Out of control gill netting

[bad_angler]

Hi,

I saw this article this morning about the redfish catch being down 75% in parts of North Carolina where indiscriminant use of gill nets has begun to take a heavy toll on game fish species. There a sad video accompanying the article of a gillnet full of dead redfish and black drum. Watching the video will make you sick..you can hear the disgust in the captain documenting the kill. See this LINK.

And the fine for this slaughter was $35. I thought you guys would be angry too.

[mneptune]

Florida anglers know all about this type of destructive fishing. It ruined much of our inshore fisheries for many years before a public reforendum was produced and a new amendment was made to the state constitution out-lawing this type of fishing.

Since the gill-net ban was instituted most if not all of our inshore marine species have rebounded quite well. I hope for the sake of the citizens of NC that "the powers that be" will wake up and out-law this very destructive and indiscriminate way of killing your resources.

Best regards.....

[bad_angler]

Hi all,

Captain Matt Wirt has followed up with a second video showing how gill nets cover the waters around Carolina Beach, NC. You can see where the 300 foot long nets are placed end to end in one foot of water so that fish have no escape. He shot footage of what often happens to the bycatch or "discards" as they are tossed. A good video showing what happens every day in his neighborhood. See the video at the bottom of this page.

However I'd like to retract the use of the word slaughter in my previous post. I've heard from a number of people that many gill net people are conscientious and don't leave fish high and dry. There's two sides to this issue. Even so it's hard to see how game fish can thrive in areas with wall to wall netting like shown in this video.

ba

[princeofdarkness]

Originally Posted by bad_angler

However I'd like to retract the use of the word slaughter in my previous post. I've heard from a number of people that many gill net people are conscientious and don't leave fish high and dry. There's two sides to this issue. Even so it's hard to see how game fish can thrive in areas with wall to wall netting like shown in this video.

Thank you for the retraction. Hopefully others that fish for recreation only will realize your point there are two sides to every issue. Gill net gear is indiscriminate. I remember seeing a whale caught up in a gill net in Alaska and feeling bad , not so much for the animal itself but for the waste. Iwas advised that most mammal entanglements there are resolved quickly and the whales surive 99% of the time.

Gill Nets are effective. The challenge for this generation will be how to effectively harvest fish in a more environmentally sound manner. There is a technology solution out there. Someone just needs to come up with it.