Occasional Underground Commenter Captain Gordon Churchill sent us this story about unattended gill nets — and the indiscriminate damage they do to fisheries.
Then he went out and recorded a video (hit the airwaves first at Flyfishmagazine), showing firsthand the the damage caused by “incidental bycatch” of sport species.
Most irritating? The fine for an unattended gillnet is… [drum roll]… $35.
[tags]fishing, fly fishing, gillnet, flyfishmagazine[/tags]
This has started a real storm around here. I’ll keep you updated on any progress that may or may not occur.
Capt Gordon(Quote)
Good. Keep us updated.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
I am so glad Louisiana banned these things a decade ago. It did get very ugly around here just before we got the ban; the gillnetters shut down the roads leading to some of the best launching sites in St Bernard Parish – they literally barricaded the roads. Then, some of them threw roofing tacks, etc in the roads, and a lot of people ended up with flat tires on their boat trailers, etc. The marina operators were caught in the middle – they sell diesel, etc to the commercial types all week, then service the sport fishermen on weekends.
The end result was more fish, and bigger fish, almost immediately, particularly with speckled trout. Those gill nets would wipe out an area of marsh – there literally wouldn’t be anything to catch in an area for a month.
ijsouth(Quote)
From the article:
” ‘Problem’ ain’t the word for it,” he said. “Last year was a banner year for redfish in the Newport River. Last year, I could go out with a client for four hours and average 15 or 20 redfish. This year, it’s four to six.”
Sounds familiar…when the nets were out, you struggled to find them. Now, a good guide around here can get those 15-20 reds in an hour or less, given the right conditions. We are spoiled down here.
ijsouth(Quote)
From the “Odd Designation of the Day” department comes: “Recreational Gill Netting”
That’s one sporty hobby.
What are they thinking?
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Rec Gill netters are folks that a. live along a creek somewhere and just stick a net out to catch whatever swims by for their supper. Oftentimes the nets are out for days and if the net is set on Thursday and not checked until Saturday or something, whatever was caught the first day is crab bait by the time the net is checked. 2) is the person who comes to the beach once a week and sets the net out and leaves it and only checks it on Saturday (you gonna eat a fish that has been dead in the water for that long if it’s still therre) and C. is the person who is “living the heritage” and likes to set a net to feel like he is a part of something and doesn’t know where to set it prooperly and etc. The results are often the same. Dead fish wasted and a whole school of reds wiped out to catch a few flounder.
Capt Gordon(Quote)
Geez…y’all are making le grande republique du bananas au Louisianne look positively efficient and modern. “Recreational Gill Netting” is almost as good an oxymoron as “metal wood” in golf. It was bad enough around here when the commercials would let their nets get blown all over the marsh – I can’t imagine how bad it would be around here if we allowed anyone to chunk out a gill net from his camp.
Just a word of warning for y’all up in North Carolina; it took many years and a lot of lobbying efforts and $$$ in Baton Rouge to get the gill net ban here. The restaurant association fought it tooth and nail. It was a little different here; most of the gill netters were shrimpers who did it on the side or out of season; of course, there were a lot of recreational types who were taking their ice chests to the nearest seafood wholesaler and selling their catch, too.
ijsouth(Quote)
The weekenders and gill netters are always at war. I fished in Louisiana and those bayous were filthy with fish.
George Matthews(Quote)