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commercial waste and no government intervention but they blame us for the lack of fish:burn:
Note stomachs are sliced so they sink and don't wash up on the beach, a practice gill netters use along our coast
I'm sure this happens with bass too
http://www.saltwatercatch.com/photos...e-lookout.html
I'll post the page of the link that Fin was referrring to. It's a lot more graphic when you associate a pic of a dead drum with that link.
There's one thing I want to make people aware of on commercial fishing. I don't expect everyone to agree, that's why we live in the US. Everyone's entitled to their opinion. There are different methods of commercial fishing. The draggers and roller draggers do the most damage. Do a search if you don't believe me.
I would put bunker netters in that category, even though I believe they use the purse seine method. Please help me to correct any inaccuracies if you have the specific info.
The gillnetters are the least damaging. A problem arises when gillnetters use net sizes other than statute allows, or if they target species they should not be catching.
I think there's a thread on here about this somewhere. I'll have to do a search when I get a chance. Or maybe a member can help me by doing that search.
My point: There are all types of commercial fishing. I think we as concerned fishermen need to know about them and the specifics.
In any event, any method that leaves big dead fish lying on the surface is something that should be looked at. We should all try to educate ourselves as to what the alternatives are.
The full page:
http://www.saltwatercatch.com/photos...e-lookout.html
Attachment 8994
Exclusive! Photos of the dead red drum at Cape Lookout
By Bill Hitchcock
On Wednesday June 3, 2009 I had the great pleasure of fishing with Captain George Beckwith of Down East Guide Service out of Morehead City, NC. We started the day by site casting to cobia that was swimming underneath the Beaufort Inlet sea buoys. Live eels and a variety of soft plastics were used. After several hook ups, releases and landings of cobia and amberjack we decided to scoot on out to Cape Lookout Shoals. It was a beautiful, calm day so peering into the water for fish was not a problem. It’s especially not on Captain Beckwith’s boat. He installed a second level or tuna tower above his center console on his Parker Boat. This elevates him another 8 feet or so off the deck giving him a bird’s eye view of what’s swimming in the water.
And boy did we get an eye full.
There were plenty of sharks, a small school of Hatteras blues and even a couple of tarpon spotted. But nothing seemed to be attracted to the soft plastics we were throwing out at them. So Captain suggested we run north a bit along Core Banks to see what we could find. Unfortunately what we found wasn’t a pretty sight.
George sited it first; A single red drum (or redfish) floating dead in the water. Both of us were aware that menhaden fishing vessels from Omega Protein of Reedville, Virginia had been in the area. There had been eye witness accounts from two days prior of a fish spill. According to the Carteret News Times, “Fishing Vessel (F/V) Tangier Island had split a net and spilled about 150,000 dead fish about two miles off Cape Lookout.”
It was also reported that after investigating the fish spill, the NC Division of Marine Fisheries (NCDMF) returned with 10 dead red drum ranging in weight from 20 to 50 pounds.
Later that same day several recreational fishermen reported that the Fishing Vessel (F/V) Lancaster, also with Omega Protein, was setting on a school of menhaden very close to shore where they were cobia fishing. The pictures of the dead drum you see here were taken while I was fishing with Captain Beckwith two days later. We counted over 60 large red drum floating dead just off shore of Core Banks. The fish were similar in size to what NCDMF recovered.
Most of these drum were found floating by themselves along a tide line. The fish were spaced apart from each other on average of approximately 4-500 yards. The tuna tower on the captains’ boat, the calm water conditions and bright sunny skies were instrumental in our ability to spot all of the drum that we did. If we didn’t have the advantage of the tower or the weather had been bad we would have never seen all of the fish we did.
The impact of the event isn’t as dramatic or traumatic when you only see one fish at a time. It would have been quite a different picture if all the fish were grouped together. But the dead fish count was still the same regardless of the grouping and should in no way lessen the significance of what happened.
And speaking of which-What exactly did happened? Did these menhaden boats accidently set on a school of drum? Were these drum all mixed in with the menhaden only to be discarded later as by-catch? And I wonder how many drum in total they actually set on? Hopefully we’ll find out very soon. And if a crime occurred then Omega Protein should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It’s important to note that this fish spill and kill occurred at a very opportune time. Currently there is a bill in the North Carolina General Assembly (HB 1344) short titled, “Prohibit Taking of Menhaden for Reduction“. HB 1344 would ban the taking of menhaden in state waters for the purpose of reduction including “conversion to fish meal, oil, and other components”. The act does not apply to “the taking of menhaden for use as bait for commercial or recreational purposes”.
Having out of state menhaden vessels fish the waters of North Carolina and kill, as by-catch, scores of red drum, North Carolina’s official state fish is a sure fire way to get HB 1344 passed. This was a very tragic event and as far as I know a very isolated event. I hope cooler heads prevail and that all crimes are punished. So what do you think about what happened?
Note: If you would like to learn more about red drum, their biology, life cycle, migration, catch & release techniques and more-Then watch the half hour television documentary, “North Carolina Red Drum”
No one will stop them. There are always excuses, not enough people, not enough funds, corruption. I'm sick of it all. We all have to be more involved inorder to protect our rights.
I would be happy with the passing of HB 1344 as good enough punishment for Omega Protein.:beatin::beatin:
netters suck more damage than good they all need a :beatin:
Umm. dark, I don't think that gill netters can be absolved of guilt any more.Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkSkies
dark, this was posted earlier about submerged gill nets in Md.
These guys are total scum. Maybe it is only a few bad apples, but it seems that the bad ones are making it bad for everyone. I say we hunt the bad ones down and restrict them from fishing forever.
Wasn't there some thread here about that scumbag Salty tours? Doesn't he poach stripers too?
The point is, these bad guys are like a cancer. We need real old fashioned police work to track these guys down, prosecute them, and stop this once and for all. I for one am sick of reading about this and not being able to do anything.
Take a look at this article,
February 4, 2011- Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) just announced that the current commercial gill net season has been closed until the Department determines the extent of illegal nets and their impact on the remaining quota. The announcement follows the discovery of submerged nets near Bloody Point over the past several days that held more than 10 tons of striped bass.
The announcement was made by DNR Deputy Secretary Joseph Gill at an Annapolis news conference this afternoon.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates that illegal fishing that steals the resource from all Marylanders will not be tolerated,” said CCA Maryland Executive Director Tony Friedrich. “The Department, Secretary Griffin and Fisheries Director Tom O’Connell are to be congratulated for their swift, decisive action. Also, the Natural Resources Police should be commended for their hard work. We look forward to working with the Department and other stakeholders to ensure the penalties for these types of crimes are strengthened and those responsible are held fully accountable.”
While the gill net season would normally close at the end of this month or earlier if the allocation were reached, today’s announcement means all nets must be pulled now. The season could be re-opened later in the month if DNR determines that illegal nets nets are no longer a threat to the resource and that the commercial quota has not been caught, according to Friedrich.
Gill also announced a $5,000 reward for help in the arrest and conviction of those who have placed the illegal nets already discovered. CCA Maryland has added $1,000 to that reward.
No teeth in the laws is a big issue.
They are doing it again. There was a report on the net of a few bunker boats up in raritan bay. Throwing back lots of dead bycatch.
That's because they don't let them do it on the NY side. Only in Jersey and southern states do you have this leniency.
I would bet whenever there are boats skirting the law some fat politician just got a fatter wallet in the process!