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Associated PressLawmakers may make fishing with flagrantly illegal nets a felony. Some small-scale fishermen are protesting the proposal.
TALLAHASSEE - It sounds like a scene from a movie: poachers stealthily drag huge nets through Florida's waters at night, illegally hauling in thousands of pounds of fish, using night vision goggles to evade law enforcement.
But Florida's Coastal Conservation Association said that plot is real and jeopardizes the long-term health of the state's fishing industry.
"These are not piddling violations. These are deliberate, they're blatant, and they're huge," said Ted Forsgren, executive director of CCA Florida.
Lawmakers are considering cracking down on illegal fishing practices by stiffening penalties against flagrant violations, which include using gill or entanglement nets or those larger than 2,000 square feet. Meanwhile, small fishermen have lined up to protest the changes, largely because they say they're the ones targeted under existing state policies, and they're worried about their livelihood.
A 1994 constitutional amendment that won 72 percent of voters' support banned the use of monofilament and gill nets, plus limited fishing net size to 500 square feet - a considerable cut from what most fishermen were using.
One of the problems, however, has been agreeing how to measure mesh, which can be stretched far past its dormant size. Lawmakers say that's one of the reasons for including only "flagrant" violations in this year's bills, since there can be no question about a net four times exceeding legal size.
The current misdemeanor penalties aren't much of a deterrent to poachers who can earn a lot of money, said Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach.
When explaining the need to make these practices felonies, the Coastal Conservation Association points to illegal incidents in nine Florida counties this January and February, and describes law enforcement officers uncovering banned gill nets stashed in mangroves.
But small-scale fishermen tell a different story. Several, including Boynton Beach fisherman David Grix, said disagreements over the regulations have led to harassment they have had to resolve in court.
Grix, who has a case over the legality of his gear pending in the Florida Supreme Court, said the year after the limits were voted into Florida's Constitution, marine patrol officers inspected his gear 14 days in a row.
Others have stories of being arrested and cleared after fighting the charges in court, but being re-arrested on the same charge after heading back out on the water - sending them back to the courts.
Some fishermen, though, said the state's changes could mark a revival for the "mom-and-pop" fishing operations straining under pressure from large fisheries.
Panacea-based fisherman Ronald F. Crum said if law enforcement officials team up with small fishermen to enforce the laws, those who fish legally will get more for their small catches and won't need to break laws.
"As long as we remove the big guys from the water, the little guys can be very financially sound," Crum said.