California has passed a law to phase out gillnet fishing in state waters. Under the legislation, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will not issue any more permits for gillnet fishing after January 1, 2027 and fishing operations with existing permits are only allowed to transfer those one time to a family member, after which the perrmit is no longer valid.
Set gillnets–those attached to the seabed–are the only fishery allowed to incidentally catch and sell great white sharks and giant seabass. These nets also entangle gray whales and endangered humpback whales migrating along the California coast.
Set gillnets are walls of netting are anchored to the seabed so that when fish swim through they get stuck around their gills. This gear has been banned on the high seas by the United Nations, as well as by many other countries. According to nonprofit Oceana, set gillnets have the highest bycatch rates of any California fishery by number of animals, catching more than 100 different species including vulnerable sharks and marine mammals. California set gillnets were originally banned in Northern California in 1915 because of bycatch. California voters passed Proposition 132 in 1990 to prohibit the use of set gillnets within state waters off the Southern California mainland (0-3 nautical miles) and within one mile of offshore islands. The California Fish and Game Commission banned the use of these nets off the Central California Coast in 2002 but the nets continued to be used in federal waters, offshore banks, and in state waters from 1-3 nautical miles around California’s Channel Islands, with continued high rates of bycatch.
In 2018, 38 drift gillnet fishing operations participated in a program that would allow them to receive a total of $2.7 million for turning in their nets and investing in different fishing gear. That bill, Senate Bill 1017, also required that all California large-mesh drift gillnet permits be surrendered or revoked as of January 31 of the fourth year after an initial $2 million in funding had been secured.
At that time more than 50 miles and 54 tons of large-mesh drift gillnets were destroyed, to be recycled into new products.
