Local fishermen cited for use of illegal net

Two fishermen were cited last week for using an illegal net in local waters.

Officers Jason Carroll and Matt Gore were working in the Apalachicola Bay when they encountered two suspects who were commercial mullet fishing.

The officers saw the fishermen hid a net so they stopped the fishermen and discovered the net was not marked, was of an illegal mesh size, and was greater than 500 square feet.

Florida has a ban on gill nets was overwhelmingly approved by Florida voters in 1994 as a constitutional amendment.

Under the net ban, Fishermen in Florida are not allowed to use any net that is larger than 500 square feet in inshore or near shore waters. 

The state has ruled that any net with a mesh larger than 2 inches is a gill net.

The two subjects were repeat offenders of resource violations.

Both subjects were cited for the violations and the net was seized. 

Three hundred pounds of mullet were also seized.

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