Illegal Gill Net Found In Gulf

By CHRISTIAN M. WADE The Tampa Tribune

Published: Nov 15, 2007

HOLIDAY - It's been more than a decade since Florida voters overwhelmingly adopted a ban on fishing nets in coastal waters, but poachers are still flouting the law.

Tuesday morning, a U.S. Coast Guard patrol discovered a gill net - roughly the length of a football field - strung across the Anclote River channel about a mile out into the Gulf.

Minutes later, the patrol notified the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, which dispatched its marine unit to remove the illegal net from the heavily traveled waterway.

The net was laden with lady fish and mullet, and apparently was rigged by someone who knew what they were doing, according to sheriff's office spokesman Doug Tobin.

"Not only is it a navigational hazard, but it's a felony just owning this kind of net," he said.

Tobin said the sheriff's office is investigating and has no suspects.

The net was dragged to shore, taken to a county incinerator and destroyed, he said.

Approved by 72 percent of voters, the 1995 constitutional amendment limits the size of fishing nets to 500 square feet and prohibits gill or other entangling nets made of monofilament.

Voters adopted the ban after netters nearly destroyed Florida's once fabled offshore fishing. Ban proponents said the nets also trapped and drowned dolphins and sea turtles.

What followed was a massive buyout of gill nets from netters put out of business by the ban. The state paid millions of dollars for hundreds of miles of nets.

Illegal netters still threaten coastal fisheries, though, state regulators say.

"We still have a real problem with poaching in the state," said Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "It's a major concern to us."

A gill netter can catch several thousand dollars worth of fish in a single day, he said, and for some that's worth the risk of getting caught. Violators face a third-degree felony, a $5,000 fine and a 12-month suspension of their commercial fishing license. For a second violation, they face another $5,000 penalty, forfeiture of their fishing license for life, plus all the gear and equipment they used in the violation.

Ted Forsgren, executive director of the Florida Coastal Conservation Commission, said as the penalties have become more severe, the number of poachers has decreased.

Fish stocks, especially mullet, have been rebounding under the net ban, but there's still money to be made by unscrupulous fishermen, regulators say.

"The law has more teeth in it now," Morse said. "But the poachers are still out there."

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office tips line at 1-800-706-2488.

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (727) 815-1082 or cwade@tampatrib.com.