Judge Jackie

[Mister Mullet]

Jackie Fulford just overturned the stay in enforcing her ruling that netters be allowed to use gillnets of any mesh size. In response FWC has petitioned the First District Court of Appeals to let them continue to enforce the net ban. She's thrown a hissy fit. In the meantime, read the notice CCA just put out. Hundreds of netters are headed to Florida from NC to Lousiania.

Back in the day we fought those gillnetters by getting into the middle of baitfish, kingfish and mackerel schools first and keeping them from setting their nets. We might have to go back to those civil disobedience days again.

[RED ZONE 48]

Just when the fishing was getting good, Now no more Redfish, trout, mackerel . etc. Netting is just WRONG. This is why the OLD GFC was not involved with POLITICS . I am sure I have up set some mullet netters , to bad so sad. Fulford 's family own mullet netting boats , in case any one was wondering and it's an election year.

[Mister Mullet]

Are you sure about her family owning net boats? She should have recused herself.

[wevans]

Let me clear up something that y'all have conveniently forgotten. The law is a net "limit" not a net ban!! 500 squares is a whole lot different than the monstrous nets that they used to use and that is a good thing. BUT, FWC overstepped it's authority when it arbitrarily decided to make the mesh smaller, with no concern for the consequences. Y'all can hate on the net fishers all you want, they aint goin away and yer precious Trout and Reds etc.... will still be around also

[MudDucker]

It was a net limit and not a ban, but the limit made it all but economically unfeasible to be in the net fishing business. The netters have no one to blame, but themselves. They did not practice any form of conservation and instead took until there was nothing left to strike on. This included trout and reds, but most particularly mackerel and offshore redfish.

They proved the old adage, pigs get fed, but hogs get slaughtered.

It is economically better for Florida to maintain a healthy game fishery for tourist dollars than the inshore net fishing businesses.

[wevans]

And I say that we can maintain both, if enforced in a responsible manner by FWC!!!

[Rhettley]

How exactly does a judge have the power to overturn a stay imposed on a ruling that judge made???

I remember the good ol days of inshore fishing back in 1981 when I started driving and could haul a small boat to St Marks. It was hard to find a 12" trout. You could find small fish in an area one day and the next day the grass would be all torn up and there wouldn't be a fish to be seen or caught in the area. Word of mouth at the ramp told you where the netters had been working so you knew where to not bother going. Redfish and Spanish mackerel were very hard to find and we thought tarpon couldn't live here as we had never seen one or heard of one being caught. You NEVER saw a mullet jump or a school of them swim by. I remember commercial guys talking about roe mullet and how valuable the roe was to export. The roe got removed and the rest of the fish was trashed. I hope I never see those days again.

I don't know if they can find a net agreeable to use and if the FWC can monitor the netters well enough to keep them from raping the areas like they used to.

[Salty Gator]

And I say that we can maintain both, if enforced in a responsible manner by FWC!!!

Please remind me how the red and trout fishing was around here before the net ban?

[wevans]

Dang y'all are a hardheaded bunch I will say it again, I will type it slowwwwwly The days of the 3000+ nets are over YES, they did a lot of damage and we are all glad to see them gone No one is trying to make the nets any larger than the prescribed 500 foot, just make the mesh larger to let the juvenal fish "Mullet, Reds, Trout etc" swim through. Will they catch some keeper sport fish, YES, but that will happen if you throw a cast net recreationally also!! I feel that the larger mesh is a win, win for all fishers, not just rec. or com.

[Salty Gator]

Dang y'all are a hardheaded bunch I will say it again, I will type it slowwwwwly The days of the 3000+ nets are over YES, they did a lot of damage and we are all glad to see them gone No one is trying to make the nets any larger than the prescribed 500 foot, just make the mesh larger to let the juvenal fish "Mullet, Reds, Trout etc" swim through. Will they catch some keeper sport fish, YES, but that will happen if you throw a cast net recreationally also!! I feel that the larger mesh is a win, win for all fishers, not just rec. or com.

Bigger mesh still gills fish, bigger fish

[wevans]

Fish that can be sold, not small ones that have to be discarded!!!!!!

[captkeyser]

Dang y'all are a hardheaded bunch I will say it again, I will type it slowwwwwly The days of the 3000+ nets are over YES, they did a lot of damage and we are all glad to see them gone No one is trying to make the nets any larger than the prescribed 500 foot, just make the mesh larger to let the juvenal fish "Mullet, Reds, Trout etc" swim through. Will they catch some keeper sport fish, YES, but that will happen if you throw a cast net recreationally also!! I feel that the larger mesh is a win, win for all fishers, not just rec. or com.

Bigger mesh still gills fish, bigger fish

I guess the question is: What will have a worse impact on game fish? A small mesh killing small fish or a big mesh killing larger breeder fish? I don't know the answer. My knee jerk reaction is that it would be better to keep it the way that it is now with smaller mesh as the fishery is booming.

[wevans]

The fishery is booming because they cannot use those outlandishly large nets, like they used to. If folks would just think about it, instead of just listening to all the net haters, they would see the truth of it!!!

[red_yakker]

Fish that can be sold, not small ones that have to be discarded!!!!!!

Also, any mullet fisherman worth his salt will only catch trout every once in a while and will rarely net a redfish.
They made it illegal to leave your nets unattended, made sense. Reduces by-catch by forcing you to target your nets on schools of mullet rather than just allowing them to drift where they may.
They restricted the size and number of nets you're allowed to string together, made sense. If you can't cover as large an area, you focus your net on the school of mullet, reducing by-catch.
Smaller mesh still gills fish, only difference is there's no market for the fish it gills.
I believe they could use the old mesh size coupled with the parts of the law that make sense, and commercial mullet fisherman could afford to stay in business and there'd be minimal impact on the recreational fishing.

[EddieJoe]

The fishery is booming because they cannot use those outlandishly large nets, like they used to. If folks would just think about it, instead of just listening to all the net haters, they would see the truth of it!!!

Wevans, you are a smart guy and an excellent fisherman, and both of us are old enough to have been around through all of this, and before. It's how you deploy and use the net, not just the mesh size. A different size mesh is used to capture different size fish for different purposes. We all know this. You know this, but evidently the judge doesn't know this or to admit to it, and thinks the "baby fish" argument has merit. It doesn't. Ronald Fred and Ron know it better than anyone else, but when they find a weak link they go for it.

Cast nets and seine nets with a small mesh aren't as efficient as 500 square foot gill nets designed to capture large size mullet, but they are doing well enough to satisfy the local market for fresh mullet and bait. That's the intent and it shows the system is working as designed. Florida does not want a bunch of 500 square foot mullet gill nets out there. Ronald Fred and Ron should let it go. Time moves on, and they should too. If a bunch of netters from out of state and locally move in and start gill netting mullet again, we are going to have a war out on the water. That isn't a good idea for anyone, especially because this case is not going to hold up in court.

EJ