For ALL anglers in Alabama, tourism bureaus, boaters, tournament fishermen, local businesses, marine dealers, and anyone connected with fishing in our state’s waters and especially on the Tennessee River – we need your help in contacting members of the Alabama Senate Agricultural, Conservation, and Forestry Committee and requesting that they VOTE ‘NO’ to HB258 which will reintroduce gill nets to our waters by commercial fishermen. HB258 was reported favorably out of the House Agriculture and Forestry Committee on Thursday, April 9, 2015 and was given PRIORITY on the House floor and approved ON THE SAME DATE. It has now been forwarded to the Alabama Senate where it is expected to be assigned to the Senate Agricultural, Conservation, and Forestry Committee. THIS BILL NEEDS TO BE DEFEATED IN COMMITTEE and/or a fight on the Senate floor to prevent enactment of the bill.
HB258 was introduced into the Alabama House this session won Tennesseehich would reintroduce gill nets by commercial fishermen on the Tennessee River, and which will lead to devastation of recreational fishing and boating on the river which has been promoted by the Alabama Tourism Department, the Mountain Lakes Association, and the Decatur-Morgan County Convention and Visitor’ Bureau. These governmental entities have spent thousands of taxpayer dollars to generate tourism and economic impact in the communities and towns along the river by enticing major tournament organizations such as B.A.S.S. and FLW-TBF to stage tournaments on the river waters.
Also, thousands of anglers from grassroots fishermen such as the Alabama Bass Federation an Alabama Bass Nation, plus hundreds of local bass clubs and recreational anglers and boaters are drawn to this important natural resource in North Alabama. Millions of dollars of revenue for local businesses are generated through these activities for local businesses such as lodging, restaurants, tackle stores, marine dealerships, gas stations, and convenience stores, etc. in addition to the taxes generated from the economic impact.
Gill netting was a problem in the Tennessee River for a long time before the practice was prohibited by legislative act about (12) years ago. The method of gill netting entails the stretching of a web net across waterways and trapping fish in them with their gills through the net holes – which kills most of the fish. The problem of the method of fishing with gill nets included:
*Commercial fishermen stringing gill nets across creeks and tributaries blocking access to these streams by other recreational fishermen and boaters;
*Driving fish into the gill nets by making noise upstream to the nets. The gill nets know no difference between “trash fish” and game fish – ALL are caught in the nets;
*Placing gill nets in areas of concentration of game fish and known locations of recreational fishermen;
*Gill nets interfere with navigation and safety of boaters because they became entangled in the props of outboard motors;
*Recreational and tournament fishermen’s lures became entangled in the gill nets resulting in wasted time on the water (to a tournament angler – time may be money) and loss of expensive lures. For this single reason many tournament organizations will not hold tournaments on lakes or rivers where gill nets are allowed thus depriving communities of the economic impact from such events;
*In retrieving a lure from a gill net, the recreational or tournament angler is in danger from the commercial fisherman “for interfering with is net”;
*Regardless of what is said, prior history with gill netting in Alabama waters resulted in game fish being caught in gill nets and either causing mortality of the fish or the fish was sold in out-of-state markets for personal gain at the expense of fishing and tourism on the river;
*Regardless of what is said about enforcement by fines for violation of licensing and conservation rules and regulations for gill getting by commercial fishermen, the Department of Conservation does not have the personnel or manpower to prevent violation and abuse of this important natural resource. When gill netting was previously allowed on the river the Department of Conservation would say that they did not have the budget or personnel to be on the river to enforce all the violations that were taking place;
*The punishment of a $500 fines is NO DETERIENT for violation of gill netting – $500 which is seldom levied, if the violator is arrested, and certainly no jail time is assessed, and the reward for violation is great;
*Gill nets are abandoned by the commercial fishermen when damaged or worn out causing a safety hazard and interfering with recreational / tournament fishing or boating utilization of the waterway;
*Gill netting reduces the available stock of fish to be enjoyed by other anglers. “Trash fish” is not the only type of fish targeted by gill netting;
*Previous records indicated that the majority of commercial fishermen that employed gill netting for catching fish were not residents of North Alabama but were from out-of-state – thus paying no taxes or providing no revenue to the state but partaking of the state’s resources;
*It is untrue that gill netting adds any value to our rivers and lakes;
*It is untrue that gill netting is an “industry” in Alabama that provides any economic benefit to its citizens and certainly not to the users of our state’s lakes and rivers. There is no economic comparison between gill net fishing and recreational/tournament fishing and boating – If HB258 is enacted, everyone loses except the commercial fishermen.
As noted in the Decatur Daily on Friday, April 10, 2015, the Alabama House Agriculture and Forestry Committee gave a favorable ruling on HB259 on 04-09-15 and the bill was rammed through the Alabama House on THE SAME DATE – a PRIORITY ITEM. The bill now goes to the Alabama Senate where opponents of the bill must ensure it does NOT become Alabama law.
*************************SPREAD THE WORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TIME IS OF ESSENCE…………The Alabama Senate will be back in session on April 14, 2015. DON’T DELAY!