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Gill Nets Redux: Die-Hards Focus On Mesh Size Limit

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By FRANK SARGEANT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 4, 2008

Give credit to the folks who loved gill nets in 1994. They never gave up. Today, 14 years after a majority of Florida's citizens passed a constitutional amendment to get rid of entangling nets, the die-hard netters are still trying to find a way around the ruling.

The latest effort is aimed at removing the mesh size limitation on nets legally permitted. The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will hear the proposal as part of its meeting June 12 in Dania Beach.

The use of seines, which trap fish within small mesh nets, is still permitted with net sizes of up to 500 square feet; the net can be 100 feet long and five feet deep, or any configuration that does not equal more than 500 square feet. But state regulations say the mesh size must not be larger than two inches. The reason is that larger meshes gill many fish; the head fits through the mesh, but the broader neck and gill plate area do not. The net mesh snaps over the gill cover and chokes down on the body, holding the fish securely until the net is hoisted aboard and the fish is extracted.

Netters say that if they used bigger mesh, the baby fish would escape and only the big ones would be trapped. But in fact, the nets would then become entangling nets; they would capture fish by gilling them.

The reason netters want this gear is that they can catch more fish faster and with less work than if they have to run the seine around them, then toss a cast net into the enclosure to harvest the fish. It is highly efficient and makes good business sense.

But regulators and conservationists, via the net ban, called for an end to this method for that reason. It works too well, allowing a few commercial anglers to kill thousands of fish each night. It was damaging to fish populations in 1994, and it would be damaging to them today.

Mullet in particular suffered under the gill nets, with millions of pounds killed each year, mostly for their eggs, which were shipped to Asia. Mullet are one species at the base of the food chain, which is key to the health of most gamefish. But netters also caught plenty of trout, redfish, pompano and other species when mullet were scarce. No question, recreational fishing has become much better as a result of the gill net ban; the nets allowed a few individuals to harvest a hugely disproportionate amount of a relatively scarce resource that most would agree belongs to all of state's residents.

"You can't pass a rule that says nets with mesh sizes designed to gill fish are not gill nets," says Ted Forsgren, executive director of the Florida Coastal Conservation Association, the leading conservation group in shepherding the net ban amendment through the vote in 1994. "A constitutional amendment cannot be changed by a state rule or legislation; it's the will of the people of Florida specifically expressed."

Forsgren says those who want to express an opinion on the issue but can't attend the meeting can e-mail the conservation commission at commissioners@myfwc.com. For details on the meeting time and location, visit www.myfwc.com.

ETC.: Captains Woody Gore, Mike Gore and Mark Gore join captain Mel Berman for a free fishing clinic tonight at 7 at Toyota of Tampa Bay, 1101 E. Fletcher Ave. in Tampa; (866) 438-8696. ... Captain Jim Lemke presents a free snook/tarpon/redfish clinic tonight at 6 at the Tampa Bay Fly Fishing Club meeting at Compton Park Rec Center in Tampa Palms; captainjim555@aol.com. ... Captain Eric Mannino presents a free inshore fishing clinic Thursday at 7 p.m. at Tightlines Tackle, 6924 N. Armenia Ave. in Tampa; (813) 932-4721. ... Tribune fishing correspondent Fred Everson hosts an inshore fishing school Tuesday at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa from 7 to 10 p.m. The fee is $25 and includes a copy of Everson's book, "Fish the Flats."

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