John Conlon oral history interview

Oral history interview with recreational fisherman John Conlon. Conlon has been fishing the waters off of Fort Pierce since 1974, both for his own pleasure and part-time as a charter boat captain. He is very familiar with the Oculina Bank, having fished there for twenty years. He had to stop going there in 1994 when the area was closed to grouper and snapper fishing. Despite the closure, the grouper fishery has continued to decline, which Conlon attributes to commercial longlining. In Conlon\u27s opinion, closing the Oculina Bank has proved that closed areas are not an effective fishery management area: the kingfishery has recuperated not by closing an area but by managing the breeding stock. He believes that size limits and closed seasons are the best options. One of his primary concerns is freshwater runoff in the Indian River Lagoon, which is a large spawning area. In this interview, Conlon also describes some of his fishing techniques and practices