68B-4.002. Gear Definitions

As used in Division 68B, F.A.C., unless otherwise defined:

(1) “Breakaway gear” means any bob, float, weight, lure, or spoon that is affixed to a fishing line or hook with wire, line, rubber bands, plastic ties, or other fasteners designed to break off when a fish is caught.

(2) “Cast net” means a circular net thrown by hand and designed to spread out and capture fish as the weighted circumference sinks to the bottom and comes together when pulled by a line.

(3) “Entangling net” means a drift net, trammel net, stab net, or any other net which captures saltwater finfish, shellfish, or other marine animals by causing all or parts of heads, fins, legs, or other body parts to become entangled or ensnared in the meshes or in pockets of the net. This term does not include a cast net.

(4) “Frame net” means a net in the form of an elongated bag kept open by a rigid frame that is buoyed by floats and deployed behind a vessel, but is not dragged along the bottom.

(5) “Gill net” means one or more walls of netting which captures fish by ensnaring or entangling them in the meshes of the net by the gills. This term does not include a cast net.

(6) “Hook and line gear” means any handline, rod, reel, or pole to which line and ten or fewer hooks are attached. Hook and line gear includes a bob, float, weight, lure, plug, spoon, or bait that is attached to the gear described in the previous sentence.

(7) “Landing or dip net” means a hand-held net consisting of a mesh bag suspended from a circular, oval, or rectangular rigid frame attached to a handle.

(8) “Longline gear” means any single line or series of connected lines to which more than ten hooks are attached and which is used to harvest fish.

(9) “Mesh area” of a net means the total area of netting with the meshes open to comprise the maximum square footage. The square footage shall be calculated using standard mathematical formulas for geometric shapes. The square footage of seines and other rectangular nets shall be calculated using the maximum length and maximum width of the netting.

(10) “Multiple hook” means a treble hook, two or more fishhooks bound together to comprise a single unit, or any hook with a single shank and eye and two or more pointed ends.

(11) “Paired trawl” means a trawl consisting of an elongated bag of netting, with a panel of netting serving as a wing on each side of the trawl, that is either deployed behind a vessel or towed between two vessels, and does not tend the bottom.

(12) “Otter trawl” means a trawl with its mouth kept open by means of boards or doors on each side.

(13) “Powerhead” means any device employing an explosive charge or a release of compressed gas, usually attached to a speargun, spear, pole, or stick (known as a “bangstick”), which detonates upon contact.

(14) “Rebreather” means a closed circuit or semi-closed circuit underwater breathing apparatus that recycles and recirculates all or part of the gas mixture supplied for breathing. A rebreather is distinguished from other underwater breathing apparatuses by the inclusion of a scrubber (a component that removes carbon dioxide from the breathing gas) and a counterlung (a waterproof bag that allows the diver’s exhaled breath to be captured for scrubbing and recycling back to the diver for inhalation).

(15) “Seine” means a small-meshed net suspended vertically in the water, with floats along the top margin and weights along the bottom margin, which encloses and concentrates fish, and does not entangle them in the meshes.

(a) “Beach or haul seine” means a seine that is hauled or dragged over the bottom into shallow water or onto the beach, either by hand or with power winches.

(b) “Purse seine” means a seine that is pulled into a circle around fish with rings attached to the lower margin below the lead line to allow a purse line to be drawn to close the bottom of the seine.

(16)“Snagging” or “snatch hooking” means the intentional catch of a fish by any device intended to impale or hook the fish by any part of its body other than the mouth.

(17) “Spearing” means the catching or taking of a fish by bow hunting, gigging, spearfishing, or by any device used to capture a fish by piercing the body. Spearing does not include the catching or taking of a fish by a hook with hook and line gear or by snagging (snatch hooking).

(18) “Spotter plane” means any aircraft as defined in Section 330.27(1), F.S., used for aerial identification of the location of fish so that a vessel may be directed to the fish.

(19) “Stab or sink net” means a gill or trammel net, that sinks to the bottom when placed, set, or fished in water deeper than its hanging depth.

(20) “Trammel net” means a net constructed of two or more walls of netting hung from the same cork and lead lines, with one wall having a larger mesh than the other(s), which traps a fish in a pocket of netting when the fish pushes the smaller mesh wall through a mesh in the larger mesh wall.

(21) “Trap” means a device used for taking marine species, in the form of an enclosure that provides a means for such species to enter and a means by which exit from the device is prevented.

(22) “Trap puller” means any mechanical device used to retrieve or capable of retrieving a trap used to harvest marine life. An anchor winch at or near the bow of a vessel is not considered a trap puller.

(23) “Trawl” means a net in the form of an elongated bag with the mouth kept open by various means and fished by being towed or dragged on the bottom.

(24) “Underwater breathing apparatus” means any apparatus, whether self-contained or connected to a distant source of air or other gas, whereby a person wholly or partially submerged in water is able to obtain or reuse air or any other gas or gasses for breathing without returning to the surface of the water.

(25) “Wing”, with reference to a seine, means a panel of netting on one or both ends of the seine, which panel has a larger mesh than the main body of the seine and is used to guide fish into the main body of the seine.

(26) The term “net” or “netting” shall be broadly construed to include all manner or combination of mesh or webbing or any other solid or semi-solid fabric or other material used to comprise a device that is used to take or harvest marine life.

Rulemaking Authority Art. IV, Sec. 9, Fla. Const. Law Implemented Art. IV, Sec. 9, Art. X, Sec. 16, Fla. Const. History–New 1-1-89, Amended 11-26-92, 1-1-97, 4-27-98, Formerly 46-4.002, Amended 12-2-99, 7-1-04, 7-15-04, 3-1-05, Amended 9-1-13.