CCFA and Gill Nets...

[Tparkin]

Not sure if any of you guys have heard of the CCFA...it's a relatively new fishing club in the area organized to raise funds to build a fish hatchery to help keep fish stocks where they need to be. Good club, good people and monthly meetings with guest speakers, etc. They are just now winding down with the first season of their redfish tournament series and will have a trout tourney coming up around the first week in Nov.

Since forming a hatchery is the club's primary goal, they have joined forces with several other organizations to try to regulate the misuse of gill nets in the area. As recreational fishermen, I think we can all attest to the problems created by these nets. Until the net situation is properly regulated the hatchery would be pointless. Here's the website links to the club and the petition to regulate the nets...I realize that regulating/banning nets is a very touchy subject but I thought I'd at least throw the info out there.

http://www.crystalcoastfishing.net

http://www.nomoregillnets.org

[Big Will]

Competition is at the heart of the debate. No hook and line guy wants to see his fishing hole harvested by a guy who can catch 10 times as many fish in one swoop.

I have the un-enviable ability to understand both sides.

My family gill netted fish from the late 1800s till about 1993 when the nets were banned here in FL. Gill netting is a small family business as well as a large company type of operation. The pictures of the turtles and the redfish are sad. All are examples of someone being irresponsible. Net does not get left in the water unless someone is being very lazy. It’s the same with other pieces of trash like pictures of fish trapped in 6 pack holders.
When the vote was put on here in FL the path to the polls was covered with posters of seals, turtles, and dolphins covered in trammel the size of which never saw use in FL waters. It was a ruse and a put on for show.

Chances are good that a net ban will be promoted and will be pushed through. Net fishermen are too few and too fragmented a group to rally as much support as the pitiful animals portrayed in the photographs.

When that happens you can kiss fresh fish goodbye. I used to be able to buy fresh locally caught trout, mullet, snapper, redfish, pompano, and more at our local fish houses. Now it’s all frozen and has a label on it from China, or South America.

I figure my rant here will get moderated, and or chastised for being against the grain, but damn it, I have strong feelings about this subject.

Looking at net ban propaganda is not my idea of a good time.

[Tparkin]

I agree with all that you said and will admit that I'm pretty ignorant to the subject aside from the fact that I constantly find top slot reds dead in nets on tournament day....those fish would equate to a several thousand dollar payout if caught and would then be released to live another day.

Through my dealings with the club, I've come to understand a little more of the situation but still not enough to jump on a bandwagon. When the Dept. of Marine Fisheries was shown those very photos their response was that the dead sea turles and dead drum were "collateral damage" within the netting industry. They've also accused that the photos were staged. The turtle pics were taken within a Federal Sea Turtle Sanctuary, which you would assume would prevent things like that from happening.

I'd like to understand more on the net laws and regualtions. Until then I can't get too animated on the subject.

[Tparkin]

Dave,

I think it's usually the second Thursday of every month at the Swansboro Rotary Civic Center.

[workinprogress]

As I am very uneducated on the issue of gill netting, I am glad to have the opportunity to hear the case from both sides. There are 2 opposite viewpoints for a lot of issues like this, and IMO neither side is usually completely right or completely wrong. If you feed your family by catching fish this way, I can understand your contention that the recreational fisherman is trying to take away your livelihood so he can catch more fish on his weekend excursion. On the other hand, recreational fishermen for the most part want to see the ecosystem responsibly interacted with so the opportunity to enjoy our sport and leisure activity will be available to enjoy for future generations. That is certainly a positive way to approach this issue as well. I am curious to see where between the 2 absolutes the solution will be found.

[Tparkin]

I've seen stats recently and frankly I'm not gonna spend the time to dig them up but...the actual number of "licensed" people in the state of NC that truly fish "commercially" with gill nets is very low.

On the fresh fish issue...I've also been privy to some stats that show a very, very small percentage of the catch harvested in out local waters is actually used/consumed locally with respect to commercial fishing. Most of "our" commercial catch goes to states up north and vice versa. Makes no sense to me but I'm not a comm. fisherman.

[Redfish]

I, like Big Will, can understand both sides of the issue, having lived all my life in Florida and claiming some "Cracker" heritage of my own. I think the thing that hurt me most about the whole thing was seeing those "small family" businesses owners he mentioned have their whole world turned upside down. Many of these folks knew no other way of life and felt, understandably so, that they had a god-given right to the resources that, because of development and the popularity of "sport fishing," we now all have to share. I hated to see them loose this way of life, but those of us in Florida at the time remember there was so much heated debate around this issue, and the sport fishing interests were eventually pushed into placing the matter of an outright ban before the general public, as a constitutional referendum, because there was such a reluctance on the part of the commercial interests to compromise and because the Marine Fisheries Board was so dominated by the interests of the commercial industry.

Having said all of this, I do think, in hind sight, that the net ban in Florida has done more for the redfish and trout population than any other single piece of regulation. The tighter slot limit has also helped, and I feel pretty good about being able these days of going out and catching fish on most every trip. That was not the case in the late 80s when there were times you could not catch even a small redfish. I also feel that, in spite of the unfortunate changes wrought on the small commercial fishers, the fishery is being better managed without the nets in a way that will allow our grandkids to catch fish. For that reason, I would encourage any other state with growing populations to look seriously at some form of, if not an outright ban, limitation to large nets.

Now for the part that, like Big Will, I fear will stir up some passions, get me fussed at by a lot of folks who use the board, and perhaps get me censored by the mods. That is, I am no fan of tournaments. In fact, I dislike them pretty intensely. I think (and I can already hear some of you guys wailing) that they kill a lot of fish. Shame is, those fish are wasted because they are returned to the water many hours after being caught and those doing the releasing believe they have done something good in turning loose a weak and stressed fish. Additionally--and this is more a personal thing--I do not like the competition mentality fostered by tournaments. Having grown up fishing with my daddy and family, fishing, to me, should be a time of relaxation, reflection, and less about "I can do it better than you" and more about sharing good times on the water and in nature. I guess I just don't understand why everything has to be a competition with some folks, but that is the way I feel and I, therefore, do not participate in them.

[Tparkin]

commenting on that last point...

I'd much rather be the guy who catches a 27" drum in a tournament and releases him, stresses and all, than be the guy that leaves his gill net unattended and kills 30 27" drum in a single day...many of which I pole by, floating belly up after being tossed out.

As far as competition goes...

Some people play soccer for a release/relaxation...others play in soccer tournaments
Some people play poker for a release/relaxation...others play in high stakes games
Some people cut grass for a release/relaxation...others race lawn mowers

Competition is healthy and has been around far longer than the invention of the gill net.

[Redfish]

commenting on that last point...

Competition is healthy and has been around far longer than the invention of the gill net.


On this we agree; I just don't philosophically see fishing as something that needs to be made into a competition. To each his own. As I said, I don't, personally, participate in tournaments.

As for killing fish, I am less concerned with the ones that are caught and immediately released. I turn plenty of fish loose myself if I am not going to eat them. These fish, according to research, tend to live unless hooked deeply. Killing a breading-stock fish needlessly, however, weather in a gill net 30 at one time or the 30 that individually spent three or four hours in a hot live well, is a waste and an affront to the spirit of conservation.

[TooTall]

I hear you Big Will. 30 years ago I fished for a living. I floated with my nets. Set in the morning pull back a few times a day. Never left a net over night or out of sight. To much money to leave floating around for the taking.

Most times you could set a net to catch one type (for the most part) of fish. Yes you have by-catch but I never wasted much. I have change my views alittle over the years. There are ways to catch fish that kills less

I don't like the damage of gill nets, they kill when other types allow you to remove live fish back to the open water .

We do need to live together both rec and comm. I really think with the fish stocks as low as they have gotten we need to fish our resources wisely.

I say get rid of those GILLNETS , but remember there families living off the bounty of the sea. Let's leave them a living and then we can buy american fish when the cooler is not so full. It's still the cheaper way to have fish on our plates.

Sorry for going on so but I still have strong feeling for those who love the life of fishing for a living; not to get rich but the life style and providing for others

TooTall

[Dave]

Dave,

I think it's usually the second Thursday of every month at the Swansboro Rotary Civic Center.

Thanks Tommy, I hope to see you there next month - on the 9th of October. Congratulations to you and your partner for your results in the 2nd tournament and overall series place *thumbsup* I hope we can get out together one of these fall days so you can so you can show this old man some new tricks *Cheers*

Most of all, I want to welcome you as the newest member of the Crystal Coast Chapter of the Carolina Skiff Owners. Surely we have some fellow members (beside myself) that have opinion on these issues. Our FL and PA friends and fellow CSO members have expressed their concerns. I welcome any and all local (especially CCC of CSO) members to weight in on your concerns regarding these issues - surely you have opinion on such important matters that will effect our local fishery. Having said that, don't go crazy on me now - let's try and keep it civil *014*

Dave

[Tparkin]

Thanks Dave.

We weren't real excited about our finish overall. We had several opportunities to do much better but made some costly mistakes that will not happen again. It's hard competing against guys that do it every day but we're holding our own.