The legislation to increase the penalty for flagrant netting violations has been prepared and filed – SB 2334 by Senator Haridopolos (R – Melbourne) and HB 1313 by Representative Gardiner (R-Orlando). These bills contain the proposal which was unanimously endorsed by the FWC Commission at their last meeting. It raises the penalty on a flagrant violation from a second degree misdemeanor to a third degree felony beginning with the first offense. The entire bill can be seen at:
LINK
Netting violations may be become felony..
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dstockwell
- Posts: 4214
- Joined: March 5th, 2002, 8:00 pm
- Location: Valdosta, GA
I used to gillnet mullet. Had a lot of fun doing it. If the Japaneese had not started buying the roe maybe people would not have gotten so greedy and tried to wipe them out. The commercial fishermen are their own worst enemy. There are just too many people exploiting a limited resource and so we have to protect them from themselves. We all know that around St. Marks they are still gill netting and the judges are not going to fine these people much for doing it. It still ticks me off that our government still thinks that commercial fishermen belong in fisheries resource managment. Check out the history of Raffield in Port St. Joe.
Gene Raffield, Raffield Fisheries Port St. Joe, was a member of the Florida Marine Fisheries Counsel. Gene Raffield was very well connected politicaly. He voted on all fisheries management decisions for the state. His company owned a fleet of purse seine boats and had spotter airplanes flying the coast spotting fish schools. They would track the schools until they were near port where they wouldn't have such a long run to the fish and then scoop them up. Very efficent.
Right after the redfish received gamefish status and commercial sales were banned Raffield's son, onboard a Raffield Fisheries boat was caught with about 50,000 lbs, I can't remember it may have been more, of illegal redfish. The fish were seized, Raffield recieved a small fine and if I remember correctly Raffield Fisheries wound up processing the fish for sale. There was considerable political fallout about this especially since Gene and the Governor were such good friends.
After the net ban somehow Raffield received a special permit to experiment with tarp nets. A tarp net is a long wing of black plastic on each side with a small purse seine in the middle. They would use the black plastic as a wall and herd the fish into the seine in the pocket. These nets were supposed to only be used to catch bait fish but several times they were caught processing the catch for food.
As long as our government allows commercial fishermen like this to make the rules governing their use of this resource the future of our sport is in danger. When commercial interest see fish they only see $$$$$ signs. Why is the allowable commercial catch so much larger than the recreational catch when recreational anglers spend so much more money. I don't know about you but I don't want to know how much I spent on the trout filets in my freezer. Probably $100 a pound.
Right after the redfish received gamefish status and commercial sales were banned Raffield's son, onboard a Raffield Fisheries boat was caught with about 50,000 lbs, I can't remember it may have been more, of illegal redfish. The fish were seized, Raffield recieved a small fine and if I remember correctly Raffield Fisheries wound up processing the fish for sale. There was considerable political fallout about this especially since Gene and the Governor were such good friends.
After the net ban somehow Raffield received a special permit to experiment with tarp nets. A tarp net is a long wing of black plastic on each side with a small purse seine in the middle. They would use the black plastic as a wall and herd the fish into the seine in the pocket. These nets were supposed to only be used to catch bait fish but several times they were caught processing the catch for food.
As long as our government allows commercial fishermen like this to make the rules governing their use of this resource the future of our sport is in danger. When commercial interest see fish they only see $$$$$ signs. Why is the allowable commercial catch so much larger than the recreational catch when recreational anglers spend so much more money. I don't know about you but I don't want to know how much I spent on the trout filets in my freezer. Probably $100 a pound.
Like you RC, I've shucked a many mullet from gill nets in my younger years. I also wanted to follow three generations before and make a living on the Gulf. But the resourses arn't there any longer. I have no pity for those who are still net fishing and gets caught. The arm of the law seems to reach out further to some than to others. Just as in the example you mentioned.
Semper Fi