PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — After hours of public comment and discussion, commissioners with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) were wary to impose any type of outright ban on fishing gear for anglers at the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier.

What You Need To Know

  •  Staff asked to come up with new, creative solutions 

  •  3,600 pelicans needed to be rescued at pier over the last two years

  •  FWC will consider the issue again in July 

After hearing from 26 residents and the director of the commission’s habitat and species conservation division, commissioners weren’t completely behind the proposal and instead asked staff to find new and creative ways to deter pelicans for becoming tangled in fishing lines.

FWC’s staff experts recommend that the commission impose new rules in order to protect seabirds and pelicans. It included banning hook and line gear with more than one hook attached, limiting anglers to two fishing poles and prohibiting sabiki rigs in certain areas. An annual education requirement was also proposed.

During the meeting, staff expert Melissa Tucker revealed that over the past two years, more than 3,600 seabirds needed to be rescued from the Skyway Pier after they were entangled in fishing gear and hundreds of pelicans were found dead.

“I love my fishermen, but let me tell you I love these pelicans a lot more,” said commissioner Rodney Barreto. “So I want to send a little message — we need to do something here.”

Advocates for tighter restrictions pushed commissioners to implement the new rules.

“They are literally getting slaughtered out here. That’s why they’ve nicknamed this place 'Pelican Death Row.' I can’t tell you how many die,” Kim Begay with the organization “Friends of the Pelicans” told Spectrum Bay News 9. “Today one of our rescuers found a dead pelican on the rocks and it happens every time.”

But many fishermen are against any new limitations, saying there are other ways to deter the seabirds.

“We’ve all been here long enough that they have an awareness that there’s a line there,” explained angler Debbie Baker. “I can’t even hardly even remember more than once in my life a pelican running into my line that’s stretched out.”

FWC commissioners directed staff to continue to look for creative solutions. They plan to take this issue up again in July.