I just got this in my mail from SNESA (the RISAA mailing list).It seems that the rod and reel fluke fishery in RI could be in serious trouble if this goes through..... " Boys & Girls,
The Rhode Island Commercial Fishing Association (RICFA) has introduced a proposal that, if adopted, will have an absolute and catastrophic impact on any rod & reel Fluke fisherman in Rhode Island waters, be they recreational or commercial.
The purpose of this proposal, as written, is to “maximize the profitability of the Fluke fishery through the decentralization of regulatory authority and further diminish the inefficiencies of quota management through the employment of community co-management and rights-based stewardship principles.”
What this smoothly crafted and well-versed proposal promotes is that period quotas be eliminated. Fluke quotas in the winter one segment of the comm. season and trip limits are much higher during this period, but draggers have to travel much farther to locate fish.
The objective of the RICFA is to be able to catch their historical poundage (which can range from minimal to thousands of pounds depending on past landings) at any time of the year with no trip limits. This will result in the draggers and gill netters waiting until the Fluke migrate shoreward, then scooping them along the beaches and in the Bay until they reach their poundage number. During winter months they are free to move on to something else. This will reduce our local Fluke grounds to barren as they drag, shoulder to shoulder, until completely decimate the population. This, in turn, will leave the rod & reel community without a fish to catch.
This is a blatant attempt to monopolize the resource for one user group. Furthermore, it is my understanding that the RICFA consists of a mere 40 members, including draggers, gill-netters and trap fishermen, giving them exclusivity even among those within their own industry.
As preposterous as this proposal sounds, it can certainly come to pass. If you’re not totally outraged by this situation, you should be. The R.I. Comm. Rod & Reel Anglers Assoc. is spearheading a drive to stop this aberration. They have printed and stamped cards to Mark Gibson, Dep. Chief, RI Div. Of Fish & Wildlife and Robert Ballou, Chief of Staff, RIDEM renouncing this violation of the rights of ALL RI rod & reel Anglers.
The RICRRAA has no agenda other than to prevent the doom of Fluke fishing in RI waters and any thought otherwise is truly misguided. This travesty will have a profound effect not only on the anglers themselves but also marinas, baitshops and any other businesses involved.Once the president is set, what species will be next?
The cards to the bureaucrats mentioned above can be obtained from me at Quaker Lane Outfitters and Kenport Marina in East Matunuck. Soon they will also be available at Breachway Bait & Tackle in Charlestown. Please give this matter some serious thought and act as soon as possible.
Catch’em up,
ThomCat"

"This is a blatant attempt to monopolize the resource for one user group."

Welcome to the real world. All Fishing is controlled by comm fisherman for comm fisherman, but they let the recs whine about it at a meeting or two, then do what they want in the best interest of them. In RI there is probably a mob element involved as well. There is no way to change this, it is a rigged game. I gave up. My only hope is that one day the higher political types clean the fish house.


MA is next with a problem.

NY is in real bad shape.

Comms keep on tr#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&....scraping the bottom from the bay out to the canyon. makes me want to :yak6:

Maybe the best thing to do is have no regs what so ever. Then when the fiish are to the point thay they are only catching 1 or 2 a trip they will have to find new work and get rid of thier boats. We can all fish for trout for a few years. :af:

I maintain a commercial Fluke lic here in Ma. Not that I want to make a ton of cash but because as recreational you get screwed!!
The limte for rec fluke fisherman is 7 fish at 16 1/2" But the commercial guys get to keep 14" fish!
Dragers are allowed 300 pounds a day and Rod and reel guys 200 pounds a day.

Dragers can keep 100 pound of Fluke as bi-catch during the squid season and they have a winter fishery for them also.
They are allowed to tear up all of Vinyard sound with there nets in the middle of the summer and do so from Lucas shoal to Gay head!!
Years ago they use to stay off shore to get the fish but since they fished that area out they have now come in shore!!

Now following what I and many others see as a slow year last year for the Fluke they want to increase that catch to 350 to 500 pounds a day! And want to start the season as early as May 15 instead of June 15.

They would also increase the Hook & Liners to 300 from 200 pounds.

All this with out giving the rec fisherman any thing!! they will still be at 7 fish 16 1/2" while the dragers are still able to tear up eveything on the bottom and the hook guys are all able to get a increase in pounds at the shorter 14" fish.

All I can say is that the rec guys need to go to the meetings!!!!! They need to speak up!!!! the comercial guys are organized and will get what they want if no one speaks up!!!!

They are had Public hearings on 3/21 & 3/22 I went to the plymouth meeting the 21st and I can tell you this, Not one person spoke up for the rec. fisherman!!

They are having a meeting on the 29th this monday for the Bass to drop from 30 fish to 20 fish and to make it 3 days instead of 4 day open season and they will also make opening day 10 fish limt.
All this to extend are season and to stop the glut of the market??
But they are going to allow the other states to sell fish here in this state April to Nov.
How is that going to keep the price up?? Mass fisherman will have to compete with out of state fisherman for the price!! And then the market will still be gluted ! Just not by Ma fisherman alone!!

I am going to stop fishing and start rasing Bull frogs for french resturants!!

I am going to stop fishing and start rasing Bull frogs for french resturants!!


mako, if that is the case can I get your MA comm fluke lic? :laugha:

Sandman, I am much like others!! I piss moan and groan, but in the end I am out there fishing all the time!! I love it and I love Fluking more then any other fish!!

I've said this a couple times on this forum and I still don't understand. :wall: Why do the commercial fisherman control the fisheries? Are there no biologists around here? On the west coast the scientist control the fisheries. It only makes sense.

Pt.JudeJoe post those bureaucrats name on this website, I'll find their e-mail addresses, post them, and everyone on this entire forum can spam the crap out of them.

:rocketem:

I've said this a couple times on this forum and I still don't understand. :wall: Why do the commercial fisherman control the fisheries? Are there no biologists around here? On the west coast the scientist control the fisheries. It only makes sense.

Pt.JudeJoe post those bureaucrats name on this website, I'll find their e-mail addresses, post them, and everyone on this entire forum can spam the crap out of them.

:rocketem:

oh my... the navy cheif is questioning government... He must have swallowed the purple pill... :boots:

look who is head of the EPA now.... same thing as the flounder industry and it makes me want to :yak:

You think it is bad here, look at LI (NY)...3 fish a day for recs and I think they had to go out of compliance to get that. Must be a b*tch to try and get 50 bucks a day for a head boat with a 3 fish limit. (Of course comm limits are not effected. :wall: )

Remember that comm fishery is metered more or less...recs they guess at the number of fish caught buy calling a few of us and extrapolating that to the millions of fishermen, talk about bad science! All I hear it is the best they got...but that doesn't mean it is any good. A couple years ago they said NY recs took WAY TOO MANY FISH and that this year might have to get shut down to make up for it. Well, the tackle shops and the charter fleets had a record POOR year...how can this be right?

Look at the facts....look at what comm fishing has done to the winter flounder. This is a regulated fishery by the same folks that do fluke. The winter flounder are nearly wiped out. What a GREAT GREAT fishery that use to be when I was a kid. (don't get me going about weakfish either)
IMO they should keep draggers and ALL comm netters OUT OF THE SOUNDS and all INSHORE WATERS.

:claps:

To all Massachusetts Rod and Reel Commercial fluke fishermen. MA DMF was holding meetings to decide if they should increase the bag limit or start earlier. Then they learned that the winter quota, historically 30 % was actually 53.5% of the total quota. That leaves 46.5% Instead of 70% to be divided between rod & reel and draggermen for the summer quota. This error was due to a discrepancy in reporting catches. I spoke to Paul Diodati, Directer MA DMF earlier today about this. All fluke fishermen should be acutely aware that your season is shrinking due to reasons that are not due to your "overfishing". Commercial rod & reel permits are frozen. As the present holders are dying, quitting, etc. our ranks are shrinking. If you want to continue this fishery, you must make your presence felt, either thru e-mails, letters , phone calls to the MA DMF, or to State politicians. Russ Cleary of the Commercial Anglers Association has been fighting for the rights of rod and reel fishermen. He can be reached at 978-461-0966.

maintain a commercial Fluke lic here in Ma. Not that I want to make a ton of cash but because as recreational you get screwed!!
:af:

I don't hold a comm fluke lic but it seems to me if you raise the limits you will get more, I got this in early DEC:


MarineFisheries will increase the commercial summer flounder (fluke)


possession limit to 1,000-lbs. on Sunday, December 5th.



This action will ensure that the state’s entire commercial quota is reached before year’s end while minimizing regulatory discards that may be occurring. Therefore the possession limit for commercially caught fluke will increase from 300-lbs. to 1,000-lbs. effective 0001 hours on Sunday, December 5, 2004.



The 2005 commercial fluke fishery will begin on January 1, 2005 with a 2,500-lb. daily trip limit.

They have not meet the quota in years!! That should say something right there!!
Instead on increasing the should be decreasing!!

Striped Bass meeting tonight!!!!!!

OK lads I just checked and found out that this idea of the changes can not possibly take effect in 2005.
All that happened is that the commercial guys requested that these changes be considered. This is their right.

If changes are going to be considered it has to go through a whole posting and hearing process. This is where your concerns are heard. This is your right.

So if you want to approach this correctly keep an eye on the RIMFC monthly agendas and organize and attend/write/email if you wish. Overreacting and not being organized is not going to help. This proposal is no where near a reality yet.
:rocketem: