I was a commercial fisherman for several years. They don't give a fuck and they throw everything overboard. BUT! I do have to say, net fishing is hard and a lot of times nets get caught and tangled on stuff and to keep from sinking they have to cut themselves loose. I knew a captain who was the sole survivor when he crewed on a vessel that got its net stuck and the captain didn't cut the net loose(they cost a shit load). Big wave came, instantly capsized the boat and killed everyone but the guy I knew.
I was a commercial fisherman too and I would contradict what you're saying in part (at least for my boat and probably my fishery which was small boat). We never threw anything overboard, and certainly not nets. When we needed new nets, we dropped the old ones off on a tender and they brought them to shore for us where we repaired them or sent them to a landfill if they weren't able to be repaired. That's not to say there aren't bad actors out there, or that larger boats that stay at sea for long periods and don't want to have a bunch of trash onboard don't dump stuff, but not all fishermen are like that, especially small boat fishermen.
You are correct though that lots of nets are lost, not necessarily discarded. The title of this post suggests it's intentional behavior when in fact fishermen lose nets for all kinds of reasons including as you point out having to cut them loose when they are in danger, or for other accidental reasons.
I worked on one boat where the dudes weren't sea lion killing littering rednecks. I was a fisherman before Trump was a thing but I'm sure if I saw their trucks today they would have Trump flags sticking out of every orifice.
No doubt. I don't mean to imply that all fishermen are great stewards of the earth, but a lot of the small boat guys at least care about the environment as it relates to their fishery because they know that's their livelihood.
I was in Bristol Bay AK fishing salmon. What about you?
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u/fucreddit Aug 12 '21
I was a commercial fisherman for several years. They don't give a fuck and they throw everything overboard. BUT! I do have to say, net fishing is hard and a lot of times nets get caught and tangled on stuff and to keep from sinking they have to cut themselves loose. I knew a captain who was the sole survivor when he crewed on a vessel that got its net stuck and the captain didn't cut the net loose(they cost a shit load). Big wave came, instantly capsized the boat and killed everyone but the guy I knew.