Maybe not the correct terms…but I’m looking for opinions on commercial netting and the dead fish found outside of the nets.
Let’s say a net holds 500 pounds of fish, how many pounds is acceptable to be dead in the water outside of the net.
Come on Herb…let’s hear your opinion. 
Are you talking about bycatch mortality? Otherwise I’m not following you. Bycatch or non-intentional mortality rates should always be minimized, whether its commercial nets or catch and release angling.
No gamefish should be killed due to commercial netting, gamefish being crappie, walleye, and bass. If these commercial fisherman are going to be killing fish then tossing them dead back in the river un-used they should be fined per fish.
Brian, I think you should narrow your scope on what you believe a ‘net’ should be. Are you talking a standard ‘gill net’ or a seine.
From my experience, a ‘gill net’ won’t suffer much external loss. Once it’s caught in the net it won’t be released until the commercial fisherman removes it.
A seine on the other hand can suffer a large loss. What’s acceptable loss? I’d say that depends on the point of view. Personally I’d say zero loss is acceptable, but I’m not so naive to believe that scenario exists.
The amount of loss can be largely dependent on how soon the fish are removed from the seine and how tightly packed they are in the net. Both of which are subject to the operator. A guy who’s really on the ball and has a truck ready for transport might not have any loss, where someone who’s waiting on a transport truck might lose a percentage of their fish. Like I said, what’s acceptable will come from a certain point of view. Any commercial fisherman worth his salt doesn’t want to lose fish, it tends to cut into their profit. 
Thanks for pointing that out Blue, yes seine nets.
However last spring there was a photo taken of a dead Lake Sturgeon down stream of a gill net. According to the WI Dnr, the fella was asked/told to move his net, which he did for a couple days.
Sorry I was light on details in my post…
Bi-catch and rough fish that are left behind.
Brian, I’ll send you a pm when I get time. I can already tell this will not be a good thread by the end of the day.
All fish are sportfish!!!!!
It is unfortunate when fish are killed incidentally, no matter the species!
Loose Gill nets have (unfortunately) been commonly found in the Bays De Noc area the past few years with thousands of pounds of dead, rotting mature walleye, smallmouth and other gamefish.
Many guides and walleye fisherman(myself included) have left those once world class waters 
to southern Lake Michigan where the fishery is still viable.
Brian, your question is too wide open to give a percentage number wise, but this might come close.
Let’s say a seine haul is being made right now in the backwaters of pool 9. A normal haul might bring 75,000 to 200,000 lbs of fish. Depending on the location, you could have up to 1000 lbs or more of unwanted fish, or you might not have any at all. Those unwanted fish can include both rough fish for which there is no market, and game fish which are illegal to keep. The game fish have to go back in the water whether they are alive or not. That’s the law and that’s just the way it is. And that’s what we see floating later on. Sometimes, the unwanted rough fish go home with those who are helping with the haul. Otherwise we’ll see a few of those floating later on also.
The percentage of game fish caught is actually pretty small when all is said and done, but those are the fish everyone sees or hears about. Believe me when I say nobody wants game fish in his nets just for the fact they are a hassle to deal with.
Briank I have done some commercial fishing in my days as well as Herb’s father and his grandfather. There had never been a time when we wanted to see any game fish in our nets. But it happens and it can’t be prevented. We always tried to remove the fish and turn them back to the river alive. But there are always some that will die. Just as when one is sport fishing and you turn a fish loose there is a chance that fish will die if not handled correctly. A commercial fisherman doesn’t want his boat and nets stinking from dead fish either. Just my .02 worth.
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