Very interesting column in Regulation Watch by Catherine Cramer in OTW this month. She goes over the Marine Fishieries observers (or the lack of) on commercial fishing boats and how some areas have none, like the midwater trawl and pair trawl herring boats. She writes: "According to New England Fisheries Management Council staff, only .003 percent of domestic Atlantic herring trips have been observed since 1996." She also writes "Landings of Atlantic herring have increased dramatically, in some areas representing a 500 percent increase in just two years..." This does not bode well for these forage fish.

She also brings up bycatch with some very gloomy news: "Over one million, and perhaps as much as two million, pounds of striped bass were caught and discarded in the Northeast trawl fishery between May 2002 and April 2003, according to Oceana, a Washington-based nonprofit group...". This can't be good. At minimum, if these numbers are close to accurate, that is the equivalent of the entire Mass R&R commercial allocation being discarded as bycatch.

The good news? There is some. She mentions that Congress has doubled the funding for observers on these boats and the greatest increases will be for observers in the Northeast groundfish which were not previously funded, including $450K or so for the the herring trawls...

If you have OTW, please read the column, if you don't have OTW, buy or borrow one for this... Pretty stinkin' important read if you ask me.

John,
Not bad mouthing the general thrust of the article, but I wouldn't trust any figures put out by Oceana, without independent verification. They are one of the groups pushing for MPAs to shut down all fishing.

Originally posted by MakoMike
John,
Not bad mouthing the general thrust of the article, but I wouldn't trust any figures put out by Oceana, without independent verification. They are one of the groups pushing for MPAs to shut down all fishing.

Yeh, I know, and I don't agree with a lot of their veiws and takes on things. But that's why I'm focusing on their smaller number at one million pounds as more likely to be realistic. Again, I'm not anti-commercial but I'm against abusive practices. Guys like the Cape Cod Hook and Line guys do not typically practive abusive and destructive methods and are a fine example of commercial fishing. (Keep in mind it's really hard to classify what I feel is good & bad or at least responsible commercial fishing in a caouple paragraphs :eek5: ). Sadly the numbers out their on actual bycatch aren't accurate no matter who puts the survey together.

John,
I hear you loud and clear. If I were king most commercial fishing would be limited to hook and line.

I'll second that thought. the CCHL will be at the salties meeting tonite. I don't dought some of the figures at all, a friend was a stern man, said he threw back over a hundred an twenty five bass in the 30* range dead, in one tow.

Cape - how did it go??

Mako Mike wrote"
Not bad mouthing the general thrust of the article, but I wouldn't trust any figures put out by Oceana, without independent verification. They are one of the groups pushing for MPAs to shut down all fishing.

WHOA!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Do not confuse Oceana with The Ocean Conservancy!

Oceana is NOT pushing for MPAs and they have gone out of their way to be as neutral as possible on the issue.

Here is an excerpt from one of their press releases...


Many of you may be wondering where we stand on the issue that has frequently divided conservation groups from recreational fishermen—marine reserves, areas that exclude all fishing, including recreational. The simple answer is, we don’t have a dog in that fight. It’s not something we work on now. It’s not something we plan to work on. We think it’s hugely unfortunate that this fight has divided our two communities, when we have so many common issues to work on. And Oceana won’t work on it in the future unless we can find a way to do it that unites us rather than divides us.

I have followed Oceana's work on the Amendment 13 process, localized depletion of Atlantic Herring, and now with H.R. 2889 which seeks to protect wintering striped bass from trawlers. To say the least I have been very impressed with them thus far.

I stand corrected.... :wavey:

I sit corrrected :D

Well! the two kids they sent this time did a [kinda] nice job. But the crowd that was there didn't much care. As most that showed for the meeting were 65 an over. They want to hear how to catch a fish an not about saving them:doh:

I read her column the other day as well. What stood out to me was the HUGE take of herring . This is record hauling.
This pair ship techniques is very effective they can catch every last fish this way.

I heard a radio interview late last fall about this capt that was going to testify to Washington about what has been going on... the thrust was to get more observers onboard. Looks like that will happen but IMO they are still taking TOO MUCH.

...How about stop fishing for them so damn hard? They are simply taking every last fish in the sea and they really don't give a damn. Just like all the other managed groundfish, fish them till they are gone and it doesn't pay to go out any more, then move on to something else....this is the mission statement of the comm fisherman. The current management is more like a mafia then objective science.

Your worried about the damage a circle hook or plug does to the fish when a rec fisherman releases it? How about being dragged in a net with TONS of fish crushing you then hauled on deck to get a sun tan....only to be shoveled overboard...No stress there...comm guys don't hurt stripers...we fish a quota....remember that.

They lobbied for NO OBSERVERS....I wonder what they have against putting a independant observer onboard? They could not be abusing the rules? Noooo, not a comm fisherman, these are good guys.