Gill Net Fishing in North Carolina

Recreational fishing has always been a favorite hobby of mine. Since I was very young my family exposed me to fishing in various environments, and as I have grown older my love for fishing, their habitats, and the organisms themselves has also increased. Throughout my personal experiences, one place that I have developed a particular liking to is fishing in the ocean and sounds of my home state, North Carolina. These reasons and more explain why I was disappointed when I first heard about gill net fishing existing in our state.

What is Gill Net Fishing?

Gill net fishing, or gillnetting, can be defined as setting up a vertically standing net in a body of water that fish are caught in. Fish and all sorts of other organisms get trapped in these nets, which have holes for the fish to swim through that then tighten to capture. This usually occurs in the fish’s gills, and other body parts such as fins, teeth, and spines can also get tangled, trapping and killing the fish. Commercial fishermen practice gill netting, and since this practice requires little work for the grand potential of fish caught it has been quite popular in many areas of our nation. For many reasons gill net fishing has been outlawed in many coastal states, but not North Carolina.

In our state some other key components of the fight against gill netting is the fact that the practice degrades the environment of our sounds and rivers, where it is practiced. Along with this nets that become dislodged become a risk for more aquatic organisms. What raises issues with gill netting is not just the ethics of catching these fish, but also the subject of by catch.

By-Catch 

 According to nomoregillnets.org, 65 percent of the catch from these gill nets are not the targeted fish. These nets are only able to be targeted to specific fish by the size of holes and placement of the nets. This does not suffice, because still gill nets catch large amounts of non-targeted species of fish, non-desired age and size of fish, and other organisms such as birds, sea turtles, and dolphins. These animals are caught in the net then choke to death or are immobilized and eventually die a slow death. I personally find the whole practice unethical, though many see its negative effects on populations of endangered and beloved species such as sea turtles and dolphins as the worse issue. All in all I believe the practice should be put to an end.

Legality

All offshore gillnetting was banned by the U.S. General Assembly in international waters. Individual states have their own laws about whethere gill net fishing is legal or illegal, and in North Carolina, though there are restrictions and certain limite, it is a legal practice.

In North Carolina, one way recreational fishermen are seeking to get rid of gillnetting legally is by designating fish such as the red drum, striped bass, and sea trout, which are common game fish, to the “game fish” level. This would mean they are protected from commercial practices such as gillnetting. North Caorlina House Bill 353 was composed doing just this, as well as many other actions protecting our native game fish. The bill would promote hook and line commercial fishery, banning netting and using traditional methods, as well as eliminating the trawl boat fishery in North Carolina, North Carolina is currently the last state in the Southeast and gulf states that allows this.  

As a recreational fisherman I will say that this blog post is somewhat biased, for there are many other fisherman, particularly commercial fishermen who practice this regularly and even some for a living. Fish are living animals and I believe that this is a very unethical treatment to such creatures. All in all, in my opinion net fishing does more harm than it is worth. Though it has been brought to the attention of many, nothing has been done to truly eliminate the harmful situations it causes. Gillnetting is not an ethical practice either, and the reasons for allowing it to continue do not justify the means of obtaining their produce. Being introduced and more informed on this subject I would like to spread my knowledge to those who do not know or who may never have been interested in the subject. There are a multitude of reasons that could appeal to someone who becomes informed which would make them understand why it should be stopped.

I hope to raise awareness of this subject in today's society. Ideally the whole process will be considered illegal, and if not perhaps a change in regulations, number of fish, and reduction in by catch could occur. It has been banned in many coastal states, and it should be in ours as well.