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.
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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.
You guys sure bitch when you can’t find cheap seafood but you can’t wait to throw the shrimper under the bus when you think you see a boat anchored up for the day. Spend an hour on the back deck of a shrimp boat and you will be cring like little girls.
All I was referencing was the law – no shrimping within I believe it is 2 miles of the beach in Florida. I can accept the by-catch – it has to happen and I am not complaining. What does bug me are the boats that break the law – commercial and recreational both.