Resolution 063-1963
RESOLUTION NO.
63 -1963
WHEREAS, in that section of Monroe County, Florida, better known as
the Upper Keys, an area lying between the Monroe - Dade boundary line and
Long Key, a distance of approximately forty-seven miles, and in the waters
adjacent to these Upper Keys, there have existed in the past conditions favor-
able to the procreation and support of innumerable forms of marine life, in-
cluding teeming populations of edible and game fish and crustaceans, such as
crayfish and stone crab; and
WHEREAS, in recent years there has been discerned an appalling de-
pletion of this marine fauna to a degree and extent that, if sanctioned and con-
doned by neglect and allowed to continue unchecked, will result in the establish-
ment of a marine wasteland, essentially barren of the abundant life once extant
in these waters; and
WHEREAS, this depredation has been and continues to be caused prin-
cipally by the invasion of our inshore waters and reefs by commercial in-
terests and by self-styled sportsmen operating in unconscionable disregard
for sound conservation practice, usually, but not always, beyond a three-mile
limit and thus beyond the jurisdiction of local authorities and agents of the
State Conservation Department; and
WHEREAS, past attemps to regulate the taking and destroying of marine
life in the area defined in paragraph one (I) by legislative acts have proven in-
effective due to the limits within which State Conservation Department officials
are confined, thus allowing violators of the spirit of the law to flaunt their
pillaging before law enforcement agents and residents of the community; and
WHEREAS, alarmed by this rape of the waters and their marine resour-
ces and concerned that aesthetic and economic assets of the community are in
immediate and serious jeopardy, a group of responsible citizens, representing
the various civic and conservation groups of the area have foregathered to seek
means of regulating the taking of marine life from waters adjacent to the Upper
Keys as defined in paragraph one (I), and to petition the aid of County, State
and Federal agencies in this aim; and
WHEREAS, precedent has been established in that area of the Upper
Keys known as the Key Largo Coral Reef Preserve, and where an extension
of law enforcement agents I boundaries is now enjoyed due to Federal Statutes
invoked simultaneously by Proclamation of the President of the United States
and by the Governor of the Sovreign State of Florida; and
WHEREAS, it is considered desirable that boundaries of the area include
all of Monroe County to that southernmost portion of the Upper Keys area known
as Long Key and extending along a line drawn through the Northeast end of Long
Key Viaduct, through Tennessee Reef Light and terminating at a depth of ten
fathoms, then running approximately Northeast along the ten-fathom line to the
Monroe - Dade boundary, excluding the Key Largo Coral Reef Preserve, other-
wise known as the Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, and
WHEREAS, it is desired within these confines to establish a "Fish Manage-
ment" area which shall be under the combined jurisdiction of Federal and State
agencies, whose law enforcement agents shall enjoy cross-deputization and
whose aim it shall be to further implement present State and Federal conser-
vation laws and the regulations of the Florida State Board of Conservation;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA, that the various State and
Federal agencies and the Congressional and Legislative delegations represent-
ing Monroe County, Florida, be, and they are hereby petitioned to expedite
through necessary legal means the relief desired by residents of the Upper Keys,
namely, the creation of the above-mentioned "Fish Managementl! area which
shall, upon completion of necessary legal steps, become the joint responsibility
of the Department of Interior and the Florida State Board of Conservation, and
which shall be administered by the latter agency.
Dated September lOth , 1963.