May 1, 2002

Mr. John Rood, Chairman
Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission
620 South Meridian Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600

Dear Mr. Chairman:

We understand the Commission will examine the sale of saltwater products by recreational anglers and charter/party boats during the coming year. We applaud your efforts. We know the backdoor sale of recreationally caught fish is a major problem here in our great state of Florida.

Our view on fish sales is rather simple. If you are a commercial fisherman and you have the requisite state and federal permits then you should be allowed to sell your catch under the law. If you are an angler fishing under a recreational bag limit, you should not be allowed to sell your catch. If you are a charter boat operator and have paying passengers on board who have paid for your services and the use of your boat, then the fish caught by these recreational anglers should not be sold. If the charter boat is used as a commercial fishing vessel when not being used for a charter then the fish caught by the commercial crew should be allowed to be sold if all requisite fishing permits are in force and if all USCG regulations are met. This seems like an easy place to start the debate and I hope we can proceed.

But I must let you know about the safety aspects of selling fishery products for public consumption from another perspective.

Under Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 123, all fishery products sold for human consumption are to be processed by a facility that has a Hazards Analysis and Critical Control Plan. (HACCP) Every business must do a Hazard Analysis of each business location and if a Critical Control Point (CCP) is found then a HACCP Plan must be written and implemented or the fishery products handled by that business can be declared adulterated and prevented from being sold.

One of the major hazards the US Food and Drug Administration concentrates on is histamine fish poisoning which comes from certain species of fish with the unique ability to develop histamine poison if they go through a heat at anytime after they are caught. Some fish like mullet, catfish, drum, trout etc., do not develop histamine poison no matter how long they lay in the sun but fish like mahi-mahi, tuna, wahoo, mackerels, amberjack & bluefish do and improper handling of these species causes several thousand cases of illness every year in the United States and those are just the reported cases.

All wholesale dealers/processors in the state of Florida are required to be HACCP certified. I am an FDA certified HACCP Trainer and have trained over 825 people myself and believe 99% of licensed wholesalers and processors are in compliance with all state and federal laws.

For the Commissioners perusal I am enclosing several documents.

1. A copy of a letter from the Food & Drug Administration that is typical of the 30-Day Letter that goes out to every business that is inspected. You can see how important FDA considers histamine and since this letter dated last August, FDA has tightened up even more on the requirements concerning record keeping and maintaining proper temperature of the fish.
2. The Hazard Analysis Worksheet is a document every seafood processor (wholesaler) MUST complete and if in the analysis a Critical Control Point is found, a HACCP PLAN must be written.
3. The HACCP Plan for histamine type fish indicates that critical control points (CCP’s) occur at receiving and storage and as such generates MANDATORY records for the FDA inspectors to check when they arrive.
4. This very basic temperature Log must be kept for every day the business is in possession of fishery products, especially histamine type species.
5. This is a Sensory Evaluation Log that must be kept each time histamine type fish are received and must be available to the FDA inspectors.
6. This is the Daily MANDATORY Sanitation Log that must be filled out and made available to FDA Inspectors. There are also many other records.

Mr. Chairman, let me state for the record what we believe should be the law regarding sale of fish and fishery products.

We believe all fish caught commercially and sold must be caught by a person with all requisite state and federal permits and must be sold to a licensed wholesale seafood dealer who operates his/her business under an approved HACCP Plan.

We believe any fishery product caught under a recreational bag limit should not be sold.

We believe if a charter boat wishes to use the boat for commercial fishing trips, and has all requisite state and federal permits, then on those trips the fish can be sold, if not caught by paying passengers, to a licensed wholesale seafood dealer who operates his/her business under an approved HACCP Plan.

We believe all boats fishing commercially, including charter boats, must comply with all USCG regulations and have all requisite state and federal fishing permits.

You and I have spoken before about the difficulty in apprehending persons engaged in backdoor sale of fishery products for cash but now that the Florida Legislature has raised the fine for this crime; maybe it will deter some of the people who are on the edge. The fines proposed and even bigger fines will not stop those who plan to sell “trash for cash” for it is as much a game with them as it is a way to cheat the government.

We would be glad to answer any questions you or other Commissioners or staff might have and hope the Commission can solve this seafood safety issue for the good of all the seafood consumers in Florida.

Sincerely yours,

Bob Jones
Executive Director

Cc: Officers, Directors & Past Presidents