FWC loses credibility

It’s now been about three weeks since the scheduled opening of snook season in Southwest Florida between Venice and Naples was unexpectedly delayed by the FWC. There is a heated debate among anglers as to whether the continued closure was needed or not, and that debate will not end any time soon. But there is little debate that the FWC handled this situation poorly.

The FWC generally does a very good job managing Florida’s vast and diverse natural resources, but somehow the ball seems to have been dropped this time. Snook fishing in this region has been closed for around four years, so there was a lot of public anticipation that this high-profile fishery would finally be opening Sept. 1, 2022 — a date that had been set for a long time.