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The Florida Auditor General released the following operational audit (No. 2023-154) on March 21, 2023, involving Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission - Invasive Plant Management and Prior Audit Follow-Up.
Here are excerpts:
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SUMMARY
This operational audit of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (Commission) focused on invasive plant management and included a follow-up on the findings noted in our report No. 2018-206. Our audit disclosed the following:
Invasive Plant Management
Finding 1: Commission controls for processing applications for aquatic plant control permits could be enhanced to better demonstrate the verification of property ownership, that site maps include all information required by Commission rules, and whether any conservation easements had been established in the area for which plant control was proposed.
Finding 2: Commission records did not always evidence that grass carp were certified as triploid/1 in accordance with Commission rules.
Finding 3: Commission controls over the timely receipt of and accountability for triploid grass carp supplier stocking reports need improvement.
Finding 4: Commission access privilege review controls for the Plant Management and Reporting System/Terrestrial Invasive Exotic Report System and the Triploid Grass Carp Database need enhancement.
Selected Administrative Activities
Finding 5: Commission controls continue to need enhancement to better ensure that purchasing cards are timely canceled upon a cardholder's separation from Commission employment.
Finding 6: As similarly noted in our report No. 2018-206, Commission records did not always evidence that all required authorizations were obtained prior to disposing of property items or that the Department of Management Services was timely notified when motor vehicles and watercraft were identified by the Commission as excess property.
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1/ Triploid grass carp have been genetically altered to prevent the fish from spawning.
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BACKGROUND
The State Constitution/2 specifies that the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (Commission) is responsible for exercising regulatory and executive powers with respect to wild animal life, freshwater aquatic life, and marine life. State law/3 establishes within the Commission the following divisions: Freshwater Fisheries Management, Habitat and Species Conservation, Hunting and Gaming Management, Law Enforcement, and Marine Fisheries Management. State law also establishes the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute as the principal unit for research services.
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
INVASIVE PLANT MANAGEMENT
The Invasive Plant Management Section (IPM),...