By Jim Turner ©2024 The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Florida voters next week will decide whether to put hunting and fishing rights in the state Constitution, as opponents have struggled to get their message out.
The Legislature put the proposed constitutional amendment, Amendment 2, on the Nov. 5 ballot. Supporters of the measure, titled “Right to Fish and Hunt,” have raised significantly more money than opponents, and political experts think the proposal likely will receive the required support of 60 percent of voters to pass.
“Broadly, most Floridians support the right to hunt and fish — and in fact already have that right in state statute,” University of Central Florida political science professor Aubrey Jewett said. “Many environmental groups are concerned about the impact it might have on certain animals — like bears — and about the types of methods that may be used — like big nets or steel traps. But they have not been able to raise and spend much money getting their concerns out there.”
The amendment summary, the wording that voters see on the ballot, says, in part, that the measure would “preserve forever fishing and hunting, including by the use of traditional methods, as a public right and preferred means of responsibly managing and controlling fish and wildlife.”
For many voters, reading the summary might be the first time they really look at the measure, “which, as we well know, isn’t really the full story,” Susan MacManus, a retired political science professor at the University of South Florida, said.
When lawmakers decided in 2023 to put the measure on this year’s ballot, only Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, D-Davie, voted against it. Legislative supporters said other states had passed similar rights and pointed to issues such as the role that hunting and fishing plays in managing wildlife.
But Charles O’Neal, chairman of the opposition group NoTo2.Org and president of Speak Up Wekiva, has raised concerns that the proposal would override protections for fish stocks, such as nullifying the state’s gill-net ban, open state waters to foreign commercial fishing and possibly allow hunters to trespass on private property.
“Do you really want to give hunters the right to walk onto your property in pursuit of a raccoon or a bear?” O’Neal said.
Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power said in the limited polling he’s seen on Amendment 2, the proposal has drawn up to 68 percent support.
“It doesn’t seem to have organized opposition,” Power said. “I think it’s sitting at a pretty good place, if you look at the polling. I think barring a catastrophic thing, I think it passes.”
Power dismissed the argument that the proposal would result in hunters gaining rights over private property owners.
“What we’re seeing in some liberal states is that they don’t want people to hunt and fish. They want to take away their guns, gun rights,” Power said. “I think this is moving in the idea of protecting people’s individual rights.”
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said her concern is how the Republican-dominated Legislature would carry out the amendment if it passes, such as whether it could undo the 1994 voter-approved ban on gill nets.
“On its face, it is just to protect hunting and fishing,” Fried said. “We already have that. That is already in our state’s statutes. That’s already a way of life. And as somebody who hunts and fishes, I have the right to do so today. So, that is the question, what is the impact of its passing and what additional powers and changes will come from it?”
The Vote Yes on Amendment 2 political committee, which is leading efforts to pass the proposal, had raised $1.228 million in cash as of Saturday and had spent nearly $964,000, according to finance information posted on the state Division of Elections website.
Contributions included $250,000 from the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida; $100,000 from Friends of Wilton Simpson, a committee headed by state Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson; and $50,250 from Tennessee-based Ducks Unlimited, whose CEO is former Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.
NoTo2.Org had raised $95,829 in cash and spent $66,872 as of Saturday. The Sierra Club and a Sierra Club PAC had contributed $80,000.
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