The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is pulling the plug on gill-netting for rockfish, The Sun's outdoors writer Candy Thomson reports, after finding 10 tons of the prized fish in illegally set nets off Kent Island this week.
The state's also offering a reward of at least $6,000 for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of the poachers who set the nets, Candy reports.
Natural Resources police have recovered a series of untended, anchored nets, which are illegal, in the past few days. Properly set gill nets must float and be marked and monitored by fishermen.
The early shutdown of the commercial gill-net season, which was supposed to run all month, was supported by Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen's Association. Candy quotes him saying it's "the safest thing to do" to ensure that the illegal haul of rockfish doesn't put the state over the limit on how many can be caught sustainably.
(Natural Resources police unloading illegally caught rockfish. DNR photo)