habitat like Sargassum for an additive to hog and cattle feed," exclaimed Forsgren.

Live, floating mats of Sargassum vegetation are extremely important habitat in the Gulf Stream off Florida and other oceanic areas. The Council's proposed management plan points out that the Sargassum vegetation is essential habitat for more than 100 species of fish, including juvenile marlin, sailfish and dolphin (mahi mahi), 145 invertebrate species such as crabs, five species of marine sea turtles and many marine birds.

"Sargassum is absolutely essential to the survival of several sea turtle species - green turtles, hawksbill and loggerheads," said David Godfrey, Executive Director of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation - the world's oldest sea turtle research and conservation organization. "Sargassum is an irreplaceable component of the pelagic habitat of post-hatchling sea turtles, where young turtles find protective habitat and food during their first few years of life."

"The state of Florida is investing millions of dollars to purchase and preserve critical nesting beaches for endangered sea turtles," said Dr. Russell Nelson of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "Now NMFS is encouraging the harvest of the very habitat that the hatchling sea turtles need for survival when they leave these beaches. It makes no sense at all."

According to CCA Florida, the Council has publicly indicated that it will not withdraw its recommendation to prohibit the take of Sargassum, so it is extremely important for individual conservationists and interested groups to contact the National Marine Fisheries Service and urge them to approve, not reject, the Council's Sargassum habitat protection plan.