Florida’s first barracuda regulations will go into effect in waters of the southeast and Keys on Nov. 1, with daily bag limits of two ‘cuda per person and six per boat. There will be no keeper-size rules until the FWC can figure out what those ought to be.

The Fish and Wildlife Conservation (FWC) Commission took the half-action at its September meetings in Fort Lauderdale, in response to reports by fishing-doers and divers who noticed that barracuda appear to be declining.

Great barracuda — the fishes’ full name — are found all over Florida, but the new regulations cover only the known worry zone from Martin County (Stuart) down through the Keys.

Commissioners considered a slot bracket of 15 to 36 inches, meant to let little ones grow and big ones breed, but they decided to hold off on size limits until staff members conduct a series of public workshops. Those haven’t been scheduled yet.

The FWC hasn’t given barracuda much attention until very recently. The agency’s website, MyFWC.com, says very little about them.

It’s unusual, too, for FWC to base regulations on evidence that is more anecdotal than scientific.

Barracuda, with their fierce faces and nail-like teeth that would inspire a carpenter, are interesting to watch in water and fun to catch on light to medium-power tackle. Other than that, it’s hard to imagine why anybody would keep one except to grind it for chum or chop for bait.

Why not? Because in larger sizes they are ravenous deep-reef predators that accumulate high concentrations of ciguatera toxin as they grow. The popular rule of thumb says it’s safe to eat one weighing less than about five pounds.

If that isn’t precise enough for you, folklore has ways to tell if an individual ‘cuda is safe to eat. We found a couple on Internet forums:

There’s a guy on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia who feeds a piece of ‘cuda to his chickens. If it doesn’t kill them, he guesses it’s safe for him to eat.

A fellow who fished at Turks and Caicos told of a charter captain who fillets a ‘cuda and leaves it out for a while. If flies land on it, it must be safe to eat. If flies don’t want it, neither does he.

We found one description of ciguatera symptoms in dull medical jargon and another in vivid vernacular, which feels more informative. Here it is, from an angler whose forum name is Compleat:

“Hot gets cold, cold gets hot, everything tastes like pepper. Then you vomit til there is nothing left. That’s the easy part. The toxin starts to work on the muscles, they cramp til they pull tendons; breathing grows tougher til arrest can happen any moment. Your heart flutters and hurts. This lasts for days. The toxin stays for life. Any trace can set you back off all over again. Edible, yes. Even tasty. Worth the risk? Not for me.” Bon appétit.

FWC officers rewarded for saving infant

Both thumbs up to Rene Taboas and Roberto Rodriguez, FWC officers who were given the agency’s Lifesaving Award last month for saving an infant’s life.

On July 19 the cops were on patrol near Elliott Key in Biscayne National Park when they noticed someone waving frantically on an anchored boat at Sands Cut.

That was Karen Escalante whose 9-month old son Ryan had stopped breathing and was unresponsive. Rodriguez took the infant and began doing cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

At about the 10th compression, he said later, the child coughed and began gasping for breath.

Racing the patrol boat across the choppy Biscayne Bay they brought him to Black Point Marina — about 7 miles west — where paramedics took over.

Next day at Baptist Hospital, Taboas and Rodriguez visited Ryan, who was recovering nicely, and his parents. They learned he had a respiratory infection, and that his airway had been blocked by phlegm.

Red snapper from the Gulf, anyone?

Here’s a dutiful reminder that the fragmented red snapper season in Gulf waters is open through Nov. 1 on weekends only — and that’s when and where to go if you absolutely must catch and keep some red snapper. You can’t take reds on the Atlantic side without risking a federal violation.

That is how it’s been since Labor Day weekend as NOAA Fisheries struggles to balance snapper population needs with the desires of fishing-doers.

If you’re fishing the Gulf on a private boat, sign up for the Gulf Reef Fish Survey. Do that at a tackle shop or tax collector’s office or by calling 1-888-FISHFLORIDA (347-4356); or online at License.MyFWC.com.

All year long on the Atlantic coast, but only in state waters, you can keep two red snappers a day, with a minimum size of 20 inches.

Unless your GPS software shows whether you’re in state or federal waters, don’t drop bait over the side.

NOAA cancelled this year’s Atlantic season because of data showing that 205,859 red snappers were removed from the sea in 2014, exceeding a goal of no more than 106,000. Next year’s seasons on both sides will be set according to estimates of snapper population improvements or declines.

The accuracy of such estimates is easy to dismiss and hard to prove. Critics complain that while the commercial catch can be documented, there is no way to survey accurately how many fish are caught by sport fishing, so the best available information is not much better than none at all.

Recent news reports quoted Erik Williams, chief of the NOAA Sustainable Fisheries Branch, saying there’s evidence that Atlantic red snapper stocks are trending upward. That’s an indication that next year there may be a season in federal waters.

NOAA Fisheries plans a preliminary workshop meeting in November to plan the next stock assessment, and another next March to review results.

To delve into both state and federal regulations for both sides of Florida, see this FWC web page: myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/snappers.

Stone crab season opens Oct. 15

Do you trap stone crabs in the waters of Miami-Dade, Collier or Monroe County? You’ll have to tweak your gear by Monday, Oct. 5, or keep it in port until you do. The harvest season opens on Thursday the 15, but traps can be placed as early as Oct. 5.

Regulations now say that the throat or funnel by which crabs enter the trap can’t be round any longer. It has to be rectangular, although the corners can be rounded off. The opening size can’t be larger than 5-1/2 by 3-1/8 inches at the narrowest part.

SFWC, which amended the trap rules in September, did it to prevent stone crab traps from being used to trap lobster. Anticipated changes in the overall dimensions of crab traps were not enacted.