FLORIDA (23 Sep 2001) -- Shark feeders, already reeling from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's decision this month to develop a rule to ban the feeding of marine wildlife in state waters, took another serious hit Thursday. The Fort Lauderdale City Commission approved a resolution supporting the FWC's proposed ban on the feeding of sharks, stingrays, moray eels and fish by divers. Some of the feeding dives run by local operators take place as close as 200 yards off the beach. The Fort Lauderdale commission also plans to look into whether the city could ban dive boats that operate feeding dives from docking at city-owned marinas or refuse to issue the businesses occupational licenses. Fort Lauderdale joins Deerfield Beach, Lighthouse Point and Delray Beach in officially denouncing shark-feeding dives. According to Bob Dimond of the Marine Safety Group, which first expressed concern two years ago that sharks were being conditioned to accept handouts of food from divers, having Fort Lauderdale on board is a major victory for those against shark feeding. "This is a big one," said Dimond, an avid diver who lives in Deerfield Beach. "Fort Lauderdale is the crown jewel of Broward County. "The city's support of the ban will go a long way toward getting the Fish and Wildlife Commission to follow through with it." | | The FWC had proposed banning shark feeding in February 2000, then reversed itself a year ago when several busloads of pro-feeding divers showed up at the FWC's meeting in DeLand. The FWC reversed itself again at its meeting Sept. 6 in Amelia Island when dive industry representatives said they could not accept guidelines for marine wildlife feeding developed by FWC staff. Dimond said he expects shark feeders and lobbyists for some dive groups to be out in force when the FWC holds public hearings on the newly proposed rule. The rule could be presented as soon as the FWC's next meeting Oct. 31-Nov. 2 in Key Largo. |
