'We just want a fair shake': Anglers, captains protest in Panama City Beach

PANAMA CITY BEACH — The Jimi Hendrix version of the Star Spangled Banner was playing out of one of the vessels and it was a cool, clear day on the Bay near Hathaway Bridge but Saturday’s gathering of charter boat captains was not a party.

It was their last stand, local captains and their supporters said.

New regulations from the National Marine Fisheries Service of amberjack and red snapper are destroying the local fishing industry, the captains said. About 50 boats, including small two-man skiffs, large pleasure boats and mid-size trawlers took part in the watery protest. On the bridge, supporters waved signs and thanked dozens of motorists who honked their support.

“We’re all about conservation,” Capt. Bill Little said. “We don’t want to rape the resources. We want to do what’s right.”

Little runs the Fishing Express in Port St. Joe.

The new restrictions were instituted by scientists who are relying on old and outdated data, the captains said. One supporter held up a sign that said, “Get the data right.” Another sign, on one of the boats, said, “Flawed data, no fish, no income, no jobs.”

Jim Crowell said he ran a charter fishing business for 20 years until the regulations forced him to sell and find a new line of work.

“They have pretty much closed the industry,” he said. He added that there are dozens of for sale signs on local charter boats.

Peggy Rhodes, a longtime charter fishing customer, also came to the protest Saturday.

“We just want a fair shake,” she said. She also predicted that the destruction of the charter fishing industry would have far-reaching consequences for hotel owners, restaurants and others who make their living off tourism.

“It’s ridiculous,” she said.