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My posts are my opinion only.
Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for. Will Rogers
Limiting the use of gill and entanglement nets has prevented the unnecessary killing of untold millions of pounds of sea life.
And you're right, the commercial fishermen who needlessly killed all those whites/males sure do have some explaining to do.
Since none of them are here, perhaps you might explain the decision making process that goes into killing those whites/males for no good reason...except perhaps laziness or greed?
And "it's hard to make a living fishing for mullet" isn't a valid excuse.
What % of them, do you think, sort them as they catch them?
"Limiting the use of gill and entanglement nets has prevented the unnecessary killing of untold millions of pounds of sea life."
In the same vein, how many millions of pounds?
As for why someone would waste valuable boat space? How about this:
One afternoon, Jimmy Mullet fisherman gets a call from Joey Mullet fisherman, "They're in Longboat Pass, come and get 'em!!!" Jimmy jumps in his truck, hitches his boat, drops it in at the ramp, and hightails it to Longboat. He arrives thirty minutes later to five other boats castnetting mullet. Ten minutes later there are three more and Jimmy knows those fish are only moving through and he better get his while he has the chance. The fish are starting to break up and thin out, so he casts and casts and casts and even then he can't fill his boat. What's worse, he didn't hear that Cortez is not buying whites any more until he called them as he was leaving, so he doesn't take the time to sort through his catch, but rather dumps the unneeded whites on the ride back -- well away from the crowds and the east winds made the run along the beach nice and calm. It shows up on AMI two days later after the wind turns around.
...or maybe...
Jack Mullet fisherman is just cutting his teeth on mullet fishing. He's been out the past three days and has caught twenty pounds of mullet in total. Whites, reds, the fish house has bought them all -- but he's $200 in the hole after three days. But today is different! Jack's having more luck. He's caught more than a hundred pounds in his first hour. After three hours he fills his boat...and still the fish are plentiful and he has them all to himself. But what is Jack to do? This is his chance to cash in and the run to the fish house is thirty miles. After making a quick mental calculation, he runs a mile offshore, ditches all the 10 cents a pound whites, and the runs back to his honey hole and fills the boat -- this time sorting his catch....and the discarded whites wash up on AMI two days later.
Hell, I'm no expert, but do one of those sound feasible to you?
And to answer your question about how many pounds of sea life the net ban has saved from being wasted, I'd say "more than one" and leave it at that...as the improvement of our inshore waters since the implementation of the net ban is self-evident...at least to me.
You are, of course, free to disagree on any or all of the above.
Take care...Mike
If I had to depend on one days catch to feed my family, I'd find another line of work, but that's just me.
You should write fiction!
It was a funny read though, we could just change their last names to Tarpon and the locale to Boca Grande (or Homosassa).
It would look as if a "Tarponator" was at work there....
You're right, it is crazy out there. That's what happens when money is on the line, and it doesn't matter if the quarry is tarpon or mullet or pacific salmon. However, you will not find a single picture of me because I've never participated in a tournament in BGP.
Now, do you care to answer why any mullet fisherman might dump mullet, or will you continue to ignore my question?
How does any of that relate to the intentional killing and discarding of mullet -- except as a diversion to the real issue?
Or are you saying since nature kills large groups of fish that we shouldn't worry if man does it too?
Thank you for the clarification, and based on my own limited knowledge of the commercial mullet fishery, I tend to agree with you that most do the right thing, but both also know there are plenty of guys who aren't full time fishermen who are out there chasing the quick cash. I was just hoping someone with more direct knowledge than me might share their insight -- but I can also understand why you might not want to share that tidbit here with proverbial sharks in the water.
Me too, but we both know that many of those guys are depending on that money to do exactly those types of things I listed -- and a few that I didn't.
And that drive (to feed your family, pay your mortgage, etc.) is no different from any other vocation, except, in some cases, that we don't have to see the results on our beaches in the form of wasted fish.
This also could be the work of none commercial fishermen.I remember a few cases where red roe mullet were dumped in a field.The 2 guys didn't go back for the mullet.They were just a couple of low life's.Guess who got blamed.The commercial fishermen did.There was a landscape using a gill net to catch mullet also.None of these guys had a Commercial Saltwater Products License neither.I want say it doesn't happen,but it is at a small scale.Let's don't forget about those at work to stop everything.Your know the ones who posted public land with No Trespassing signs,Shoot nails in the trees for logger to hit with their chainsaws.They would never dump any fish in the water.:wink They are such good people.I liked it when the got caught killing those cats and dogs in their No Kill Shelters.I sell all my mullet and do not waste any.If there is a few commercial fisherman really doing this,then FWC will busted them for it.It's just a matter of time.They check me all the time and will pull your license for dumb @hit like that.:mad