Shrimp Boat By-Catch Mean Fish
Tuesday September 5, 2006
They are there almost every morning that I head offshore. They anchor up just after dawn and begin cleaning their decks and holds of by-catch and trash fish. “They” are the shrimp boats that spend the night dragging their nets for pink gold. By night they work the nets, and by day they rest and clean.
Comments
By catch means less fish not more. The by catch is dumped overboard, dead fish. These are the most valued fish we have and the nursery is dumped dead back into the sea. You cannot count the fish that are destroyed by shrimpers day after day Billions of flounder,trout,kings, grouper, croakers, snapper,whiteing etc. destroyed. The sea floor is like a desert nothing is growing. It is what we call St. Augustine bottom. Bare sand sea beds. Surf fishing suffers as the boats come onshore at night with no laws inforced by Florida
I agree with your analysis. I see Georgia and South Carolina boats coming into Florida waters even in the day time that are dragging within a half mile of the beach - and no law enforcement is around. The one I did challenge claimed ignorance of the law. At night they literally rape the beaches.