FWC COMMISSIONERS RESPECT CITIZEN MANDATE AND
CONSTITUTIONAL BAN ON GILL NETS

Commercial netting interests once again tried to get the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to allow larger mesh sizes in nets so they could be used as a gill net. The issue was discussed with public testimony before the full Commission at its June 12 meeting in Ft. Lauderdale.

After several hours of staff presentations and public comment the Commissioners began their discussion. One of the first to speak was Commissioner Ken Wright.

“This is not a science question, the resource has rebounded. This constitutional amendment passed by a remarkable margin and our predecessors created a bright line definition, done objectively, and upheld in litigation,” said Wright. “I am adamantly in favor of keeping the current two inch regulation. We are Trustees of a decision and bound to follow the will of the people.”

“Going to a larger mesh size has the intent of creating a gill net. We can’t point to a dog and call it a cat,” said Commissioner Brian Yablonski. “We are bound by duty to the law and must respect the rule of law.”
Commissioner Chairman Rodney Barreto stated that previous Commissioners supported the current regulations which have been successfully defended in numerous lawsuits. “The people of Florida have spoken,” said Barreto.

Commissioner Dick Corbett made the motion to keep the current regulations which was seconded by Commissioner Wright. The motion passed unanimously.

“We applaud the Commission’s respect for the citizen initiated constitutional ban on gill nets and its support for the implementing regulations,” said Mark Carter, Chairman of CCA Florida.

“This unanimous decision should finally put an end to this issue that keeps coming up like a bad penny despite decision after decision supporting the two-inch maximum mesh on seines,” said Karl Wickstrom, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Florida Sportsman magazine. Wickstrom was Chairman of the Save Our Sealife Constitutional Amendment Committee.

In November 1994 an overwhelming 72% 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 nearly fourteen 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 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 attempts to create an enforcement loophole began when 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 rule to establish a distinction between legal seine nets and illegal gill nets. The rule restricted seine nets to a mesh size no larger than two inches.

The commercial fishers claimed that smaller mesh size was killing “baby fish.” “If the commercial netting industry was genuinely concerned about fishing gear that killed “baby fish” then they would address the massive by-kill of juvenile “baby fish” by shrimp trawls,” said Ted Forsgren, CCA Florida Executive Director. “Just one shrimp trawl kills far more juvenile fish than all the 500 sq. ft. seines combined. Their concern over baby fish is just a ploy to get large mesh nets to use as gillnets.”

The FWC staff also addressed the juvenile fish and other legal issues raised by commercial netting interests. The following are three excerpts from a legal memorandum prepared by FWC General Counsel Jim Antista.