Due Silliness
May 16, 2011
By Karl Wickstrom
It's complicated, and boring. That's why it's so dangerous.
In the name of “due process” (a principle we all favor), a couple of state legislators and ex-commercial netters are trying their best to undermine the gillnet ban and also cripple the constitutional workings of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
This due silliness, a more accurate description, we'd say, is being pushed relentlessly and somewhat inexplicably by State Rep. Mitch Needelman of Melbourne.
The idea is to create a new level of administrative appeals that could block or delay rules adopted by the FWC under its constitutional authority.
You'll recall that voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment merging fresh and saltwater management, taking in the old Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, Florida Marine Patrol and Marine Fisheries Commission.
The merger was an historic reform that put coastal management on a par with the Game Commission, which already had constitutional status going back to 1941.
Not coincidentally, Rep. Needelman had been a career Marine Patrol officer in Miami. He didn't like the Game Commission, didn't like the merger and didn't like the Net Ban.
It's known that he plans to introduce more bills designed to undercut the FWC. His due process masquerade would bring back the days when all attempts to curtail overfishing were bogged down or killed in unending administrative tangles.
Fact is, the current system whereby rules may be challenged in the courts works just fine, and has for six decades.
We'd humbly suggest that legislators not waste the public's time and resources on this plainly dumb idea.
Needelman's curious allegiance with former commercial netters was especially apparent at the recent FWC meeting. Three loosest of loose cannons ranted against the Net Ban.
One was a former deputy sheriff who was well known for spending his vacations and off times gillnetting roe mullet.
He repeated a perennial claim by the industry that net ban proponents published a bogus photo of a dead porpoise caught in a gill net and held by a marine patrol officer on a beach in Naples.
In truth, all the information and photos came directly from law enforcement, even including an interview with the uniformed officer.
Fortunately, the false claims about the Net Ban are made less often nowadays. Hopefully that will be the case with other anti-conservation schemes.
