West Wall

[Salty]

There will be a meeting, March 5th at 6 PM at the Coastal Institute Conference Center, 220 So. Ferry Rd, Narragansett, Hazard rooms A&B. They want to put two new fish traps on the west wall, one will be where everybody fishes, if you can make the meeting please come.

[JohnR]

Lemme check with the wife but I think it would be wise to attend that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there already one of those off Hazard Ave that screws everything up??

[redcrbbr]

gee you guys have those down that end of the state too! and i thought we were special up this northern edge of the state. (sakonnet river)

[Fish_Eye]

Salty,

Thanks for the heads up on yet another proposed encroachment on the ever-shrinking access areas for surf fishing.

It’s more than just an issue of screwing up where you’ll be able to cast. These nets take their fair share of fish out of the water. I was hoping that when George Mendosa got out of the business we would see fewer of these “grandfathered” pound nets…how foolish of me. Another company bought the rights and now we seem to have even more of them. Enough is enough! I understand that these are among the best methods (little bycatch) to commercially catch a multitude of species, however, with more than enough commercial pressure around to assure the market demand for fish, I say screw another net. Besides, they are not totally without impact; yes, they can release a lot of undersized or non-targeted fish in relatively good shape, however, the lead lines that draw the fish into the funnels are a curtain of death for a lot of different species…AND they don’t lift these nets often….end result, lots of dead and wasted fish.

I have personally seen an endangered sturgeon die in one of these (the one of Black Rock) and here’s a look at what the one on the West Wall does to menhaden when they are passing by.



I hope to see a lot of SB.com folks at the meeting.

Mike

[JohnR]

Salty & Fisheye - Question for you both. If these nets have a small enough opening to gil Menhaden, what are there intended target species to catch with them? And how many non-target fish / bycatch / off-limit species get snared in these nets?

Thanks,

John

[DZ]

Everyone,
Apparantly there are two proposed small mesh traps which will target squid. One at the first section of the West Wall and another off the Center Wall. The applicant name I believe is Hoxie. Two years ago our Newport club fought and lost a trap application off of Ocean Drive in Newport. There is now a trap there which closes off shoreline access to a very popular location for surfcasting. I encourage all fishermen to make this meeting! Many commercial fishermen are looking to supplement their income by fishing with traps part time. Let's stop this snowball right now.
DZ

[Fish_Eye]

John,


These are "trap" nets and they are designed to lead fish into an area where they contained and remain alive. They lift these nets each day and they release the undersized or non-targeted species. It IS one of the cleaner ways to catch fish...not as clean as commercial hook and line...but I have always had a personal problem with the way they set up the "lead" net; this is the net that is anchored to the wall and runs perpendicular to the wall, or in the case of the Narragansett nets, perpendicular to the shore.

The mesh size, in my opinion, is too small and it allows for a fair amount of waste; keep in mind that they don't lift the net very often...if it's in the mesh...it's food for the crabs.

Several years ago I talked with the head of DEM about this situation and I was assured that this wasn't a problem...judge for yourself:

The Atlantic sturgeon is an endangered species:

[JohnR]

That's about the fourth Sturgeon I've ever seen (I had one on my hook on the Sacramento River once for about 5-10 minutes) and the first Atlantic Sturgeon....


Thanks guys...

[JohnR]

Remember - this is tonight...