Alabama Legislative Alert - Gill Net Legislation HB409‏

I am sure the owner would have shot me if I had been seen but I personally cut a gill net out that was stretched across the mouth of a slough on Lay Lake on the Coosa river and it had a large number of crappie and bass in the net. Most of them were dead and partially rotted. I actually snagged the net with my jig and because of poor weighting and the float tendency of the rotten fish I got it close enough to the surface to grab it. There were no carp drum or buffalo in the net I cut out. There were a few catfish and all the rest were gamefish. Do everything possible to end gill netting or purse seining. By the way, gill nets were not legal on Lay Lake at the time I cut this net out.

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Originally Posted by gcryar

Salt water is different, I understand, but don't kill the fishery by letting it get over run with rough fish.

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The dynamics aren't analogous. Netters in the Gulf aren't removing invasive or unwanted species - They're after the quality species like mackerel, flounder, and pompano! In this way if the gillnetters prevail, THAT'S when the unwanted species would thrive and take over this section of the gulf! THAT'S why gillnetting in ALABAMA waters should come to an end.

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Originally Posted by oldfisherman

I am sure the owner would have shot me if I had been seen but I personally cut a gill net out that was stretched across the mouth of a slough on Lay Lake on the Coosa river and it had a large number of crappie and bass in the net. Most of them were dead and partially rotted. I actually snagged the net with my jig and because of poor weighting and the float tendency of the rotten fish I got it close enough to the surface to grab it. There were no carp drum or buffalo in the net I cut out. There were a few catfish and all the rest were gamefish. Do everything possible to end gill netting or purse seining. By the way, gill nets were not legal on Lay Lake at the time I cut this net out.

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And I would bet that the net was a small 1 1/2 or two inch net. Did you report it to the game warden? Illegal activities are wrong, including the netting and the cutting.

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Originally Posted by eym_sirius

The dynamics aren't analogous. Netters in the Gulf aren't removing invasive or unwanted species - They're after the quality species like mackerel, flounder, and pompano! In this way if the gillnetters prevail, THAT'S when the unwanted species would thrive and take over this section of the gulf! THAT'S why gillnetting in ALABAMA waters should come to an end.

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I don't disagree that gill nets are bad for salt water. Netting in fresh water is for rough fish only. Maybe the solution is to use larger nets in salt water, or separate the laws regarding salt and fresh water.

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Originally Posted by gcryar

I don't disagree that gill nets are bad for salt water. Netting in fresh water is for rough fish only. Maybe the solution is to use larger nets in salt water, or separate the laws regarding salt and fresh water.

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If gill nets are bad for salt water, then from a logical perspective, why in the world would the answer be to use LARGER ones? Again, LARGER ones don't take undesirable species, so where is the benefit to ALABAMA, regarding gillnetters? I'll reiterate my position that seems to be underpinned by sound logic - Gillnetting in Alabama waters should be banned, outright.

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Originally Posted by eym_sirius

If gill nets are bad for salt water, then from a logical perspective, why in the world would the answer be to use LARGER ones? Again, LARGER ones don't take undesirable species, so where is the benefit to ALABAMA, regarding gillnetters? I'll reiterate my position that seems to be underpinned by sound logic - Gillnetting in Alabama waters should be banned, outright.

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eym, what is your experience with gill nets? the www? gill netting is the only way to control the rough fish in the Big, weedy Guntersville Lake. Maybe you do not care about fresh water, but there are many more fresh water fishermen than GSP pier fisherman. Way to control the gillnetters in salt water is to regulate what they catch. Don't lump it all together, your sound logic does not work for everything. Logic is that different things must be managed differently. Not trying to start a fight, just to put some reason to the other side of a problem.

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Originally Posted by gcryar

Way to control the gillnetters in salt water is to regulate what they catch.

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Nets don't work that way. They catch what swims in to them, doesn't matter what the law says you are allowed to catch. If you are talking about larger mesh, that doesn't seem to apply here. The "target" species are not larger than the "bycatch" species in this case. I find it a little strange that someone with 0 previous posts comes in to start defending gill netting.

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Originally Posted by gcryar

eym, what is your experience with gill nets? the www? gill netting is the only way to control the rough fish in the Big, weedy Guntersville Lake. Maybe you do not care about fresh water, but there are many more fresh water fishermen than GSP pier fisherman. Way to control the gillnetters in salt water is to regulate what they catch. Don't lump it all together, your sound logic does not work for everything. Logic is that different things must be managed differently. Not trying to start a fight, just to put some reason to the other side of a problem.

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Ever heard of a thing called by-catch? Gillnets are indiscriminate killers. They don't select what they snag and what they don't.

gcryar, It would be easy for politicians to institute/enforce
a gillnetting ban for the coast of Alabama. But your comment that the way to control gillnetters is to "regulate what they catch" ignores the obvious - that gillnets catch and kill fish indiscriminately. But that's the idea with gillnetters - to have a ready market for whatever is caught in the nets.

I get it. You have an agenda to promote gillnetting. Don't expect a bit of support for that position from recreational fishermen in Alabama's Gulf waters. The practice decimates the resource, adversely impacting tourism for the region and undermining the natural balance of the ecosystem by indiscriminately catching and killing every single size-targeted fish that swims into the net.

Make your case for an exception to the gillnetting ban to the politicians in North Alabama who are somehow served by the gillnetting voting bloc, such as it is. Be ready to explain how you're going to keep bass, striped bass, paddlefish, and other by-catch out of the gillnets, given the fact that gillnetting suffocates the fish.

Out of curiosity, what did you do with the gamefish illegally harvested? Did you keep them and risk getting fined for netting largemouth bass? Or did you throw the dead carcasses back in the water?

Speaking of the freshwater gill netting operations that used to be allowed on Guntersvillle, I have personally witnessed (and reported) gill nets literally full of 3-8lb largemouth bass. A 3" gill net will allow small fish and smaller bass to pass through freely but will catch, suffocate, and permanently remove a large, mature largemouth from a fishery forever. It takes several years to grow a bass to that size and it personally sickens me that people have already forgotten the devastation that was well-documented in the fight to ban the practice a few years back. There are still plenty of photos (from Guntersville) floating around that show the indiscriminate nature of the nets and their potential to devastate a world-class fishery such as Guntersville. Lastly, the rough fish population at Guntersvillle is currently and will never pose a threat to game fish populations. Those species do not compete for resources. Guntersville has been producing tournament bags of 25-30 lbs at a much higher rate since the ban and will continue to do so as long as the mature fish are well-protected. There is no logical argument FOR gill netting and any attempt to justify the slaughter is absolutely shameful!