Judge says legal action in jig case was premature
A Leon County judge ruled last week that the Boca Grande Fishing Guides Association should have first gone to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission – not the courts – in its efforts to have the controversial break-away jig declared an illegal tarpon snagging device.
See related letter to the editor at the end of this story.
Judge Jackie L. Fulford’s ruling came after a nearly hour-long hearing on the FWC’s motion to dismiss the guides action seeking a declaratory judgment. The hearing did not address the guides association’s contention that the jig unlawfully snags tarpon.
At issue was the FWC’s motion to dismiss the action on a number of grounds. In her ruling, Fulford agreed with the FWC that the guides failed to exhaust certain administrative remedies prior to taking the matter to court. She did not address other issues raised by the commission.
“A challenge to an agency’s rule must first be presented to the agency and the administrative process exhausted before the issue may be raised in the courts,” she wrote.
Joseph D. Farish, Jr., the attorney representing the guides, said the ruling, while a setback, doesn’t mean the guides plan to give up.
“We’re in this for the long run,” Farish said.
Farish said the battleground will likely shift from Tallahassee to Fort Myers and the 20th Judicial District where he expects the matter will eventually be taken up by an administrative law judge in Lee County. The case centers on tarpon fishing in Boca Grande Pass which is located in Lee County.
Farish said that while the ruling wasn’t entirely unexpected, he noted that judges have been known to set aside what’s known as the “exhaustion requirement” to expedite a case.
As expected, Fulford granted a motion by the Tarpon Anglers Club, LLC, to intervene in the action. Tarpon Anglers Club runs the Professional Tarpon Tournament Series, a televised jig fishing event held in Boca Grande Pass. Tarpon Anglers Club, in its petition to the court, said that granting the guides declaratory relief would likely put the tournament out of business.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
To the editor,
This letter is in regards to the article published on your website on 11/23/09, titled “Judge says legal action in jig case was premature.”
To be completely accurate, the “Professional Tarpon Tournament Series” is a tarpon fishing tournament, not a jig fishing event.
We allow our fishermen and women to fish with livebait and artificial lures including, but not limited to, the “Boca Grande jig.”
Regardless of bait style, all of our anglers are required to use circle hooks, which promote safe catch and release.
It should also be noted that all of the anglers are required to follow all local, state, and federal laws, and that the PTTS is an all release tarpon fishing tournament.
We appreciate your efforts to accurately report the facts as it relates to the Tarpon Anglers Club, LLC and the “Professional Tarpon Tournament Series” moving forward.
Joe Mercurio
VP/General Manager
Tarpon Anglers Club, LLC
Placida
Editor’s note: While the author’s eagerness to disassociate himself and his tournament from the so-called breakaway jig is understandable and commendable, we stand by our story.
The idiot jiggers are celebrating as if the ruling was a major victory. These guys not only can’t fish legally and ethically, they can’t read. The lawyer for the guides knew the judge might go this way, but also knew that judges sometimes waive the requirement to speed things along.
The guides will now petition the FWC. The FWC will deny the petition. They will then appeal to an administrative law judge. If the judge finds against them, they are then back in a real courtroom with a judge who has been on the bench for more than two months.
Fulwood is a Twinkie who simply wanted this case out of her courtroom.
Yeah that’s right, it was the judges fault for the you guys not knowing legal procedure. And you picked the venue!
The stupid strategy: getting a judge to decide the issue didn’t work out too well huh?
It’s not so much that we won. It’s that you lost. The state needs to get their money back for the “almost an hour” she spent listening to it.
The “breakaway jig” is already illegal, is that name now being applied to another type of jig to insunuate some kind of negative conotation? Kinda like guilt by association? I have some circle hook jigs that I use offshore, I cannot see how it would be possible to snag any fish, dead or alive. The 800# gorilla in this room is that there is another agenda altogether, having nothing to do with preserving Tarpon.