March Social - Matt Bunting from FWC on the Atlantic EFP program

{"type":"root","children":[{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"type":"text","value":"The CFSA March Social will feature Matt Bunting, a Northeast Florida regional Biologist from FWC. This is a re-do of the planned meeting in January which was postponed due to snow in North Florida. FWC has developed three separate Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) projects to collect better data and test new, innovative ideas aimed at reducing dead discards associated with the South Atlantic red snapper fishery. The goals of these projects are to collaborate with recreational anglers to give them an opportunity to provide better catch and discard data and test a snapper grouper aggregate bag limit. The three study regions are located on Florida’s Atlantic coast, with the Hot Spot Fleet and Study Fleet north of Cape Canaveral and the Southeast Snapper Grouper Fleet to the south. The project includes 4, 3-month quarters, in which 410 anglers participate in for each quarter. Quarter 2 will close January 31st with Quarter 3 beginning February 1st . This presentation will cover the purpose, goals, study criteria and preliminary updates of what we have learned so far throughout this study. More information on the EFP project can be found at: FWC’s Atlantic Red Snapper Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) Project | FWC Matt Bunting bio: I am originally from southeast Florida and am an avid outdoorsman, which is why I chose to work in this field. I like to say I am a fisherman first, biologist second. I have been working with the FWC for 10 years, mostly in research and more recently with the Division of Marine Fisheries Management. My undergrad was in Marine science from Florida Gulf Coast University and my masters was completed at the University of Florida studying juvenile tarpon. My current position is the regional biologist for NE Florida based out of Jacksonville working in the Federal Fisheries section of the Division of Marine Fisheries Management."}]}]}