November 6, 2013 — Dozens of commercial mullet fishermen flocked to the St. Johns River this week after a Leon County judge allowed long-banned nets to be used in Florida waters, stirring up a decade-old controversy about balancing fish populations and commercial profits.
The nets, called gill nets, were banned in 1995 after voters approved a state amendment to outlaw the nets, saying they encouraged overfishing. Leon County Judge Jackie Fulford decided last week to stop the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission from enforcing this rule, saying in her ruling the fishermen had “lost the tools of their trade, and thus, their ability to earn a living.”
The controversy boils down to two schools of thought. On one side, the gill nets are said to be an essential instrument that spare baby fish and help fishermen make a better living. To the other side, the nets are considered an overly zealous tool that have the power to demolish essential fish populations, just to feed fishermen’s pocketbooks.
In some ways, the controversy is less about the fish meat, but what’s inside them.
With the mullet on the move for spawning season, the timing of the ruling is ideal for fisherman, who want to sell the eggs in profitable Asian markets, said Ted Forsgren, special adviser for advocacy for the Coastal Conservation Association. Conservationists worry the fish will be caught before they can re-populate the river.
“What we’re afraid of now, this gap that the judge has created in her ruling is going to cause tremendous damage to the mullet fisheries,” Forsgren said. “They have the tools they need to make a living, but they want to go back to the days of the slaughter of the river.”
Read the full story at the Florida Times-Union