Fishermen Say Ban Would Doom a Way of Life

A proposed ban on using gill nets for near-shore fishing in Southern California has been a hot topic of discussion in recent days at Canetti’s Seafood Grotto, the traditional early-morning gathering place for San Pedro fishermen. Many fear that the proposal, if it becomes law, could end their decades-old way of life.

“We get accused of raping the ocean,” said Joe Cracchiolo, president of the Los Angeles Fisherman’s Cooperative Assn. in San Pedro. “But we are environmentalists too. To kill fish, that is our business, but we more than anyone want to maintain the health of the ocean.”

The initiative would ban the use of the nearly invisible monofilament nets by 1994 anywhere within three miles of the coast between the Mexican border and Point Conception. Gill nets, which kill fish by immobilizing them, have been blamed for the deaths of non-game fish and mammals in recent years.

Cracchiolo and others admit that the nets kill sea lions and an occasional gray whale, but they say that sea lions are not endangered in this area and that their numbers are growing. They also admit that about 25% of what they catch can’t be sold and is thrown overboard. But they say much of that is alive.

Local fishermen say there are about 250 men who fish commercially out of San Pedro and that many of them use gill nets, particularly for halibut. Although there are alternatives to gill nets, such as lines and more visible nets, halibut are not easily caught by those methods, the fishermen say.

If gill nets are banned, Cracchiolo and others say, some local fishermen will be forced out of business.

Environmentalists counter that the nets kill indiscriminately and threaten the near-shore marine ecosystems.

“They are not efficient. They are simply cheap and wasteful,” said Scott Trimingham, president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an international ocean preservation group based in Redondo Beach. “There are other ways of fishing and making a living. But we are not a job placement agency, and changes to protect our environment may adversely affect some people.”

A survey conducted between 1983 and 1989 by the state Department of Fish and Game, which is officially neutral, shows between six and 12 whales killed by gill nets annually. Between 800 and 1,000 deaths of seals and sea lions were attributed to the nets in the 1986-87 fishing season, said Doyle Hanan, coordinator of the department’s marine mammal program. He said only one dolphin was known to be killed by gill nets in the survey period.

But environmentalists charge that some dolphin, whale and shark kills go unreported. Trimingham cites as evidence dead dolphins that have been found with their tails cut off, indicating that they were trapped in nets and cut loose by fishermen.

Hannon of Fish and Game said fishermen have accepted compromises in recent years to reduce incidental deaths, such as increasing the size of net openings to allow younger fish to pass through unscathed and building break points in the nets to allow marine mammals to escape more easily.

Some fishermen say pollution and such popular activities as whale-watching are more destructive to marine life than gill-netting.

Gill-netters in San Pedro accuse the sportfishing lobby, which also supports the measure, of cynically drawing environmentalists into the fight simply to remove competition for fish.

“There are 2 million sportfishermen in California, and only about 250 of us,” said Andy Kuglis, a 79-year-old who has fished off San Pedro for nearly 60 years. “They catch more fish than we do. But we are a small minority. We are easy to fight.”