Outlaw Netting Still Taking Its Toll On Florida's Marine Life by Ted Forsgren Four endangered sea turtles were found dead in an abandoned, illegal gill net in the Florida Panhandle. Stepped up enforcement against illegal gillnetting by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has resulted in numerous recent arrests and recoveries of abandoned gill nets. For instance, in October, in St. Joe Bay, which is in the middle of the Panhandle, officers discovered an abandoned illegal gill net with four endangered green sea turtles entangled and dead in the net. Although we were well aware that netting was undermining the recovery of pompano and other fisheries, it's now become apparent that the poaching is having significant impacts on other marine life as well. The killing of four green sea turtles in a single gill net is a major incident. The illegal net was found by FWC officers who stopped to investigate a crab trap buoy with no identifying marks and found the submerged net with numerous "bloated carcasses" in it. The gill net was approximately 100 yards long, five feet deep and had been set and anchored in a 10 foot deep section of the bay. In addition to sea turtles, the net contained pompano, crabs and a variety of other fish carcasses. Another abandoned gill net was found by FWC officers in nearby Bay County. The gill net was 200 yards long and was full of dead skipjack, catfish, Spanish mackerel, and three sharks, one of which was a six-foot blacktip. The FWC is continuing to actively investigate the St. Joe Bay incident. Major Kent Thompson, head of FWC Marine Law Enforcement in Northwest Florida, indicated that they are working with the National Marine Fisheries Service and are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person(s) responsible for abandoning the gill net which killed the four green sea turtles. The fall of the year is when mullet aggregate in large numbers to spawn. The females, laden with roe (eggs), are major targets for poachers because the roe brings a high price as an export product to the Orient. FWC officials have indicated that fish and wildlife officers will be implementing a "full court press" against poachers during the roe season. Following are just some of the illegal netting arrests made by the FWC in recent weeks:
During one three week period in November, FWC officers working in Lee and Charlotte counties arrested six commercial fishermen for net ban violations and confiscated numerous illegal nets. One illegal operation was charged with using more the 3,000 square feet of seine net and another was caught with a 600-yard monofilament gill net. In August, officers from the same district arrested five commercial fishermen on net ban violations and released approximately 1,000 pounds of entangled mullet. In August, CCA Florida began a special project to address continuing problems with illegal gillnetting. One major obvious issue is that the FWC's enforcement resources are stretched thin with responsibilities for boating safety, manatee speed zones and fisheries enforcement. CCA's project has identified that the FWC, through lack of funding and agency unification, has lost 91 sworn officer positions since 1991. The FWC's current enforcement efforts have also been aided by a two million dollar budget appropriation for law enforcement overtime. The overtime budget request was a very high priority FWC issue during the 2000 Legislative session and was actively supported by CCA Florida. CCA also provided photographs and other evidence to the Commission which clearly indicated ongoing outlaw netting in many areas of the state and urged them to increase law enforcement efforts. We are pleased to note that the recent level of activity and number of illegal netting arrests indicates that the Commission is taking action. FDLE Confirms Public Records Safe By Ted Forsgren A three-month investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) confirmed in October that Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Executive Director, Dr. Allan L. Egbert, did not delete public records from his computer as claimed by an attorney representing commercial fishing interests. The allegations appeared in a sworn affidavit by a computer analyst in connection with a public records request by a Port St. Joe attorney for documents related to net restrictions. The attorney had hired the analyst to study hard drives from FWC computers to ensure all the requested information was intact. The analyst claimed, under oath, that he used forensic software to discover that public records had been deleted from Egbert's computer. However, FDLE's Computer Crimes Unit also used forensic software and determined that the claims were false. CCA Florida believes it is not just coincidence that these public allegations against Dr. Egbert came at the same time commercial interests were fighting with the FWC to get them to back off from their strong stand against the giant tarp nets. The same attorney who made the public allegations against Egbert also represents commercial fishing interests who are trying to use huge tarpaulin purse seine nets. Labeled tarp "scam" nets by editorial boards and conservation groups, the giant purse seines were allowed under a 3-year legislative "baitfish pilot program" which expired July 1, 2000. Last February, the FWC voted unanimously to take no action to extend the tarp net "baitfish program." The FWC concluded that the huge tarp nets are prohibited by the Florida "net ban" constitutional amendment which prohibits the use of any net greater than 500 square feet in nearshore and inshore coastal waters. FWC General Counsel Jim Antista, in a January 2000 legal opinion, stated that, "even if the Commission were to change its current rules to allow the use of tarp seine gear in nearshore and inshore Florida waters, the net ban amendment, which is self-implementing, prohibits such use of the gear because of its immense size." Most of the tarp purse seine nets are 600 yards long and 30 feet deep (approximately 54,000 square feet of net) and have been observed taking more than 20,000 pounds of fish in a single set of the net. CCA Florida Fishing Guides Directory The guides listed in this directory have provided important support to CCA Florida and the conservation of Florida's marine resources during the past year. We encourage members and others to use their services when planning a guided fishing trip. More...
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