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2 Bradenton Anglers Used Illegal Net, Officers Say

News Channel 8 photo by RUGENE MOORE

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers sort fish from a gill net in Palmetto.

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 14, 2008

TAMPA - Wildlife officers arrested two Bradenton men early this morning on charges they were using an illegal gill net near the mouth of the Manatee River.

Two officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission saw the men setting a 700-yard gill net about 4:15 a.m. and arrested Cecil Truelove, 31, and Roger Darling, 34, on charges of using a gill net in state waters.

They were booked in the Manatee County Jail.

By the time officers hauled in the net, it had snared about 500 pounds of mostly ladyfish, said commission Lt. Rob Gerkin. It was in the water about 10 minutes.

Ladyfish aren't normally considered a food fish, but buyers from overseas use them to make fish cakes, and fish houses pay about 70 cents to $1 a pound.

The net also trapped mackerel, speckled trout, pompano, mullet and catfish.

The boat, a 25-foot commercial fishing vessel, was registered to a third party who was not charged. Gerkin said the boat owner was told it was being used for illegal activity.

The wildlife commission sold the catch for about 50 cents a pound. The money will be kept in an escrow account until the case is resolved. If found not guilty, the two men will get the money, and the gill net will be returned.

Otherwise, the money will be used for law enforcement purposes and the net destroyed.

Wildlife officer Grant Burton, one of the two who made the arrest, said the net that stretched the length of seven football fields is larger than most of the gill nets he encounters, which are 200 to 250 yards long.

Voters adopted a constitutional amendment in 1994 banning gill nets in state waters. The nets ensnare any fish that swims into them. Seine and cast nets are still legal in state waters, but they are more labor intensive and less productive than gill nets.

Gill nets are legal in federal waters, nine miles from shore in the Gulf and three miles in the Atlantic.

Burton said the illegal fishermen can set and retrieve nets in as little as 25 minutes, giving wildlife officers a small window to catch them with the net in the water, which is a felony.

Illegal fishermen also use spotters to watch for wildlife officers and decoy boats to lure officers away, Burton said.

In addition to the felony charge of using a gill net in state waters, Darling and Truelove face misdemeanor charges of not going directly from the dock to federal water with a gill net aboard and not having proper identification markings on the net.

In addition, they could be forced to pay civil fines and face the loss or suspension of their license to sell products to fish houses. No one can sell saltwater fish without a license.

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