I can't see the video on this computer and I am sure it would disgust me... However, I also agree that the commercial harvest pails in comparison to the rec. harvest in terms of #'s of stripers.

In 1999 the rec harvest was 6000 metric tons and the commercial harvest 3000 metric tons. In 2005 the rec harvest was 11,900 metric tons and the commercial harvest was still 3000 metric tons.

Probably comparable to a good day on upper Narragansett Bay this past June when the menhaden blitz was going on.
The seiners have a quota - when they fill it it's over for them. I used to get upset over this but not anymore.
DZ

are all of the guys freaking out opposed to all commercial fishing?

This doesn't bother me at all. very slow , very inefficient.

I would wager that the take in this three day season is a drop in the bucket compared to the Mass. comm season.

And neither of those are even on the same chart if you start comparing to what mid-water trawlers are doing to other species.

But I guess only us rec.'s are allowed to eat striped bass....

THINK

It's a 3 day season down there. All of the fish kept have to be tagged. Their quota is a little more than half of Mass' quota. There are commercial pinhookers up here who can put 800 pounds or more in the boat in one day. Multiply that by a full season. The discards left on the beach are troubling, but what about our release mortality up here, rec and comm alike? Some fish eat a broken off loaded pogy that was used to yo-yo. Some obviously survive and grow--others die. What's the percentage either way? How many comms and recs drift live eels, and let the fish run for a 10 count before setting up on it. How many of those fish wind up gut hooked? Fish under 34" will eat an eel, and can't be kept commercially. Some of them die after taking an eel, or another live bait, all the way down. When you're fishing for the dollar, even as a pinhooker, you often don't spend the time to properly release a short fish, as time is money. How many pinhookers cull? It's illegal, but are you all so naive to think that a guy will release a 30 pounder instead of dumping a 35" fish already dead in the box, when the one he just caught is worth twice the money?

It's an ugly method, I'll grant you that. How much cleaner are our hands?

Thank you.

and to reply to bassdawg, If i had my way we would only be allowed to keep schoolies and fish over 40 lbs..

schoolies are good because there are more males in the bunch.
over 40 is good because they have had dozens of opportunities to spawn.

Yea, and damn river's don't help much either.

FYI...
28" limit and 50 fish total .......more in HTML

NC rules and regulations regarding commercial beach seining...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

These are the penalties for those that break the commercial laws.... in PDF

IMHO it's a bloody joke...

How come pictures like this don't get people outraged. More fish are most likely killed and for what? A picture on the wall and to feed the neighbors. Although i do agree, filming anytype of commercial fishing especially of the beloved striped bass should be a no no, gets everyones panties all up in a bunch

wasn't there a truck commercial a while back where the guy was fishing from his pickup truck and landed his fish by driving up the beach with the rod hanging off of the back of his truck hauling the beast out of the water? maybe it was a beer commercial, this is the exact polar opposite of "skishing", a brand new extreme sport, "liquored-up hillbillie pickup truck fishing"....don't they have piping plovers in NC ?

DZ-

I was thinking the same thing when I saw the video - probably similar kills when the pogies have been so concentrated in our own Bay the past couple years.

Wish they would make the law the same right up the whole striper coast .. I didn't keep 1 fish this year . Makes me mad our conservation effort lining that guys pockets . I'm sure this video is just the tip of the iceburg ..

Stupid Question....but...How do they know what the Recreational guys takes are on a season. I keep a couple and never fill out paper work or talk to anyone.

How can they say how one season the Recs took this many pounds and the next season they took that many pounds....I really am curious as to how they arrive at the numbers

They don't know but they need someone to blame and guess what? We're the someone's!

Well, I've seen the video and I guess my overall perspective has changed over the years. 10 years ago this would have definately made me sick. Now I just look at it as a small scale commercial fishery by locals who make some of their living the way its been done for generations down there. I was actually suprised at how it didn't bother me at all. It is nothing compared to the volume in the haul a salmon boat takes. Nothing like the impact of shrimp fishery due to its bi-catch rate. Nothing compared to the rec. harvest on stripers over a season. The damage from deep sea dredgers... shark finners... there is an enormous amount of problems I have with fisheries, but I honestly am not exactly sure what is so disturbing about these videos. People that don't fish like to eat stripers. They have to be caught and the methods in the video do not seem like an unacceptable way to catch em... I'll watch em again and see if I missed something...

I just read the regs. It is... annoying that the min. is 28" and that there were alot of dead shorts in there, but that is how fisheries work. It would be great if all netters were required to keep everything in the catch and count it toward the total, but I don't see that happenng. For perspective, each 1 lb of shrimp results in 10lbs of dead bicatch. I don't think the striper netting in the videos is anywhere close to that.

Take all the fish from the striper cup (clubs, pins, weekly), pile them up on the beach, and whats the difference?

IS THAT EXTREME RED NECK FISHING OR WHAT???
SICK!!!!!!!!!!

You know living here in this area about 30-miles as the birds fly from this beach I can say that the fisheries management in NC is by far the worst I have ever seen. This area thrives on commercial fishermen and most of the politicians have roots back to it so whatever they want goes.

I wont claim to know the statistics because I dont but I honestly dont see how 3 days a year of this is any worse than THOUSANDS of rec fisherman along the east coast year long???

I think there are a lot of people here that need to get over their holyer than thou attitudes over killing stripers.

Here is a reply to a letter written about this to the NC environment people :

I got this message from the NCDFM:
Dear Mr. Schlesinger:

Thank you for your e-mail. The footage on the Youtube video appears
to be the commercial striped bass beach seine fishery that was opened
on Jan. 8, 9 and 10 and primarily takes place in Dare and Currituck
counties and yes, it is legal. Each beach seine operation is allowed
to keep 50 striped bass per day. The entire commercial striped bass
ocean quota is 480,480 pounds per year, divided by the beach seine,
gill net and trawl fisheries. This quota is set by the Atlantic
States Marine Fisheries Commission. The level of the quota is set to
allow the fishery to be sustainable

The recreational season in the ocean for striped bass is year round,
and anglers are allowed 2 fish per day at a 28" minimum. In 2006,
recreational fishermen landed approximately 2,112,024 pounds of
striped bass from the ocean.

As you can see, both user groups have an impact on the fishery, but as
I said earlier, harvest levels and methods are managed so the stock
will be sustainable.

Sincerely,
Nancy Fish

sincerely
 

Nancy FISH :jester:

guess seems to be the operative word

My only problem with it is the method, not the numbers. It is the striper equivalent of longlining, which is an indiscriminent and wasteful method of fishing that kills lots of things other than what is targeted and legal, to no purpose.

If the season is open the season is open, but no need to whack dozens of shorts in the process of getting your fish.

On a totally different point....how sick is that that they can throw a line like that in and have a fish on every hook, many that are sizable, from shore? Fishing must have been sick down there.