This was printed in anna minicucci's column this week.The news is good and I can confirm that there are definatly more weaks !! I have been catching them almost everytime out.They fight great and are a blast to catch on light tackle.


DECLARED RECOVERED,
FINAL WEAKFISH STOCK ASSESSMENT
As reported in last week’s column, squeteague catches are on the increase, and consistent fishing reports of larger fish catches confirm an abundance of weakfish off Rhode Island’s shorelines. To underscore that observation, the final results from an Atlantic States Marine Fisheries (ASMFC), stock review committee, have declared the fishery recovered in a Fisheries Focusnewsletter. Weakfish declines were observed in 1980, because of competition between recreational and commercial fishing practices. Credited with making the recovery possible, are objectives found in Amendment 3 which included: restoring expanded and size structure; achieving equitable management measures among jurisdictions; promoting cooperative interstate research, monitoring, and law enforcement;; conservation and identification of weakfish habitat, and establishing standard procedures for the amendment’s implementation. For more information contact:Heather Stirratt, FMP coordinator, at 202-289-6400, x 301, or visit ASMFC website at: www.asmfc.org.

It wont take long I am afraid for them to be wiped out again the bag limits are far too high and the size limit far to small at least in NJ they are 14 fish at 14 inches is a crime.......

On a brighter note they are fun and are pretty tasty......

With Good news also comes bad news!!!!!!!!!!
It is very good news that the weaks are recovered, and I can attest to it, I had never caught a weak until last year but always heard stories from my father and grandfather, and have caught a decent amount and they are good sized too.
But unfortunately I agree with John, now it won't be long until they are wiped out again, no bag limit and only 16" to keep one. I fished a beach just last week and killed them, every guy there except maybe 1 other than me kept every single fish they caught, dragging strings of them back to their cars. One guy even had a basket strapped to his back so he could load em up and carry em out!!! It killed me because these idiots don't understand that you need to leave some to keep the stocks up. By the way, they were spawning or something because a lot of them were females with eggs dripping from them.
So, it won't be long again until we are cying because we cant catch them.
just my opinion of course.
MZ

Everytime a good news post is put up, it somehow quikly goes negative! Stop worying about a decline again and enjoy them in the here and now!! Sometimes I think everyone out here is a doom lover!!

Good to hear that they are "officially" recovered. I would hope they can actually stay that way. So, this is the second species out of about, what, maybe 80 northeast saltwater species that have come back from the brink of commercially negligeable??? The first being striped bass, which is under alot of question on how far back it's really come. I just hope people treat it with care and not screw it up again...

Not a doom lover, just love fishing like the rest of us and don't want to see it go bad again.
Certainly have enjoyed them this year and can now understand what it was like in yesteryear, but again just fed up with what is going on with all species.
That's all,
MZ

Agreed! I enjoy fishing for the sport, not the kill. I love fresh fish, but loading up the freezer shouldn't be the objective. I find it ridiculous that as soon as a species is considered recovered, all bets are off... in a few years, when fish stocks are 90% wiped out, we can return to the limits that have allowed them to recover. Then we'll only have to wait 15 years or so until we can enjoy them again.

You gotta shake your head when you see people lugging off more fish than they could eat in a season.

If the fish are thriving under current policies, why change them? Pretty crazy stuff.

Anyways, good luck to everyone... later.

Sorry Bill but it how it went last time they were "fully recovered" I remeber the slaughter..........and I see it happening again, guys release bass they kil weakfish........its the way it is...I enjoy the present but I want to protect the future.......