Dear MSBA Member,

There is once again reports by the Tuna fleet of a massive kill of large Striped Bass in the area east of Chatham. Video of this obvious commercial by catch incident can be found at the following web address:
http://www.sportfishermen.com/board/f186/disturbing-video-55702.html

On behalf of the membership of MSBA, I recently sent the following e-mail to MA DMF Director Paul Diodati:

Dear Director Diodati,

I am writing you to express the total outrage felt by the members of MSBA and the recreational fishing community in general regarding recent reports of a massive amount of Striped Bass by catch being witnessed by the Tuna Fleet while fishing "out east" of Chatham. As I have been investigating these reports, it is becoming clear that there were Mid water Trawlers in the area just prior to the discovery of miles of large dead and dying Striped Bass. I am sure that by now you know there is video of the actual by catch on the Internet and that video has literally had my phone and e-mail overloaded. The fact that this "may" be another by catch issue associated with the Mid water Trawl fleet makes the situation even worse.


To be clear, whether this by catch is truly coming from the Mid water Trawl fleet or from the boats of the twelve disciples themselves this ANNUAL SLAUGHTER OF STRIPED BASS MIGRATING SOUTH TO SPAWNING HABITATAT MUST BE STOPPED IMMEDIATELY. ANYTHING LESS THAN EMERGENCY ACTION BY DMF IS BOTH IRRESPONSIBLE AND UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!! I am contacting you today to formally request you use your authority and take some kind of emergency action to stop what will surely be further needless by catch of thousands of pounds of striped bass over the coming weeks.

I am also writing to let you know that at this point, after years of protesting this by catch with phone calls and diplomacy, MSBA can no longer sit by and wait for nothing to be done by DMF and other fisheries management agencies. The Mid water Trawl fleet has recently been involved in a massive Haddock by catch incident, has recently been reported as having predictable and significant River Herring by catch incidents, and continues to be suspected of "take" of protected mammals and whales. For years DMF has known of the annual slaughter of Striped Bass that has prompted this e-mail. It is time for emergency action and then vigorous follow up with the appropriate agencies. This dirtiest of all commercial fisheries must be severely restricted now.

In closing, I have recently been shown the e-mail exchange between yourself and Peter Baker of the Herring Alliance and need to let you know the tone and language in his original e-mail are an accurate description of the many e-mails and phone calls I am currently receiving. Please be informed the recreational community has no choice than to get very loud on this issue and point the finger at the DMF for once again allowing this massive and predictable Striped Bass kill to have occurred. Please give me a reason to not "attack" DMF over this issue.

As always, I can be contacted via my cell phone to discuss this issue.

sincerely
Patrick Paquette
MSBA Gov;t Affairs

PLEASE JOIN MSBA MEMBERS AND TAKE ACTION TODAY---CALL MA DMF OFFICES (617-626-1520) AND DEMAND EMERGENCY ACTION

Patrick I just read your email and I got to say thanks man that was very well done. I do hope they stop this BS but knowing how these guys work somehow I doubt it.

It is certainly easier to ignore a bunch of agitated recreational fishermen, than to take on an important commercial interest.
Unless you can make it financially or tactically beneficial to an important politician to take up the cause, the DMF will continue to laugh at you. I think you'd have better luck trying to get a news organization interested in the story.........though I doubt they see striped bass management (or low level bureaucratic mismanagement) as an issue worthy of their time.

Thanks Patrick! You can't get it done if you keep your mouth shut guys!:kewl:

Unfortunately, since this occurred outside of MA state waters I think the DMF is powerless to do anything as they don't have jurisdiction in federal waters.

At least someone has finally captured some video of this event (which from anecdotal reports has been occurring for years out East) and brought it to the public's attention.

The pair trawlers need to be stopped as it is a fishery with a devastating amount of bycatch.

Kudos to the MSBA for taking a stand and pointing out how this pair trawler bycatch is a terrible waste of OUR (the public's) resource.

It seems this by-catch problem has been going on for quite a few years now. It would be hard to tell these trawlers they can't fish - might be better if the state allows this by-catch to be landed and applied to next years mass comm quota. Another option would be to put aside a portion of the mass R&R comm quota and fill it with this by-catch. A dead bass is a dead bass. At least this by-catch wouldn't be wasted. If it's going to happen anyway we need to make sure its counted towards a quota.

DZ

If Gov. Patrick wants budget cuts lets start with Diodati. A big ticket item thats not doing his job! He's more interested in protecting commercial interests than the resource. This issue will not go away as fast as the river herring have. Start calling your reps state and federal. If not we'll be back to the 80"s again with less fish. By catch my butt the comm saw a good set and he took it not knowing what it was. Lets start off the week by pissing a few people off- call!!

Patrick can you verify that telephone number please I get a fast busy on my landline and my cell says cannot be completed as dialed.

The number looks to be correct. You can find some more direct numbers and emails here:
http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dmf/contactinformation/con_index.htm

This by-catch slaughter is the result of federal f()ck ups in the management and coordination of the Marine Fisheries Service, the US Fish and Wildlife service and the Atlantic states individual responsible agencies (the DMF FOR EXAMPLE) one doesn't know what the other is doing and the impact each individual organization has as it promotes it's own seperate policies for protection of the species under it's jurisdiction.

Example A: seals and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Perfect example of how little research went into an act. They didn't know and still don't know what the historic level of population of seals was for the New England states when they enacted this act. My money says we have more than there ever was even when the native americans were here alone.

This simple screw up led to the overpopulation of inshore marine penipeds which ate all of the inshore primary bait species from flounder, cod, pollock, sand eels and just about anything in between.
Windowpane flounder for example used to be a nuisance while surfcasting Nauset to P-Town, when was the last time you even saw one?

The levels of sea herring rebounded and as there was not ample bait inshore the bass follweed thier noses offshore to it. Now the mid water trollers hunting the abundant herring are catching herds of bass that once swam the inshore surf on our coasts.

Atta boy Patrick, go get em'!!! Those people need a dope slap.

Want to save money on the budget? cut out the bird watchers on the back beaches and get the Martine Fisheries Service to start looking at real problems.

maby a phone call to the R.F.A. for a little more voice , every little bit will help in this battle .

I'm going to send emails and make phone calls. Is there anything else I can do to help?

Every year this happens out there. I saw the carnage out there the last three years and have pics somewhere of the end game of the draggers/trawlers. Sad really sad. This year there were fish floating that would make most proud to say they have caught. Destruction of a fishery for no other reason than money. It sucks.

Keepr and all,

I need every stiory in writing with dates and locations. I need any pic anyone has on a disk or hard copy with letters of permission to use. Anything with the actual boats in the pics is even. We (those that represent you) have something cookingthat will call major attention to this issue. Stay aware of what you see out there as this situational discard will continue for another month and soon you will all see what happens when certain forces combine to make real noise.

It seems this by-catch problem has been going on for quite a few years now. It would be hard to tell these trawlers they can't fish - might be better if the state allows this by-catch to be landed and applied to next years mass comm quota. Another option would be to put aside a portion of the mass R&R comm quota and fill it with this by-catch. A dead bass is a dead bass. At least this by-catch wouldn't be wasted. If it's going to happen anyway we need to make sure its counted towards a quota.

DZ

If this is in federal waters not only can't the MA DNR do nothing about it, but the catch is illegal and must be returned to the water ASAP. Only way it could be counted against any commercial quota would be if the feds opened the EEZ to striped bass fishing.

If this is in federal waters not only can't the MA DNR do nothing about it, but the catch is illegal and must be returned to the water ASAP. Only way it could be counted against any commercial quota would be if the feds opened the EEZ to striped bass fishing.

Thanks Mike - opening the EEZ could/would be an unintended consequence. I see RISAA is now trying to re-define the eez lines in Rhode Island.

Do these vessels have NMFS observers aboard? Maybe an FOIA(Freedom of Information Act) request to access catch records would help. If its tuna fishing I would guess its highly monitored? If we can find out how many vessels fish and how many days they're out there I'm sure there is some kind of by-catch formula that the fisheries managers use.

DZ

Thanks Mike - opening the EEZ could/would be an unintended consequence. I see RISAA is now trying to re-define the eez lines in Rhode Island.

Do these vessels have NMFS observers aboard? Maybe an FOIA(Freedom of Information Act) request to access catch records would help. If its tuna fishing I would guess its highly monitored? If we can find out how many vessels fish and how many days they're out there I'm sure there is some kind of by-catch formula that the fisheries managers use.

DZ

In years past the damage was done by bottom trawlers accidently dragging over a school of bass. whether is was a bottom trawler or a mid-water guy this time, who knows? Some boats have observers, most do not. Even if they did have an observer on boards, I think the records from idividual boats are confidential and not subject to FOIA disclosure.