You know, it pisses me off when I am getting the boat put in the water, and I see striper carcasses on the beach near the boat ramp and in the water.. and some of those did not look like they were keepers at all.

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Can't they just friggin' at LEAST toss it in the trash barrels provided by the town of wareham????

I kind of feel that this is a double sided sword issue regarding the disposal of fish carcasses. I am not a big fan of seeing all the fish carcasses around the boat ramp when we put in/pull out, but I look at it in this sense. Due to having to take the fish home whole, you are now left with the carcass. If you are like me and have trash pickup once a week, a dead fish in a trash barrel cooking for a week tends to anger the neighbors as well as attract all types of critters. The choices are now limited to illigally dumping it in a trash barrel such as say a carwash, or taking it down to the water and continuing the cycle of life by feeding it to the crabs. Usaully, especially on the south shore of mass., the only access to the water is right at the boat ramps. So that is where they get tossed. They usually disappear with the tide. The crabs and birds eat the carcass. Now, if people brought them down and heaved them into the trash barrel at the local ramp, people would be complaininng not only of the smell, but the flies and the mess created by birds tearing the trash apart to get it. Plus I rarely see a barrel at the ramps that aren't overflowing. As for undersized looking fish, I'm not sure, but if someone is unlawfully taking them and then having the lack of intelligince to throw the smoking gun out of sight, that is something totally different.:smash: :af:

Same thing at the Monument Beach ramp,I don't know if they were dumped there or washed up on the ramp:mad:

Double-sided or not, disposing of fish carcasses at a boat ramp is like putting up a sign that says "let's close this boat ramp because people are dumping carcasses here and they don't appreciate our extending them the privilege of using our ramp"...

I'm positively sure many of you are creative enough to know how to catch a striper, and also be creative enough to properly dispose of your remains without offending the noses of your neighbors.. if not, you're not really trying...



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roll up the carcass, stick it in a trash bag, store it in freezer till trash day. I just bury the rack in the side yard. Buried one in the back yard last year then my wifes dog decided to dig it up and roll around in it after being in the ground for a week. (back yard is fenced)

tie the carcas to a brick and heave it over the side while you are out.
the crabs and bait will love you for it.

Just experienced the same today down at Cotuit...And I would say the majority of them were small !!!!!!! Another reason to give fishermen & woman a bad name...We dont need that..Dispose of properly please

what amazes me is the fact that you are not to mutilate the fish till you get home. this means that they are breaking the law..... if you live on the south shore I doubt you don't have a piece of yard that could benifit from the fertilizer. If you catch so many that you don't want them in your yard, you must be going out enough to bring it out and toss them overboard when out in the bay;)

When I surf fish, I generally end up taking them home whole and deal with the mess at home. Frankly Its a pain, and I think that you should be able to clean fish at sea and bring home fillets. Charter boats do! Again, why is it that the laws don't seem to effect commerical guys the same? OH I guess they obay the law and the recs don't? (Thats BS we all know it)

Cleaning them at home is a pain and like someone mentioned...once a week trash pick-up means triple bagging and hoping the dorsal spines don't poke thru. (read: more plastic in the landfill) Week-old fish guts in the sun get pretty ripe. Putting them in the garden is not an option here...the skunks then the ravens will just dig them up and make a mess like you've never seen. I don't have my chum grinder fully operational yet but I am working that problem and it should help (somewhat) with disposal.

When on board, I plan to clean most of my fish at sea this year. They don't inspect anyways, never been stopped in 40 years and with cutbacks in marine enforcement I will take my chances with the constable.

I will bring home weigh-in calibler fish whole. But I ain't bringing home no 50 scup to clean.


I don't have too much of a problem cleaning them in a marina setting but this can get out of hand quick. Too many dead fish at the dock will pollute the water and cause other problems. Cleaning them at sea is the proper way to dispose of the fish IMO.
But the law says you have to take them home. At the serious fishing marinas at Montauk they stopped you from putting fish in the water near the dock a looooong time ago (it was causing real water quality problems) They have a dumpster next to a serious fish cleaning station that gets emptied at least once a day. Most marinas have weak facilities in this area and discourage cleaning of fish. Frankly if it is done right, there is little smell.

I bet if you dropped off the remains at the voting members home the laws would change real quick. (just an idea):yak: