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A. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In November of 1994 an overwhelming 72 percent of Florida voters said yes to the constitutional amendment limiting marine net fishing. The amendment includes both a prohibition on the use of gill and entangling nets in all state waters and a size limit on other nets. Although the restrictions have been in place for 14 years, there are still factions within the commercial industry who refuse to accept the legal reality that the constitutional prohibition on gill nets means no gill nets.
Since 1994, there have been numerous lawsuits, attempts to create law enforcement loopholes, and outright scams all designed to invalidate or circumvent provisions of the constitutional amendment. All have failed. The Florida Legislature, Florida Courts, and state agencies have upheld the clear intent of Florida voters.
One of the most common attempts to create loopholes for gill nets is to try to change laws to allow any mesh size in nets. When the ban on gill nets was implemented in 1995, fishermen started using nets with mesh sizes commonly used in gill nets prior to the amendment. They claimed the nets were seine nets, even though at the time of arrest, their nets were filled with gilled fish. To resolve enforcement and prosecution issues, the Florida Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) adopted a regulation to establish a distinction between legal seine nets and illegal gill nets. The regulation restricted seine nets to a mesh size no larger than two inches.
The regulation setting a maximum mesh size of two inches for seine nets was adopted to establish a “bright line” distinction between illegal gill nets and legal seines. A lawsuit was filed by commercial interests challenging the regulation. A Florida administrative law judge conducted the hearing, heard expert testimony from witnesses on both sides, and upheld the regulation. One of the major legal findings was that the two inch maximum mesh size for seine nets was “historically based, rational and practical.” The commercial netting interests appealed the judges ruling to the First District Court of Appeal which unanimously upheld the judge’s ruling and the MFC’s rule. The ruling was then appealed to the Florida Supreme Court which denied the appeal and allowed the District Court of Appeal ruling to stand. In all, there have been four lawsuits by commercial interests challenging the mesh size and gill net rule and all have been rejected by the Courts.
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