Thread: Alabama Legislative Alert - Gill Net Legislation HB409‏

Swamp Donkey, I call BS on your comments concerning the bass in the nets at Guntersville. You are speaking of something you have heard from others. I lived my life at Guntersville and commercial fished one summer. I understand what is going on. Yes, Guntersville is the best bass lake in the world, and it will stay that way if left to the professional biologist to run. TVA thinks the rough fish are likely to become a problem in the near future. Unlike you I will not dispute them. Your unsupported rant is what is shamful.

eye, yes I have not posted before. I have been reading the post for a couple of years, and had nothing to add. I don't think you have really read what I have posted. I have no agenda concerning net fishing. I just try to be realistic, without emotions getting in the way. I have two son-in-laws that are tournment bass fishing, and have, over the years, caught more bass at Guntersville than most. I still own a cabin and land at Guntersville lake and spend much time up there. I have first hand knowledge of what is going on up there. Most professional bass fisherman don't give a d*** about the fishery, just about the bass and how much money they can make. The politicians only react to the voters, not the folks that monitor the health of the lake.

As fishermen, we need to support the salt and fresh water fishermen, not fight each other. There is no one size fits all for inland and coastal problems. Why try to make it something it is not.

I will not be posting on your board anymore. I understand that some of the regular posters here do not want any opposing views here.

Glen Cryar (gcryar@aol.com)

On a related note -- has anyone seen netboats this week?

Opposing views are always welcome but not always agreed with. I fish big G occasionally and fish Wheeler regularly and have for 40+ years. The only gill net I ever encountered was WAY back in the back waters on a flat in the Beulah bay area. I was idling by it when the sight and smell of dead fish got my curiosity up enough to check it out. There were dead carp, bass, catfish, sticks, loggerheads along with some live fish. I didnt bother lifting the net out of the water to see what they were. I assumed this activity was illegal(early 1990's) and I didn't want the wrath of the net's owner in the middle of nowhere with no phone and no gun. I don't know if the net had been abandoned or what. Maybe if checked regularly the fisherman would have been able to release the bycatch unharmed. I don't believe TVA is the best qualified agency to manage the fisheries on the TN river. I have seen bass on beds on a Saturday and these same beds be dry ground the next morning due to dropping the water level. The only time I called to inquire I was told they operate the dams for flood control and power generation and not recreation. There was no rain in the forecast and we had been rather dry for several days. If carp and buffalo compete with game fish for food I was unaware of that. I know several people who bow fish for them at night and put the hurt on them pretty good so there are some being harvested. Someone will eventually need to devise a way to harvest huge quantities of Asian silver carp or we won't have much of a frehwater fishery and gillnetting may be the solution.

gcryar, you can call BS all you want. I have personally watched a netter discard dead bass from nets on more than one occasion. I spend a considerable amount of time on Guntersville and know many fishermen that have observed the same things that I have. It is not difficult to do a little research on the subject and see why it was banned a few years back. It's also no coincidence that other states and lakes that have never allowed gill netting don't seem to be having these "rough fish problems". A net does not discriminate between a 5lb bass, drum, carp, buffalo, etc. Also, the intelligence argument is null because the common carp has been scientifically proven to be a wary, highly-intelligent species. I am very passionate about fisheries, ecology, and biology in general (spent 6 years of my life earning a BS/MS in biology). I understand population dynamics and limiting factors in an ecosystem. There is simply no place for this method of harvest in today's time. Period.

Originally Posted by gcryar

I will not be posting on your board anymore. I understand that some of the regular posters here do not want any opposing views here.

Glen Cryar (gcryar@aol.com)

Glen, Please don't be offended by people not seeing things your way, we have had some awesome discussions on all kinds of topics that thrived on opposing opinions.
Just remember; "Opinions are like a$$holes, everybody has one and some of them really stink."

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.

Gill nets are illegal on Lay lake. Call the marine patrol. I know officer Prentice Martin Would love to have the information on the whereabouts of any illegal nets. And thanks to the banning of nets in Florida, we now have greater numbers of inshore game fish, not only in numbers but size also. Specks and reds are just as "dumb" as mullet.

Geez!

Well, I hope this has a 'good' outcome...

HB409 is being brought before the Agriculture and Forestry Committee this Wednesday afternoon, May 13th.
I urge all CCA Alabama members to contact their local committee representative before 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, 5/13

PLEASE, if you already haven't (and even if you have)
contact the legislators listed below and tell them how you feel about this issue!
We have 1 hour...

Dear CCA Alabama Members and Supporters,

Representative David Sessions, (R-Grand Bay, Dist. 105) and others have introduced an updated version of HB409 into the Alabama House of Representative's Agriculture and Forestry Committee. The proposed bill would eliminate the requirement that at least 51% of a license holder's income be produced from the commercial seafood business. Although Representative Session has worked with us and dropped a transfer provision included in his original bill, he continues to insist on eliminating the income verification provision without providing an adequate explanation as to why it should be removed. This requirement has been in place since the mid 1990's. The income portion was re-memorialized and enacted into law in 2008 along with several other provisions after years of tense negotiations between commercial fishermen, recreational anglers, regulators and legislators. All stakeholders agreed to the income requirement and other requirements in 2008 and all stakeholders have lived with the law since that time. We've discussed the income verification process with the Alabama Department of Conservation, the licensing body, to determine if the tax return review process presents an unmanageable administrative burden. It does not. For these reasons, CCA Alabama sees no reason to repeal the existing portion of the law that deals with income verification. CCA Alabama members are willing to live with the law as it stands at this time and urge all parties to do the same. CCA Alabama opposes HB409.



HB409 is being brought before the Agriculture and Forestry Committee this Wednesday afternoon, May 13th. I urge all CCA Alabama members to contact their local committee representative before 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, 5/13 and request they vote NO on HB 409 and leave the existing commercial gill net licensing process unchanged. The Agriculture and Forestry Committee members are included below along with a link.


Thank you,


Bob Singleton
State Chairman
CCA Alabama


Alabama House of Representative's Agriculture and Forestry Committee

Chairman: David Sessions
Mobile County
334-242-0947
d.r.sessions@att.net

Vice Chairman: Donnie Chasteen
Houston & Geneva Counties
334-242-7742
dchasteen@panhandle.rr.com

Richard Lindsey
DeKalb, Calhoun, Cherokee & Cleburne Counties
334-242-7713
Richard.lindsey@alhouse.gov

Will Ainsworth
Marshall, Blount & DeKalb Counties
334-242-7600
Will.ainsworth@alhouse.gov

K.L Brown
Calhoun County
334-353-1778
klbrown@cableone.net

Randy Davis
Mobile & Baldwin Counties
334-242-7724
Rmdavis14@aol.com

Joe Faust
Baldwin County
334-242-7699
jfaust@baldwincountyal.gov

Randy Fincher
Randolph, Chambers & Cleburne Counties
334-242-7600
Rsfincher77@gmail.com

Dexter Grimsley
Houston & Henry Counties
334-242-7740
wlmdexter@hotmail.com

Tommy Hanes
Jackson & DeKalb Counties
334-242-7600
Jhanes55@gmail.com

Reed Ingram
Elmore & Montgomery Counties
334-242-7600
Reedingram75@gmail.com

Artis McCampbell
Tuscaloosa, Sumter, Marengo, Greene, Choctaw & Pickens Counties
334-242-7747
Artis.mccampbell@alhouse.gov

Jack Williams
Mobile County
334-242-7600
Jackwilliams55@icloud.com



http://www.legislature.state.al.us/aliswww/HouseCommittee.aspx?OID_ORGANIZATION=2620&COMMITTE E=AGRICULTURE%20AND%20FORESTRY

Guntersville Lake is my home lake. First time I went fishing there, my sweet departed Mom was 5 months pregnant with me. 1951. Crappie fish every winter, mostly Short Creek and Town Creek, around the state park. The " rough " fish population appears to be stable, according to the regulars. Two friends bow hunt carp and sell their catches to fish grinders. They have said that there is not a huge abundance of really large carp, but plenty of the middle year classes, like 3lb. to 15lb. We rent a house on Veterans Rd. near Ft. Morgan a couple times a year. I have stood on the upper deck at 2 o'clock in the morning watching the net boats right in front of the house, pulling their nets in. They have very powerful lights to work by, and with my binoculars, I have seen them working. Never have I personally witnessed ANY netted fish returned over the side their boat. From Veterans Rd., The lights on the net boats stretch from Mobile St. to Our Rd., and may go to Ft. Morgan Point. I have counted 8 individual boats on the same night, covering 7 or 8 miles. If I could see further, there were most likely more netters. And the next morning the surf fishing was very, very poor. Circumstance or coincidence, I cannot say. The folks from out of state who rent beach homes, take home their memories of what they saw and experienced. I am probably being fatalistic, but I really believe that business will have its way, unless all opposed to netting push together for what is best for the ecosystem. That is what is also best for us, too.

So, What did the Ag. and Forestry committee do yesterday? Anyone heard? Schedule another meeting would be right up their alley.