A light in the tunnel of gill nets in NC

Apparently an observer from the National Marine Fisheries Service did a ride along on a gill net boat in Core Sound for two weeks at the end of June. In that time they found the evidence of gill net/turtle "interaction" (read: dead turtles) that people here have been screaming about for years. Due to that, the Director of Marine Fisheries in NC has issued a proclamation to restrict gill net usage until the end of August as least, and possibly longer, from Core Sound south. It cuts down the length of nets they can use and also makes each individual net smaller. This will go a long way to protect turtles and also do a lot to help our inshore fish species rebound from the constant pressure the netters have been putting on them. It will only take a week or two for some of the hardest hit places to start seeing fish numbers rebound. Really amazing actually.

Click here for the full text of the proclamation.