Once again, commercial netters have lost a court appeal in their unending attempt to undermine the gillnet ban of 1995. The First District Court of Appeal has affirmed a circuit court ruling upholding the state’s law limiting the mesh size of commercial nets to two inches stretched mesh.

The two-inch limit was enacted in order to implement the constitutional prohibition against the use of gill nets because nets of larger mesh size become viable entangling nets for larger fish.

Meanwhile, the state has failed to address loophole nets known as “cast gill nets” which are being used to take Spanish mackerel, large mullet and some other species in spite of the constitutional amendment’s intent to prohibit all forms of entangling gear. The newly devised gear does away with the horn and Braille lines which traditional cast nets use to enclose rather than gill fish.

A misunderstanding of the amendment’s language has allowed netters to utilize the new form of hand-thrown nets.