At least twice each month for the past 17 years, Jack Fernandez has piloted one of his two commercial fishing boats out of Key West to the Dry Tortugas for seven days of serious fishing. Using heavy-duty electric reels, he and his crew pull in about 1,200 pounds of fish each trip, mostly silk, yellowtail and red snapper.

But occasionally the mighty tug on the end of Fernandez's line turns out to be a red or black grouper, a catch that earns him about $1 per pound more than snapper and amounts to anywhere from 25 to 40 percent of his annual income.

That's why he and his fellow commercial fishermen -- along with fishing charter captains, seafood distributors, restaurant owners and chamber of commerce directors throughout the Florida Keys -- are banding together to fight the federal government's pending closure of the grouper fishery in Atlantic waters off the Keys from January through April each year.

These are indeed tough times for those in the Florida Keys fishing industry. Skyrocketing fuel prices have consumed a sizable portion of profits and, in the case of the charter and party boats, have reduced the numbers of tourists coming to the Keys to book fishing trips in the first place. And now -- adding insult to injury, captains say -- is the pending grouper ban that coincides with the height of tourist season in the Keys, when demand for fresh grouper fillets is highest and when recreational anglers seeking the coveted fish converge on the island chain in droves.

The South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council recently voted to institute the closure in federal Atlantic waters from the North Carolina/Virginia border south through the Keys to reduce overfishing and to protect spawning grouper. According to Roy Crabtree, regional administrator for the Southeast Regional Office of the National Marine Fisheries Service, scientific evidence shows a decline in the grouper population that warrants a full closure during those months.

''Since 1998, gag, black and red grouper have been listed as undergoing overfishing,'' Crabtree said. ``We have stock assessments for gag grouper from one-and-a-half years ago and assessments for red and black grouper that will be complete in 2010. But we can't wait until 2010. The [Magnuson-Stevens Sustainable Fisheries Management Act] requires protection of spawning fish and spawning aggregations, some of which are found in the Keys between January and April.''

Fernandez thinks the government should wait for the new assessments before instituting a full grouper closure.

''If [the full closure] goes into effect, I'll lose anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 a year,'' Fernandez said. ``Slowly it's getting to the point where it's not economically feasible to fish anymore. There are only about half the guys fishing now than when I started. We're like the buffalo. We're endangered and they want to make us extinct.''

`DOMINO EFFECT'

Greater Marathon Chamber of Commerce director Daniel Samess said his organization and others representing commerce throughout the Keys have launched e-mail, letter and telephone campaigns to persuade U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez to veto the proposal.

''This unnecessary ban would have a trickle-down domino effect on businesses throughout the Keys,'' Samess said. ``A lot of people come here for the great fishing, and grouper plays a major role in that.''

In business since 1982, Stock Island charter captain Andy Griffiths takes private charters of up to six anglers out for three day/two night bottom-fishing trips. He said he now has no bookings for January 2009 because of the threatened grouper closure. In a good month during high season, Griffiths books up to eight trips for each of his three boats, bringing in $2,400 to $3,300 per trip.

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