Gillnet bycatch..or how to slay 50 fish for $35 bucks

[bad_angler]

Hi guys,

I thought some of you would like to see these videos of gill nets set in eastern North Carolina. You can see lots of dead abandoned fish as a result of bycatch from a gill net. The two captains that shot these videos were documenting what they see often in their local waters. I was kind of sick when I saw the first footage. The fine for several dozen redfish/black drum was 35 bucks.

See this link . The captains that shot the video are now being threatened by some of the gill net crew who seem not to like the footage or that someone dares to speak up about it. The second video was shot by Captain Matt Wirt while he was in the boat with a NC F&W officer. He says that often nets 300 feet long are run end to end in only a foot of water.

ba