By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter
ORANGE BEACH -- Over two days this week, two gill net boats have run aground on local beaches while pursuing the Spanish mackerel that are making their spring run westward along Alabama's coastline.
Orange Beach officials have long sided with recreational fishermen and sought a ban on gillnetting. To them, this week's boat accidents -- one of which involved gasoline spilling into the surf along a stretch crowded with swimmers -- illustrate net fishing's incompatibility with tourist beaches.
City officials said they will ask the state to set a limit on how close gillnetters can come to the shore.
"We just feel strongly that they shouldn't be in that close," said Orange Beach Coastal Resources Manager Phillip West. "It clearly is hazardous."
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