I think 1 @ 28" or greater achieves that balance
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Buckman, we are just not going to agree, and i accept that. I respect your opinion, and i just pray that years from now you were right and i was wrong.
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It's been a spirited debate . I think fish will be just fine .
25% should help immensely.
🍻
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It's still just another commercial grab for more of the resourse at the expense of the fish.No matter what the numbers there.s always some group trying to grab more no matter how bad the fishing gets. Why do some of you guys think they're working to shut down recreational and part of commercial cod fishing. Nobody stopped till it was too late.We are the problem as we don't work together till it's too late. 1 fish 2 fish 3 fish it don't matter. The fishing is gettin worse no matter how deep the hole you stick your head in. Gamefish will help. Cut backs n limits will help. But we need to stop cheating to get more at the expense of the fish.

Cod were doing just fine on Stellwagen Bank until Jane Lubchenco and her brilliant Catch Share system allowed draggers to completely rape the bank of Cod...that is a fact. It wasn't the charters and wasn't the recs, it wasn't rod and reel...it was the draggers and although I don't have a charter business those charter guys and us rec guys got a bum deal with that...so all the blame for Cod is not on Recs or Charters, it's on mid water trawlers, sector boats etc being allowed by the government to come up here and wipe out Cod...many of these boats aren't even from anywhere near hear and their ports are far away...blame catch shares, Jane Lubchenco and the government for. that...
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Catch shares sounded really good on paper. Far less discards. But I see why it failed.
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Its doing a number on the winter Fluke off of RI .we are starting to see the results :soon:

Buckman, I also respect your opinion but I too do not think the bass are going to be fine and it's not about us. It's really about what's happening, as we speak, at Oregon Inlet. Chesapeake Bay, Virginia with trawlers.
Hell, I'm 67 and have caught more fish than I probably had a right to. I want to save the fish for the future generations but I really don't have much hope. For every fish we C&R in New England some a ssh ole in Virginia or DE or NC kills.

Why do some of you guys think they're working to shut down recreational and part of commercial cod fishing. Nobody stopped till it was too late.We are the problem as we don't work together till it's too late.


Is this a joke ???

So what will be different. Two fish will push us further towards a collapse. Even the scientists who will ultimately have to review the "state" requests will tell you the original 2 @ 28" has only a 50 % chance of success. The charter, headboats and private boaters kill most of the breeders and there's no denying that. So I ask..If you were standing in a firing squad lineup with Joe Blow, just 2 of you, and the shooter had one round, would you like your chances ? Stop the political and greed based BS and get back to being concerned with the resource. No one is going to pay $600 to go bluefishing or chasing fluke on a sustained basis.

Sorry ..that 1@28".

What he said. After the bass are all gone, I guess you could take them cod fishing, oh, wait…….

It's just not that bad . Geeez
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So when I sat in at a bunch of the ASMFC dog and pony meetings the last few years, I wish I had your anecdotal evidence to shoot back at their scientist.
Where they get off telling us the female spawning biomass coast wide has been declining since 2006 is beyond me. And all these hypoxic zones the fingerling fish are having great difficulty dealing with is flawed science at best.
Nobody mistrust the government more than I, So I pray all your evidence to the contrary is true and the halcyon days of yore are just around the corner.
Because I sure miss those times !
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that's the biggest bummer of all this from my point of view....

I'm 49 years old-

I just hope like hell (!) the fishery recovers before I get too old to enjoy it again......

I cant stand winter, snow and cold weather.

when people ask me why I dont just move down south,
the one and only thing that keeps me in the Northeast
is my love for surfcasting for striped bass and everything that
goes with the outing.
If the striped bass fishery ever collapses, as it did in the 80's
I would seriously consider moving down south in pursuit of
warmer temps and a wider range of fishing opportunities
( at least when I retire)

i don't get the new math.....more equals less.

just thinking out loud here ( dangerous thing to do ). what if the charters sports got to keep 2 @ 28" but the capt and crew can't keep and/or sell any? the charters get their clients and the clients get their meat going by their argument for 2@ 28".

I am retired and there are only a couple of things keeping me around here. My fishing friends, family and Stripers.

It's not one of the available options.
According to the asmfc's math in order to keep above the 25% reduction, with 2 fish, the minimum size must increase to 33"
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y25...psbi5frcos.png

If the numbers are correct for the 2011 year class, this option while allowing for harvest of 2 fish per angler does offer some protection of the 2011yoy. But it does allow for the same amount of removal of fish larger than 33", which includes the current SSB.

Just out of curiosity, those that fished the cow party at block, was that body of fish predominantly 40# fish? 50#s? 60#s? Smaller? Mixed sizes? Similar sizes? Mostly one size with few larger ones mixed in?
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That might be part of their reasoning? Or fuzzy math?
Going to 33" totally removes all year classes under that size from the equasion
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Just a few comments:

Science tells us that, although bass populations have declined from their peak, the stock is in pretty good shape, they are not overfished and overfishing is not occurring.

It also tells us that the decline in populations is due to poor spawning success which totally related to the weather (not global warming), which we cannot control.

History shows us that when we get weather that is favors spawning success, the stock will recover.

I also agree that conservational equivalency, as it was used by the ASMFC is only a valid statistic when applied to the general population of recreational anglers. Theoretically there should be a conservational equivalency for the charter/party subgroup of recreational fishermen but we have no idea of what those numbers would be.

The charter/party fleet has a history of using conservational equivalent regs. for other species, scup, sea bass and tautog immediately come to mind.

So if any state adopts separate regs for the charter/party fleet, they should be restrictive enough to insure that they are the conservational equivalent of a 25% reduction. Maybe 2 at 36inches? I don't think the tables the ASMFC provided give us a true idea of what a 25% reduction for the carter/party fleet would be. All of the states can enact regs that are stricter that the ASMFC guidlines.

thats how this whole discussion got started in the first place.... the charter guys are pushing for MORE fish than the everyday, joe-taxpayer angler.... and they are pressuring their states' delegations to give them more.

not very likely that any state is gong to enact more restrictive regs in the face of that kinda pressure, right??

No, that is not correct. 1st of all it has nothing to do with RI's delegation to the ASMFC, its up to Janet Coit as head of the DEM.

2nd, Its my understanding that they are NOT pushing for more fish, just different regs for the charter/party fleet.

Charter/party boats already have different regs for scup, sea bass and tautog and it seems to work out pretty well. I don't see why it couldn't work for stripers, but I don't think that 2 at 33 is the right number.

Different regs for tuna also
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Public hearings have been scheduled
1. Striped Bass Management (322 CMR 6.07)

a. Commercial

i. To comply with recent changes to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Striped Bass Management Plan, DMF will reduce the commercial quota by 25%; and

ii. To address the unlawful sale of striped bass retained on closed fishing days, require commercial fishermen fishing on closed fishing days to mark striped bass that meet the commercial minimum size by removing a pectoral fin and prohibit fish with a pectoral fin removed from entering commerce.

b. Recreational

i. To comply with recent changes to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Striped Bass Management Plan, DMF is proposing to reduce the bag limit from 2-fish to 1-fish and maintain the existing 28-inch recreational minimum size; and

ii. Accept comment on adopting alternative measures for anglers onboard for-hire vessels to allow a 2-fish bag limit at a higher minimum size. Options include:

1. 2-fish bag limit with a 33-inch minimum size; or

2. 2-fish bag limit with one fish between 28 and 36 inches and one fish of at least 40 inches.



Public Hearing Schedule




Start Time: 10:00 AM

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Katharine Cornell Theater

Tisbury Town Hall

54 Spring Street

Tisbury, MA 02568



Start Time: 6:00 PM

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Admiral’s Hall

Massachusetts Maritime Academy

101 Academy Drive

Buzzards Bay, MA 02532


Start Time: 12:00 PM

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Nantucket Community Room

4 Fairgrounds Road

Nantucket, MA 02554

Start Time: 6:00 PM

Tuesday, January 20, 2014

DMF Annisquam River Station

30 Emerson Avenue

Gloucester, MA 01

thanks Mike

Option two for the charters may be a decent compromise. Still wouldn't slow the BI slaughter [if it happens again].

ONE FISH