COUNTY TO ASK STATE TO HELP PROTECT EXOTIC FISH
RIVIERA BEACH — The exotic native fish that share their home under the Blue Heron Bridge and around Phil Foster Park with curious divers and snorkelers in search of an underwater adventure are one step closer to being protected.
The Palm Beach County Commission agreed Thursday to ask the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to create regulations to stop others from taking the fish to sell or put in their home aquariums.
Commissioner Hal Valeche brought the request to his colleagues after an outcry from the Blue Heron Bridge Preservation Initiative.
“What we found is that both commercial operators and just individuals are going in there and taking some of the very unique species of tropical fish home,” Valeche told the commission.
Dan Volker, of the Preservation Initiative, explained the situation to county commissioners in an email: “Think of a famous zoo where poachers could open a website, see the elephants and rhinos and other exotic creatures that most zoo visitors are most excited about seeing here, and then these poachers would compile a shopping list of the best animals ... to come and TAKE.”
Volker said some species can go for thousands of dollars each.
A push to have the FWC create regulations to protect these fish failed about seven years ago. And while some measures have been implemented to stop the taking of fish, divers and snorkelers say they still see it happen.
The county has signs posted at the park that “strongly discourage the taking of tropical fish,” said Eric Call, the county’s director of parks and recreation. The county’s park ordinance prohibits commercial activity in parks without the director’s authorization, and the county uses that rule to prohibit commercial aquariums and fish stores from taking the tropical fish.
But the county doesn’t have the authority to stop a business entering the area by boat to harvest fish, or a resident from taking fish for their home aquariums, Call told county officials.
Divers and snorkelers have spotted more than 400 species of fish in these waters since 1993, and many are incredibly rare to see.
One example is the polka-dot batfish.
“It’s a very bizarre fish to see,” Lad Akins, the director of special projects at the Key Largo-based Reef Environmental Education Foundation, previously told The Palm Beach Post. “It’s extremely rare.”