net bans :: essays research papers

     In July of 1995, Florida put into onus a new law throw outning the use of gill nets in all inshore water of Florida. The law contained two significant supply 1) some non-gill nets would be allowed, but maximum size would now be limited to 500 square feet and 2) unemployment compensation would be available to abnormal netters through a 20 gazillion dollar fund imbed aside to purchase the nets that would be made obsolete(Stearns, par.5). This ban on nets has lead to a dramatic comeback for a variety of lean species, including the Spanish mackerel and Florida grey mullet. In the following essay I recollect to show the ban laws, what they encompass whom they affected, as well as their reaction. Most importantly, I intend to show the ban has made an overall improvement on Floridas shipboard soldier environment.     Over the past 100 years, Florida has been known for having some of the best amateurish fishing as well as marine enviro nments. Locals and tourists alike could soak any(prenominal) given day to spend on the water and supply with a wide variety of game fish. Unfortunately, over the past ten this trend has been on the decline. The cause of this decrease in the population of Floridas marine environment as well as in other move of the world, is the indiscriminate use of the monofilament fishing net (par.2). One of the areas that have seen on the button how destructive these nets can be, is the Florida Coast.     In 1990, commercial-grade gill-netters harvested 26 million pounds of mullet (DeYoung, par.56). In 1994, Floridas became alarmed when the mullet spawning population plummeted to about 15 pct of normal. They also felt the impact this loss of forage food had on game fish. One of the largest causes of this plummet is the lucrative market in the removed East for mullet row, which had almost completely decimated Floridas stock of these fish (Stearns, par.2-3).   &nb sp   cod to this large decline, the Florida Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) placed restrictions on recreational and commercial harvest of mullet. In 1992, recreational fishermen were now limited to fifty fish per boat per day, with no size limit, while commercial fishermen have no "bag limit", but are required to release any mullet under eleven inches in length. The results of the restrictions lowered the harvest on mullet by recreational fishermen from four million to one million pounds. There was a 75 percent reduction in recreational harvest as a result of the FMCs restrictions.