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Officers' Catch Of The Day: Pair Of Anglers With Gill Net

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By NEIL JOHNSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 15, 2008

Updated: 02/15/2008 12:11 am

TAMPA - Wildlife officers arrested two Bradenton men early Thursday 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-long gill net about 4:15 a.m. and arrested Cecil Truelove, 31, and Roger Darling, 34, on felony charges of using a gill net in state waters.

Each also faces two related misdemeanor charges.

Catching someone with a net in the water enables officers to charge suspects with a felony - a rare occurrence because it's difficult to catch them in the act, said state wildlife officer Grant Burton.

The officers who made the arrests were on their nightly patrol, which includes searching for illegal gill netters.

Darling, of 1417 29th Ave. E. in Bradenton, was the operator of the boat, officers said. His bail was set at $1,250. Truelove, of 1806 32nd Ave. E. in Bradenton, was released from Manatee County Jail on bail of $1,240.

By the time officers hauled in the net, it had snared about 500 pounds of fish, 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 a few 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 informed 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 will be destroyed.

Darling has faced similar charges before.

He was arrested in November 1998 in Manatee County and a year later in Hillsborough County on misdemeanor charges of violating the state's conservation rules. The 1998 case was dropped.

He pleaded no contest to the charges in 1999 and adjudication was withheld.

He was arrested again Sept. 5 in Hillsborough County on the same charges he now faces. Arraignment for that arrest is set for Wednesday.

Burton, one of the officers who made the Thursday arrest, said the net they seized stretched the length of seven football fields, larger than most of the gill nets he encounters, which are 200 to 250 yards long.

It was pulled into a semicircle just east of where U.S. 41 crosses the Manatee River and could stretch deep enough to reach the river bottom.

Gill nets have openings several inches across and as fish try to pass through the net they are trapped by their gills or get wrapped in the monofilament.

Florida voters adopted a constitutional amendment in 1994 banning gill nets in state waters. They became illegal the next year.

The change put many former commercial fishermen out of business, Gerkin said.

The net ban was especially hard on mullet fishermen.

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.

Fishermen intending to use a gill net in federal waters must go directly from the dock to the open water and have proper identification on the net floats.

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.

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

Using the gill net can provide a large payday for those who fish illegally. Two years ago, a gill netter in Collier County was caught with 10,000 pounds of pompano, a highly valued food fish that was bringing $3 to $4 a pound from fish houses, Burton said.

In addition to the felony charge of using a gill net in state waters, Darling and Truelove face misdemeanor charges of failing to travel directly from the dock to federal water with a gill net aboard and failing to show proper identification markings on the net.

In addition, they could be forced to pay civil fines and face the loss or suspension of a license to sell products to fish houses. Selling saltwater fish requires a special license.

Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at (813) 259-7731 or njohnson@tampatrib.com.

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