O.K. sure
 

ya......you just happened to know who to call with regards to the boats in the pic...........O.K. Mr. photoshop..........Sorry....Am I bursting your little anti-commercial Fishing hate bubble???? If it makes you feel any better thats americans working the decks of those boats......unlike the brazilians your paying to blow the leaves off your lawn.........:)

Photoshop? Are you implying that this is all a fabrication??

These boats are wiping out all of the food that larger fish eat, and they are crushing the river herring populations.

I don't know what your agenda is, but you are doing a good job of making yourself look foolish.

Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Every day I go to work I have to go by a set of rules and laws so that what I do doesn't adversely affect those around me and the rest of the public. I've worked on a gill netter and a trawler when I was young an dumb.The name of the game is to catch as many sellable fish as possible. What isn't sellable just goes back in dead unless you run across a foreign vessel that will give you a few bucks for what you can't take to shore.That is called by-catch. It can be controled but isn't because it will cost them profit.Most net boats kill a n amount of by-catch that at times rivals what they bring home to sell. There is where the problem lies.You can bitch ,rant and rave all you want about the comercials rights an so on but they do it ,it;s not controled and will continue to do it till what they;re fishing for is depleted so far that it's no longer worth fishing for then they'll go on to another species and do it again.Waste is waste. Wheather we catch a large striper and release it or take it home is only a very small part of the problem. BY-CATCH . If it isn't fixed soon there won't be much to worry about catching.At least those boats are out there in the day. Oh that's right no one else is on the water now to watch what they do with the by-catch. Ron

Anti-commercial? Hah. Right. Nice try.

And sorry, no brazilians here, just mexicans.

And you're quite behind the times, lots of mexicans on the boats now.

The landscape guys on most of our jobsites are Portuguese or Guatamalen.So much for the Brazillian theory.

I would hope so but I don't know if it can be done. I'm not sure the different groups cans stop bitching together enough to get on the same page.

Oh, everyone has a same page for others to get on and if everybody would just do that, everything would be just fine.

I don't know if we can get Clupea Forever on the same page as the Lobstahmen.

But I would love to see it happen.

Of course, some people are either in denial or just want to see others silk undies wad up.

Set up a special forum with password and have someone other then you hand pick those that will fight the cause and not each other.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Interesting thought but I think we here are a tiny, tiny piece of what needs to be put together, like less than 1% of the group needed to do what Patrick thinks. So if we here all (most) got on the same page, and worked with 200 other clubs, forums, organizations, etc...

I just typed this up.. Everyone is free to use this and send it to where ever you think it will help the most.

Also, if there are any errors, let me know and i will change or add to this...



Via Facsimile (INSERT FAX NUMBER)
NAME
ADDRESS
Re: Pair-Trawling for Atlantic Herring
Dear __________________:

I am writing to voice my strong opposition to the current fishing techniques used the the Atlantic Herring pair-trawling industry. There is strong evidence that the large Corporate boats are so efficient at catching these fish that they are dumping hundreds of thousands of dead or close to death Cod, Pollack, Haddock, River herring, striped bass, scup and shad, not to mention seals, and porpoises. back into the water after they haul their nets. What makes Pair Fishing so devastating is that 2 large boats find a school of fish and completely engulf the school with one net, thus capturing everything in that school, which consists of the atlantic herring and all of the predators who eat herring. The nets are raised, everything is dumped on the deck and any species that can not be sold is kicked overboard- everything that goes overboard is called ‘By-catch”
Myself and other people who are concerned about this technique are not opposed to the commercial take of Atlantic Herring, but are extremely opposed to this pair trawling technique. Smaller commercial draggers have smaller nets and can be more selective on how they approach a school of fish and the by-catch issues are much smaller. Furthermore, the ratio of fish landed per crew man is much smaller on a normal sized commercial dragger, so more jobs could be created if pair trawling could be made illegal.
I am not sure if you are aware of the current assessment of the North American River Herring, but over the past decade we have watched as their numbers that are counted at local herring runs drop by considerable numbers. We are at a point now were possession has been made illegal for these fish to allow them to recover. Their numbers have not been recovering and one of the major reasons for this is that River Herring school with Atlantic Herring in the winter before they migrate to the rivers in the spring. These giant Pair Trawling operations no not have the ability to scan all of the herring on the decks and throw back the river herring. As a result, millions of protected River Herring are being packaged and sold as Atlantic Sea Herring.
In closing, I urge you to take action against this incessant waste of our natural resources. Please act to eliminate pair trawling from state waters and to please help protect the local river herring and other species that are being killed in this wasteful manner.
Very truly yours,
#^&
NAME
ADDRESs
TELEPHONE NUMBER

You hit the nail on the head Larry.

Thanks Bryan! Possession of river herring is illegal in the state of RI. If those boats have river herring on board DEM should get out there and bust them and issue a citation for every river herring on board.

But one thing puzzles me, if NORPEL is shut down, what are they doing with the catch?

It is difficult to maintain momentum from anglers honestly. I think with the proper leadership and continued motivation to act anything is possible. You can't expect people to maintain intensity and be involved in every aspect of a management issue. However with direction and the appropriate people writing the letters many will at least follow through with public commentary etc. As you and I both know many of the meetings are poorly attended but many people will comment via E-mail or snail mail if the letters are written for them.

That being said a conglomerate of organizations working together to support the issue would speak volumes to the managers

I can whole heartedly say my club would get involved. I am certain the MSBA would get involved and is involved. I know guys from various Jersey clubs that may or may not get I involved. I could also find out if this is something the NYCRF would get behind.

I will send out some feelers and see how it works out. Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Guys.. The 2 pair trawlers that this thread is about have just gone out of business. :)
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Sucks to have more Americans out of work but they aren't helping anyone with the bycatch and blatant ocean raping.

Those boats put far more commercial fisherman out of work than they employed.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

And...
this thread was only bumped to bring Mako Mike up to speed :biglaugh:

there is a more recent thread about it.

and robcc :wall::wall: 4 months later that post boggles my mind....

Then it's a good thing they are out of business.Maybe the herring will rebound if they are left alone FOR REAL for a few years.:wall:

More Mexicans on those boats than Americans...

I sent an email to Tina complaining. I 'll let you guys know of any response I get.

I went down last night and saw a couple RI boats offloading herring.I did walk right up to the vac hose said Hi to the guys and asked what they were loading.I did not see any river herring,but I assume there are plenty in there.