clamchucker
06-11-2008, 08:35 AM
BRADENTON Harold
<H4 class=byline>By NICK WALTER</H4>
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers arrested two Bradenton men early Tuesday for allegedly gill-netting about 100 pounds of fish off Bradenton Beach.
Christopher Baker, 27, and Daniel Gilliland, 28, had approximately 200 yards of gill net in the water, containing numerous shark, undersized trout and sheepshead, mangrove snapper and ladyfish.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the men were in the Manatee County jail on one felony count of using a gill net in state waters, and misdemeanor counts of having an unmarked gill net, not having a saltwater products license, and failure to transit a gill net directly to federal waters. Each was held on a $1,360 bond.
Fines could exceed $5,500.
About 11:30 p.m. Monday, FWC Officer Louis Hinds saw a vessel leaving the Cortez fish house area heading south. In his truck, Hinds positioned himself south of the vessel and did not see it pass through. Hinds guessed that the men had boated through Longboat Pass, so he drove his truck into a parking lot near the north Coquina Beach boat ramp.
Hinds later saw the men pulling a gill net out of the water and radioed officers Grant Burton and Will Widener, who went after the men. Hinds said the men were throwing fish off the back of the boat and dumped the rest of the net back in the water.
Hinds left his truck and saw the men 100 yards off the beaches. "If I had had a bathing suit I could have swam to them," Hinds said.
<H4 class=byline>By NICK WALTER</H4>
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers arrested two Bradenton men early Tuesday for allegedly gill-netting about 100 pounds of fish off Bradenton Beach.
Christopher Baker, 27, and Daniel Gilliland, 28, had approximately 200 yards of gill net in the water, containing numerous shark, undersized trout and sheepshead, mangrove snapper and ladyfish.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the men were in the Manatee County jail on one felony count of using a gill net in state waters, and misdemeanor counts of having an unmarked gill net, not having a saltwater products license, and failure to transit a gill net directly to federal waters. Each was held on a $1,360 bond.
Fines could exceed $5,500.
About 11:30 p.m. Monday, FWC Officer Louis Hinds saw a vessel leaving the Cortez fish house area heading south. In his truck, Hinds positioned himself south of the vessel and did not see it pass through. Hinds guessed that the men had boated through Longboat Pass, so he drove his truck into a parking lot near the north Coquina Beach boat ramp.
Hinds later saw the men pulling a gill net out of the water and radioed officers Grant Burton and Will Widener, who went after the men. Hinds said the men were throwing fish off the back of the boat and dumped the rest of the net back in the water.
Hinds left his truck and saw the men 100 yards off the beaches. "If I had had a bathing suit I could have swam to them," Hinds said.