Manatee official wants to ban specific fishing line to spare birds
Mango Man
Posts: 11,513 AG
BRADENTON --
A Manatee County official is warning anglers that a popular rig to catch bait fish could be a thing of the past.
Sabiki rigs are lightweight fishing line with many small hooks. They're used to catch baitfish. A county commissioner is working to pass a county-wide ordinance banning the use of the hooks because, she says, they are killing too many local birds.
Carol Whitmore says her proof is pictures of hundreds of birds hooked and killed by people being careless with their lines along Manatee fishing docks.
After receiving approval from the county commission, Whitmore has been going to Manatee County leaders and showing them the pictures.
She is hoping the county and city of Bradenton can work on an ordinance that outlaws the use of sabiki rigs and other multiple hook lines on city and county property. She says that so far, local leaders have agreed that something needs to be done.
"I have had overwhelming support for this," Whitmore said. "Because they realize it’s such a problem and they are seeing a lot of our wildlife dead and it can be prevented."
Whitmore’s next step will be to have a public hearing on the matter. She says an ordinance could be in place within the next six months.
Experienced fishermen say anglers should use a heavy enough sinker so that the birds can't get into the line in the water.
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2014/7/30/manatee_official_wan.html
How much property does Manatee County have on the water?
A Manatee County official is warning anglers that a popular rig to catch bait fish could be a thing of the past.
Sabiki rigs are lightweight fishing line with many small hooks. They're used to catch baitfish. A county commissioner is working to pass a county-wide ordinance banning the use of the hooks because, she says, they are killing too many local birds.
Carol Whitmore says her proof is pictures of hundreds of birds hooked and killed by people being careless with their lines along Manatee fishing docks.
After receiving approval from the county commission, Whitmore has been going to Manatee County leaders and showing them the pictures.
She is hoping the county and city of Bradenton can work on an ordinance that outlaws the use of sabiki rigs and other multiple hook lines on city and county property. She says that so far, local leaders have agreed that something needs to be done.
"I have had overwhelming support for this," Whitmore said. "Because they realize it’s such a problem and they are seeing a lot of our wildlife dead and it can be prevented."
Whitmore’s next step will be to have a public hearing on the matter. She says an ordinance could be in place within the next six months.
Experienced fishermen say anglers should use a heavy enough sinker so that the birds can't get into the line in the water.
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2014/7/30/manatee_official_wan.html
How much property does Manatee County have on the water?
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
Abraham Lincoln
Replies
Glad they cleared that up. No wonder it's so hard to cast those things! :rolleyes
This is more likely an issue of garbage being left on the shore... With some birds getting too bold and trying to grab baits off sabikis as they come up toward bridges and the like.
Is banning them the right answer? It might be a good idea from certain high bridges. It would set a bad precedent though, that's for sure.
Either way it sounds like it's being pushed along by people who don't really understand the situation, which always seems to be the case.
Tight Lines,
Eric Fosbender
Team Googanator
2006 Bull Dolphin 22 with 250 Etec
Is this really a problem?
Sabiki kills that many birds? Really? I'd love to see her quantify that with scientific proof. On a report paid for by a special interest group or someone other than the gov't.
Not that Palmetto police department has cops that had been fired from other agencies for misconduct, etc., or that the gang problem in Bradenton is out of control....no no. None of those are problems that need to be addressed. God forbid they offend a group of people who probably don't pay taxes or are part of the good ol' boy system.
You see fishermen and captains feeding their carcasses to the pelicans. People on the beach feeding gulls. It's throwing back an undersized fish and a pelican or cormorant gets it when tossing back without looking to see if the birds are there (ice cubes thrown at them seems to work best for me).
Once again its the idiots that ruin it...
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
Abraham Lincoln
You and Mike should give her a call.
"Well Gary, the easiest way to look tall is to stand in a room full of short people." - Curtis Bostick
"All these forums, with barely any activity, are like a neglected old cemetery that no one visits anymore."- anonymouse
Plus, all the lower-income people who go out there to fish, they litter, dump old mono, etc., and no police want to deal with those folks. I see that crap all the time, and I won't specify which group I'm referring to.......but you locals know.
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
Abraham Lincoln
"Well Gary, the easiest way to look tall is to stand in a room full of short people." - Curtis Bostick
"All these forums, with barely any activity, are like a neglected old cemetery that no one visits anymore."- anonymouse
Plenty of high income people litter too. Don't delude yourself into thinking otherwise. They just do it from the boat where no one can see.
This ^^^^
The bird lovers kill more birds by doing exactly this!!
My posts are my opinion only.
Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for. Will Rogers
"Well Gary, the easiest way to look tall is to stand in a room full of short people." - Curtis Bostick
"All these forums, with barely any activity, are like a neglected old cemetery that no one visits anymore."- anonymouse
My posts are my opinion only.
Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for. Will Rogers
But that also requires enforcement. I.e. the cops that see it happening need to stop it instead of ignoring it. But that may ruin the day for a vacationer!
So many of these 'problems' could be dealt with via enforcing the current laws on the books, not making new 'hot-topic' laws that will briefly be enforced then ignored.
Perhaps commissioners could petition for better enforcement?
I was there with you for a long, long time, bound to fish shore attachments. And you're exactly right.