Indian River County Gillnetters Arrested
Poachers face felony charges under new gillnetting law.

After an anonymous tip, a surveillance detail set up by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) law enforcement officers nabbed four Indian River County men while they fished with an illegal gill net on the Indian River near Vero Beach. Under the new gillnet felony law, the four are facing third-degree felony charges.

FWC investigators Camille Soverel and Tony Howell, and officers Amanda Phillips, Dave McElveen and Brad Stanley worked as a team to make the bust. Two officers used night vision and infrared laser illumination equipment to watch and apprehend the poachers, who waded in the river near the 45th Street boat ramp to retrieve their monofilament entangling net. Meanwhile, three officers waited on a road leading to a dock where the suspect’s truck was parked. When the suspects returned to their vehicle, they loaded a cooler into the bed. As they drove away, the officers stopped them. An inspection of the cooler turned up 17 undersized snook, 22 sheepshead (19 of which were undersized), one barracuda, one mangrove snapper, three blue crabs, 10 mojarra and three pinfish. One of the men had fish stuffed in his pockets.

Officers returned to the river where the netting occurred and found a monofilament gill net hidden on shore with a fresh, undersized snook still in the mesh. They seized the net and fish and arrested the following suspects: Selvin Lopez, Enrique Fuentes, Juan Luna and Marvin Bonilla, all of Vero Beach. They are each charged with illegal use of gill nets (a third-degree felony), possession of snook out of season (a second-degree misdemeanor), illegal method of harvest for snook (a second-degree misdemeanor), and possession of undersized sheepshead (a second-degree misdemeanor). The poachers were transported to the Indian River County jail.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine for using a gill net. The four are scheduled for arraignment on Sept. 10.

Slow Down Nasty Discharges
New "Zone D Diet" proposed to curtail Lake O mudbaths.

Put Lake Okeechobee on a new "Zone D Diet" now. That's a proposal in the new September issue of Florida Sportsman to prevent most of the horrendous discharges that have plagued coastal estuaries after rainy seasons in most years.

"Here's a simple policy change that would prevent most of the discharge horrors we endure in so many years," said FS Founder Karl Wickstrom. "The Zone D Diet basically would require authorities to manage the Lake watershed at a lower level by gradually releasing water anytime the level reaches Zone D instead of letting the water rise to the point when huge discharges muddy the waters and wipe out estuarine life."

The suggested Zone D trigger line runs from 13.5 to 15.5 feet above sea level, depending on the time of year.

The magazine describes how land reclamation drainage schemes destroyed wetlands in order to create the Everglades Agricultural Area, now causing an average two billion gallons of water a day to be discharged to the oceans. Although the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is designed to bring back wetlands over time, the Zone D Diet would bring immediate relief from huge discharges, which run as high as 9 billion gallons a day into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.

In Defense of Common Sense (Again)
Gulf Coast bluewater anglers assailed by legal action related to Marine Protected Areas.

A recent lawsuit by the Ocean Conservancy has erased all doubts as to whether some Marine Protected Area advocates harbor unbridled animosity towards recreational fishermen. There’s no other way to characterize the group’s actions.

The Conservancy suit aims to roll back a compromise between federal authorities and Coastal Conservation Association (CCA), which had allowed seasonal trolling for tunas and billfish over a pair of gag grouper spawning sites in the Gulf of Mexico.

When the Madison-Swanson and Steamboat Lumps were closed to bottom fishing in 1999, sportfishermen mostly praised the action. But when the federal government made the unsupportable leap to ban all fishing in the areas, CCA intervened, going to great lengths to illustrate the common sense reality that trollers fishing in 200 to 400 feet of water would be highly unlikely to catch a grouper. A provision was added to permit surface trolling between May and November. Fine.

Now, the Ocean Conservancy is attempting to undermine the compromise and restore the total ban on fishing, and CCA is back in the courts, defending common sense.

“It is exactly this kind of arbitrary and capricious action that characterizes the entire Marine Protected Area (MPA) debate,” said Fred Miller, chairman of the CCA Government Relations Committee.

“With this lawsuit, the Ocean Conservancy is demonstrating that the only solution they will accept is one that supports their preconceived objectives,” said Michael Kennedy, chairman of CCA Florida.

By extension, we’d say the Conservancy’s “objectives” give the appearance of blind, anti-fishing sentiment—an unfortunate turn for a group that was otherwise a respectable advocate for marine mammals and ocean resources.

Damage Reports from Afield
FS Field Editor Ralph Allen describes Charley’s destructive aftermath.

Charley smacked Punta Gorda. By now, you’ve probably seen the wreckage on the evening news. Resident fisherman Ralph Allen offers further insights, detailing changes in the fish-scape of this popular angling destination.

“The storm cut a wide swath through North Captiva Island,” Allen began, “right where Charley’s eye passed over the island and it also almost reopened Blind Pass,” (See photo). After slamming North Captiva, Charley swept over Bokelia then went straight up Charlotte Harbor into the Peace River where it turned up Hwy. 17 at Arcadia and ran upstate.”

A few fishermen have ventured out. They reported plenty of debris in the water. FS Online 4 Southwest Caster Ron Kowalyk advises checking to see if the boat ramp you normally use is open. Many are, but some have little or no access. Check the Ten Thousand Islands, Southwest and West Central 4Casts for more information.

Upcoming Public Hearings

Net Seminar

Your input requested during state net workshops.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has scheduled a series of workshops across the state. Why? To provide the marine fishing industry and other interested persons an opportunity to offer their input, regarding proposed changes to legal net specifications.

FWC officials hope to craft a net-specification rule that will provide clarification and standardize measurement to ensure nets are in compliance with the Constitution and statutes. Plans are to reduce confusion and adopt net-measurement procedures to assist industry and law enforcement.

More than a few fishermen are hoping this clarification will reduce or eliminate the rampant use of large “cast gill nets” that gill many tons of Spanish mackerel each winter, in the Peck’s Lake area near Stuart.

The cast gill nets are being allowed for now under a disputed interpretation of the constitutional gill net ban.

Many anglers say the easiest way to enforce the public's intent to ban all gill nets would be to simply clarify the definition of cast nets to mean non-gill nets that primarily enclose fish by tucking them into pockets with braille lines rather than gill/entangle them.

Meantime, the draft rule language is available at MyFWC.com/whatsnew/04/draft-68B-4.0081-st.html. The first version, however, makes no attempt to resolve the gill net issue by properly defining a cast net as enclosure-type gear.

Workshop Schedule:

>At Mayport Elementary School from 6-8 p.m. on Aug. 23, in the gymnasium. Address is 2753 Shangri-La Drive, Atlantic Beach.

>In Titusville from 6-8 p.m. on Aug. 24, in the Brevard Room at 518 South Palm Avenue.

>In Bradenton from 6-8 p.m. on Aug 25, in the Manatee County Administrative Center at 1112 Manatee Ave. West, first floor.

>In Steinhatchee from 6-8 p.m. on Aug. 26, in the Steinhatchee Community Center at 1013 Riverside Drive S.E.

Individual Fishing Quotas

Current quotas favor the commercial red snapper industry, not recreationals.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is inviting the public to express opinions on amendment alternatives that will create individual fishing quotas (IFQ) for the commercial red snapper fishery. The 10 scoping hearings will address how to best structure the IFQs, and whether vessel monitoring systems ((VMS) should be required for vessels participating in the IFQ program, in order to more easily enforce the quotas.

Current red snapper quotas and seasons heavily favor the commercial industry, and recreational anglers should be concerned that the proposed IFQs may lock in these unbalanced catch percentages.

Two hearings are scheduled for Florida:

Monday, August 30

National Marine Fisheries Service

3500 Delwood Beach Road

Panama City, FL 32408

(850) 234-6541

Tuesday, August 31

Madeira Beach City Hall Auditorium

300 Municipal Drive

Madeira Beach,FL 33708

(727) 391-9951

The scoping document may be viewed at www.gulfcouncil.org. Public comment will also be accepted via e-mail or by mail until Sept. 3, 2004.