Feds Seek Spear-Fishing Ban at Reef Sanctuary

A complete ban on spear fishing along protected waters off Georgia’s coast has been proposed by a national environmental agency. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wants to fully protect Gray’s Reef, a national marine sanctuary between St. Simons and Sapelo Islands.

Currently, certain types of spear gun-use are allowed at Gray’s Reef, but not equipment using gun ammunition, or powerheads.

However, authorities have had a tough time enforcing the partial ban already in-place, thus the call for a full ban.

Duane Harris chairs the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council, and is a spear fisherman living on St. Simons. While he opposes spear fishing restrictions along South Atlantic waters in general, he has no problem with the proposed ban for this reef sanctuary off Georgia’s coast:

"It is fairly shallow...75 feet, so it is a good place to dive. But most of diving and taking of the snapper-grouper species is done in deeper waters off coast. It’s a small area…it’s not going to have a major impact on the spear fishing public."

Spear fishermen often target the large and mature fish most beneficial to the marine ecosystem. Some fish populations, like red snapper found in Gray's Reef, are overfished...or approaching that status.

A public comment hearing will be held Thursday night from 6-9pm at the Stevens Wetlands Center in Richmond Hill. A vote on the proposal won’t come until early May.

'Hanna' still a threat to Georgia--UPDATE

Even with ‘Hanna’ being downgraded to a tropical storm earlier today as it moved over the Bahamas, that has not eased the focus of state emergency officials with its threat to Georgia.

Kandice Eldon with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency says 50 people from various state agencies are involved right now in preparations. They are tele- and video-conferencing with various coastal emergency officials on the latest storm plans.

Eldon says residents along Georgia’s coast need to be just as aware to the storm’s track as yesterday:

"We are not out of the clear in Georgia at all. We are still under preparation for a direct hit or even from winds and rains that can come because of the proximity of the storm to Georgia".

Eldon says coastal officals have been asking questions of those with the state:

"What should we do next? If this storm does directly hit us, what should we be planning for? Discussions are being made regarding the possibility of evacuations or if the storm is not that strong…to move the people inland”".

Some forecast models have 'Hanna' hitting Georgia’s coast on Friday.

Eldon says GEMA’s storm center as of early this afternoon was not quite at full operating mode, but is close to it.

Fay still a threat to Georgia--update

Flooding and high winds are still conditions that could impact coastal Georgia over the next several hours into Friday.

State emergency officials are watching the movement of Tropical storm Fay closely. Ken Davis of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency says they’ve received new estimates on a storm track and possible rainfall.

"By midnight perhaps it might be enough inland and start impacting and providing rain to some of our southern tier of counties...and probably midnight Saturday or so, it might be over by Chattahoochee River. Possible amounts of maybe 4-8 inches of rain along the bottom tier of counties...3-6 maybe a little more inland and isolated areas. And there’s a remote or low possibility of isolated tornadoes as this thing moves inland".

Davis says emergency officials with several southeast Georgia counties were on a GEMA conference call this morning for the latest.

How the storm turns may affect school closures for Friday. Systems in Camden and McIntosh counties were closed today.