Cast Gill Nets Take Tons of Mackerel As Nets Litter Reef Area

Everywhere I looked, commercial netters continued to haul in hundreds of pounds of Spanish mackerel while recreational hook-and-line fishers came up with one at a time, if that. In fact, there was not a bent rod in sight among the predominately commercial fleet.

Since an amendment to the Florida Constitution banned gill nets from state waters in the mid '90s, you'd think Spanish mackerel would get more of a break these days. Not necessarily.

Gill nets have resurfaced through a "net language" loophole (see sidebar), particularly in the commercial Spanish mackerel fishery. And while these new-line gill nets vaguely resemble cast nets and they're deployed somewhat like a cast net, that's where similarities end. Cast gillnets work on the same principles as their outlawed counterparts, by entangling or gilling fish. They are just smaller versions of the indiscriminate killing-machine nets that Florida residents resoundingly voted to remove from state waters a decade ago.

Nowhere are these gill nets more visible than off Southeast Florida in a nearshore mackerel haven known as Peck's Lake. During winter, recovering stocks of Spanish macks take up residence in this "reef hole" or depression that is surrounded by live reef and coral.

Following the net ban, recreational anglers kept close tabs on this valuable resource that, at one time, was almost decimated to profit a few commercials. For several years, family anglers enjoyed catching this rebuilding resource, but the winter of 2003-2004 saw a major change. No more were treasured macks safe from the ravages of gill nets. Net-caught fish began piling up at area docks and fish houses.

With commercial boats numbering in the dozens hammering these Spanish stocks day after day during winter when schools stack up in Peck's Lake, it's considered only a matter of time before this fish population is once again devastated. Particularly in light of the virtually unlimited commercial hauls.

Collateral damages attributed to cast gillnets also appear to be escalating.

Reports from recreational divers and lobster hunters indicate that abandoned nets-hopelessly snagged on coral and reef growth-litter the ocean floor of Peck's Lake.

A Stuart diver (who required anonymity) was the first to bring the dilemma of lost-on-the-bottom gill nets to our attention. He discovered several abandoned nets in December while scouring the rocky bottom for spiny lobsters. "I was about 25 feet down when I came across two handlines to nets trailing in the current," he began. "Both led to torn-up gill nets that measured roughly 14 by 16 feet while hung on the bottom. The first still had three barely alive fish tangled deep in its mesh along with a larger fish carcass that I couldn't identify."

The second net bespoke a deeper tragedy. In it, the diver out for some family bugging discovered the shell and carcass of a lobster he guesstimated at seven or eight pounds, a few dead porgies and reef fish and a "white hunk of decayed flesh that had to be at least a 10- or 15-pound blob."