After spending about 30 minutes this afternoon pulling an abandoned gill net out of the sand, pulling a rotten flounder and speckled trout out of it and lugging it to my boat for disposal, it reminded me that we are one of the few states that still allow this. No telling how many birds and fish were saved by getting this careLesley abandoned net out of the environment.
A few years back, Florida and Mississippi outlawed them both recreationally and commercially. We in Alabama outlawed the recreational use but allowed historical use of commercial guys. We spent a lot of money on retraining these folks for other jobs but left a loophole open that let them require commercial gill net licenses as well as let gill netters from Fl. And Ms. acquire licenses as well. I have personally witnessed what they have done to state stocks of Spanish mackerel and episodes like this unattended net make me reassess our states positioning on this issue.
What do y'all think? Would y'all contact your state rep/senators asking us to follow suit with our sister states and outlaw this use of gill nets? I think it's way past time we did but for some reason we haven't taken any action on this mismanagement of our states resources.

How many times a year you see gill net floats in your favorite flounder hole?

I can't stand a gill netter. They don't have any respect for the resource that's providing their living, and they are usually d**** on the water to other boaters.

Many years ago we use to make up 25' or so lengths of gill nets with a bamboo post on each end to catch Red Horse Suckers in the creeks when the dogwoods started to bloom. Great tasting fish, but the bones were aplenty.

A gill net to me is the equivalent of deer hunting with napalm.
Totally indiscriminate on what is killed.

So you've spent more than 2hours making a net?

When was the last time you run a net AU7MmO8?

Recreational gill nets was how I used to catch my seafood to eat in Mobile bay on the eastern shore,,, I'd do it tomorrow if I had one,,, but I never left my net alone,,, and I checked every hour,,,

The commercial dudes are the ones who's helping destroy the fishery ,,

Y'all act like CCA is the Alabama Baptist Association

Never, have no plans on it.

So how can you relate it to deer hunting with napalm? You can target bait with a gillnet depending on the mesh size.

Gill nets ensnare fish indiscriminately and it isn't sporting.
There was a reason it was outlawed like telephoning.

If you check it every half hour before sunrise in some podunk creek bed, you're doing it right. Catch your shad, pull the net, and start using hooks. Don't bash it until you know what you're doing.

A buddy of mine and I run a Gill net once a year next to his dock on mobile bay. He is the only guy I know who still has a license. He has his tag on it and does it totally legally. He uses it when he wants to do a fish fry. He mainly catches mullet and black drum and lots of catfish. He'll occasionally get a game fish but he checks it pretty regularly so the fish he turns loose are usually in good shape. Sometimes it just doesn't seem worth it to me with all the catfish you have to weed through. I don't have a problem with it if it is done right. It is a lot of work to run one.

My Grandaddy used to run nets in the spring when the suckers were running too. It's been over 30 years since he was doing that, I'm not sure if that's legal anymore or not. I know my Grandaddy loved them suckers scored on the sides and fried up crispy.
Folks watching thier nets close and prescribing to the laws and regulations are not what I'm upset about. Like mentioned before, the recreational license are limited (if you don't have one, you can't get one).
I really have issue with the commercial guys. They seem to loose nets more than the average joe does (I'm sure they don't want to but it happens enough that it is a serious problem for marine life). I have also personally seen them move in on and decimate schools of spanish mackerel and mullet regardless of the Rec guys that were fishing/cast netting the school. In addition to these behaviors, when Alabama froze licenses (instead of closing it like Fl and Ms did), the license freeze seemed to stick at first for all parties. We spent taxpayer dollars to retrain displaced commercial netters in other trades. Then something happened, I started to see commercial boats registered in Fl and Ms. in Al waters. Also, some of the folks retrained were allowed back into the gill netting business. I'm not sure what went down then and really don't care. I just know we have a very limited coastline that can be managed a lot better by getting commercial gill netters out of the equation.

We used to do it on the eastern shore of Mobile bay at my buddies place near Weeks bay.
Set a short net up high at dark and wake up to fresh mullet and eggs. Never caught anything else.
Wish we still could.

Recreational gill net fishing was fun. You get a few friends and their wives and kids, and set your net around a school of mullet. Everyone gets inside the net to make the fish gill themselves. Then you have a fish fry. I never heard of anyone leaving a net unattended except for flounder nets left out at night and these are illegal. IMO The net ban has greatly improved fishing in Pensacola bay and the intercoastal waters. Now you can catch all the mullet you want with a cast net.

You can still use gill nets here???? My license regs said it was illegal.

We were netting in the late 60's mainly. I don't remember ever catching anything other than a sucker fish and we were in the small creeks around some of the mill ponds. We stayed with the nets till about 1:00 am and then took them up

Good for 'ya on getting that net up. Another classic case of a few bad apples...

I don't net fish anymore, but I know quite a few folks who support their families, communities, churches, schools, etc. with the use of nets. Easily the hardest working folks in their communities, if not the state.

BP put a lot of folks out of work along the coast for a considerable amount of time. Many of them sat back and started collecting pittance. The net fishermen I know were pro-active. They put their boats, friends and family to work, helping to clean up the mess.

Why? Our fishery not only supports their way of life, but it is our home. They are not out to destroy it.

If someone wants to use the incidental by-catch argument, then what about shrimpers, long-liners and pogey boats? It kind of reminds me of the ongoing 2A debate. Start with the evil gill-netters, and piece by piece you can wipe out commercial fishing as we know it.

How many here fish with live bait? It's pretty cool to go to the bait shop and buy some live shrimp and croakers. The guys that supply your bait have to eat too. The methods use to collect said bait also kill indiscriminately. See where this is going?

There is also collateral damage as well. The net fishing community is a cottage industry. Our neighbors, friends, etc. build and repair boats, motors, trailers, nets, sell gas, oil, ice and permits.

The bottom line is be careful what you wish for. This is a slippery slope that many simply don't understand, especially when you consider the collateral damage.