Net Ban Isn't Foolproof, But It's Working Well

STEVE WATERS On the Outdoors

August 4, 1996|STEVE WATERS

When 72 percent of Florida's voters approved the constitutional net ban amendment in 1994, the purpose of the ban was crystal-clear: stopping the indiscriminate slaughter of the millions of fish caught each year in the nets of a few hundred commercial netters.

A majority of those net-caught fish were mullet. Most of those mullet were egg-laden females, whose roe was sold to Far East markets, where it is considered a delicacy. Among the other species caught in nets were sea trout, pompano and Spanish mackerel as well as protected species such as snook, redfish and sea turtles.

By banning gill nets and entangling nets and limiting the size of seines, the authors of the Save Our Sealife amendment hoped to rebuild the state's declining fish populations. Reducing the catch of mullet was especially critical because the baitfish are an important link in the marine food chain.

The good news is that slightly over a year after the net ban took effect, the state's fisheries have improved beyond the expectations of the amendment's most ardent champions.

Throughout Florida, recreational anglers reported catching more big trout and big Spanish mackerel than in the past two decades. For the first time in years, schools of mullet, herring and other baitfish are abundant on both coasts. Netters throwing cast nets have enjoyed excellent catches of mullet.

The bad news is that despite the ban's obvious intentions, some netters are still trying to find loopholes.

Early efforts included a laughable attempt to exploit the provision that allows netting for scientific purposes. A few Panhandle counties said they needed netters to get fish for various studies, but the scheme was quickly quashed.

Some netters wanted to use trawls to catch fish, but the Marine Fisheries Commission implemented new rules to regulate their use.

The netters' latest ploy is to use a tarp to which a seine is attached. The tarp is similar to those around tennis courts. Water can pass through the tarp, but fish cannot. They are guided by the tarp into the seine.

The net ban allows the use of seines no larger than 500 square feet in mesh area. There are no size limits on tarps. Theoretically a tarp could be stretched across a canal or creek. Fish flushed out of the inlet by a falling tide would end up in the seine.

The tarp scheme came to light when a Panhandle netter used a tarp with the intention of getting cited and going to court. The judge then ruled that the tarp was not a net and therefore OK to use because the net ban applies only to nets.

"It's really bizarre," said Karl Wickstrom, publisher of Florida Sportsman magazine and a driving force behind the net ban amendment campaign. "I think that conservationists will go crazy when they find out about this. This violates the spirit of the net ban if not the exact language."

Wickstrom, whose magazine is based in Miami, noted that if netters are allowed to use tarps, then they might be used in Broward County. The county prohibited the use of almost all types of nets in its waters in the 1940s. If tarps aren't considered to be nets, that ordinance would not apply.

"I don't think people will stand for it, but it's going to cause a lot of grief, which is a shame," Wickstrom said. "The results of the net ban have already caused changes beyond what people expected. We've got big trout. We're going to see hordes of pompano, which is a great eating fish. If netters can figure out how to net them with a tarp, that'd be a shame.

"What's needed is for the state to define what is a net and what can be used, instead of trying to ban each thing one at a time as they come up with it. The Marine Fisheries Commission meets this week, and I think they'll take some kind of initial steps."

The MFC meeting is Monday through Wednesday at the Cocoa Beach Hilton in Cocoa Beach. Wickstrom suggested people fax their concerns about the use of tarps to the MFC. The hotel's fax number is 1-407-799-0344. The phone number is 1-407-799-0003. The MFC's phone number in Tallahassee is 1-904-487-0554 and the fax is 1-904-487-4847.

"It's easy enough to fix if the state stands tall," Wickstrom said. "Over the months ahead, the Marine Fisheries Commission certainly needs to hear from anglers and conservationists who say they just won't stand to have the amendment tinkered with and screwed with and have all that hard work undermined."

Steve Waters' outdoors column appears Sundays.

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