Scup poaching
 

Dropped wifey off at Mass Maritime Academy to volunteer for the charity bike ride yesterday. While turning around, I noticed an asian lady working a fish on light gear. She lifted out a large but sub-legal scup put it right in the 36 qt cooler that was packed to the top with illegal scup. Must have ben more than a hundred in the cooler. Watched her husband also catch a couple both around 4" and right in the cooler.

Wanted to call but didn't have the number. Can someone put up the EPO number?

Mass Environmental Police
800.632.8075

Call local police, too to hold them there until EPO arrives

I just had a similar situation. I called on a guy selling sub legal stripers to a Chinese joint in Fall River. Went well, they got right back to me and followed up on the complaint. BUSTED!!!

Good job Spud!!!

poaching makes my blood boil. I was fishing the bridge with the boys a couple of days ago and someones kids show me a cooler with a bunch of tiny stripers in it. I give the parents the speech and they give the standard answer...didn't know the regs. the guys on the other side of me are putting shorts in their bucket too. it pisses me off to no end that plenty of people fishing just don't give a crap about the regs. we filled in the harbormaster at the end of the pier. it seemed to be the highlight of his day

Last weekend I was fishing ocean drive at night and found a pool on the rocks with 6 small scup, 2 still alive, and 4 dead skates in it. Obviously the losers were tired of the "bait stealers" and wanted to kill them so they could get to the bigger ones. Some people just don't get it.
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If you have a cell phone on you to call , why not call 411?

Great point!:smash: I have it in my phone now. Suppose I could have google'd it too...I was going to educate them but I could tell that no speak a engrish...They were definitely "dinner fishing"

I'm going poaching in an hour!
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good luck poaching, if you need some spots let me know

Pm them to me. Tonight sucked
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Bass guys are using undersized scup as bait and they (the EPO'S) do not do anything about it. Every single day I saw a couple of charter guys filling live wells with scup of all sizes for bass fishing close to shore, there was a guy fishing in the ferry slip for them...every day!!!. I called them and no one came...not even a return call. I left several messages never spoke to a human.

Enforcement is an utter joke. I can not even understand why they make laws they can not and will not enforce. And...even if they do nab a poacher...the punishment is a slap on the wrist minor fine. It is laughable.

IMO. you need to catch them and take away their right to fish commercially (either selling fish or chartering) on the spot... for life, on the first offense. When this happens you will see all the others fall in line quick.

Its one thing when you do not see any pro active patrols against poaching, but its an entirely different story when someone calls, leaves thier name, and no one shows up. Thier is a minimum standard thats not being met by not responding. If they dont come when called maybe they need to be replaced or worse, disbanded. Police are charged with upholding those laws as well.
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I had a guy tell me the other day that a EPO guy stated to him that the guilty persons he was looking at, were a asian, no speak english, and 10 of them doing the same thing. with no lic., said what am i going to do and did nothing!!!!!!!!!!

Can someone explain the SCUP "Special Area Provisions"??? Are they simply lowering the size limits in the hottest poaching spots to curb them having to take action? Gotta be 10" under the Sakonnet bridge but not at the Stone Bridge??? No wonder Grinnells has been packed w/poac...errr people.

Thank God I like them pan-fried and not poached. :drevil:

a little off subject... but i was looking at a security detail of two state police officers
at some road repair spot with high traffic...
who are there to provide trained observers in case of an accident.

Both of them were staring downwards at their cell phones....

i think there are many people doing this ....not just in law enforcement....
but in any case... they ain't on the job !

They eat what they catch I understand its not legal But where can you catch legal scup from Shore ..

also commercial scup 2013 MA Quota: 1,978,050 lbs
MA Landings*: 283,986 lbs I dont think there hurting the Scup stocks

It's the law. Don't make it a law if you are not going to enforce it. Stop trying to justify breaking the law.

As for this "but the quota" thinking...the commercial people love to keep going back to the quota, the quota but the quota. The problem with the quota is many of the FISH KILLED ARE NOT PART OF THE QUOTA. Yes, there are legal fishermen who properly report landings, but many many fish escape the being counted towards the quota. For example, there are fisherman selling filleted bluefish , loin-ed tuna, comm undersized fillet bass, Tog (live and dead) directly to restaurants who don't even have a permit to buy directly from fisherman. This goes on every single day. NO ONE is checking where these restaurants got their fish and backtracking who sold it to them.

The "Quota" is a joke and in fact there is an incentive to sell it under-the-table (even beside tax reporting) ...it is not recorded toward the quota therefore it keeps the fishery open that much longer. The DMF is naive. When you see draggers going up the sound in search of squid or fluke as they say...they do not report bass. But there are rec bass guys catching them right near them. Gee...where do these fish end up? They ain't tossing them back alive... They can't sell them legally, but there is a market for them. There is so much wrong with fishery management today I don't know where to begin.

Way to justify people breaking the law and hurting a fishery.:smash:

Breaking the law is one thing and if that upsets you then fine, take it out on a bunch of immigrants.

As for hurting the fishery.........have you considered that killing a single legal #30 bass ( a female that produces millions off offspring each season) likely harms the fishery more than poaching a hundred small fish (that are primarily males)?

Small time poaching is much less of a problem for fisheries than the legal ethic of recreational fishermen that encourages keeping large fish.

I have considered what the effects of killing legal bass are, but I can't find anywhere in my post where I said anything about killing bass. Could you point out to me where I said I'm for killing any fish legally or illegally?

My point was more about justifying any poaching whether it be scup, bass, eels, etc... Maybe I should have been more detailed in my post. Why should it be ok to poach one species but not another? To me, poaching is poaching. There are regs in place for a reason, whether you, me or anyone else agrees with them.

And please, George, find a post anywhere in here that I've ever made about poaching and immigrants. If you think that poaching is only done by immigrants, you're pretty small minded. I don't believe that's the case, but your comment sure speaks to your thoughts on it.

Completely agree with this part. As others have stated, the enforcement is such a joke that you can get away with it on a state pier? This is the problem that allows the exploitation of species that need protection. Why not say kcuf it and go back to fishing herring, i mean, what's the big deal. Does it make it more acceptable if I eat the ones that I don't use for bait?

There is a legal ethic that encourages recreational fisherman to keep large fish? :huh:
I didn't know that

I thought ignorance of the law was no excuse but somehow people don't seem to apply that to fishing

I was going to bite my tongue but its a rough day at work and I lack self control.
For generations, wops, kikes, jews, etc (aka your grandparents and great grandparents) fed their families by fishing, hunting, etc. Your families so depleted the population and poluted the rivers and ocean that we now have extreme regulations on taking fish. As a result, we criminalize new immigrants, in this case (and 99% of every poaching thread on the internet) Asians.Yes folks, its the "no speaka de englis" population that put our fishery in bad shape. Its the folks taking fish to feed their familes, boil the heads and guts for soup that are really hurting us. Some jackwads with $900 reels, $400 wetsuits out there killing 40, 50, 60 lb fish that are the heros. Hey its legal!
I'd rather people keep small scup than rely on food stamps and government hand outs. What happen to teach a man to fish and he eats for a life time? Fishing is a leisure activity to me. I am lucky enough to have plenty of food on my table. While I dont condone poaching, I understand it. And dont be upset when the "no speak de ingles" crowds kids are getting the scholarships and your kids are left out. Its the hard work and sacrifice that their parents taught them that are putting those asians in most of the best schools in the country and the best jobs!

Seems to me that once you start adding "special exceptions" to the regulations you have pretty much said "The law is useless because we can't / won't enforce it because of some special interest influence."

Make a rule and stick to it.
Charge a fee/license and use the funds as intended (supposedly for more officers for more patrolling enforcement).

Once again, the powers that be have shown that they were born without a spine and without any balls!

No wonder why poachers give you a "you can't touch me" attitude when they know we LEGAL anglers have no real power except to call the EPO's and hope they show up and hope they will enforce the laws.

I buy my licenses every year with the presumption that those funds will be used as they were intended, but they I hear stories of waste and apathy and neglect and I wonder why I bother???

Hopefully things will change, but I've got a better chance of seeing a Republican State Senator in Mass.

We've got a better chance of meeting Richard Simmons son than electing a republican here...

Hahahahahaha! That just made my day.

I don't give a flying crap what anyone else does anymore legal or illegal!!! I abide by the laws set forth and I do not appreciate it when people bitch about people who take what is rightfully theirs under those laws 30# striper or 30 inch striper!!! People are going to be ignorant MF'ers whether you try to educate them or not or whether you call the authorities or not so I say......screw the bull#^&#^&#^&#^&.......I just do what I am required to do by law!!!

As far as someone not speaking english to leo's for whatever reason, I always found that once they were at the station handcuffed to the wall thier language skills improved dramatically. Any officer who refuses to do his job when called should have a formal complaint lodged against then. At the front desk of every law enforcement headquarters/station by law has to provide that form when asked. If I ever didn't do my job because of a language barrier I would have received a no frills, no pay, five days off with no recourse. Why do so many people here expect do little from EPO'S? Make them work or disband them entirely.
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As George has explained,everybody can justify what they decide to do with a clear conscience,legal or illegal. It is a valid point to some and that is all they care about. I say open the gates and take what you want and if it is indeed illegal then step up and face the consequences. Jimmy is having a bad day and is married to an Asian so he says let them feed their families.Larry caught his PB and killed it so everybody kill their PB.George used to have dreams of catching cow bass but can only catch shorts so he says kill shorts and let the big girls swim. All of these scenarios happen on a daily basis but only Larry has the legal right to his possession. The other examples are halfway between Candyland and Chutes and Ladders.As for scup;keep them alive in 5 gallon buckets and toss them overboard when the EPO's show up.How many do Captain Leroy's slave ships kill every day?

This

I like this guy...:love:.....DEM is hiring if you need a job up this way, you can put me down as a reference // permission granted > :buds:

Seals cormorants Commercial guys do more damage than anyone on a white bucket .. their just an easier target we all want EPO to enforce the Law how many a square Mile are there and how many of them.. we had pogies north of the brightman street bridge Good fishing 1 day pogie boat shows no pogies
fishing sucks . balance there is no balance

"Our families worked hard for this country. The owners of those companies polluting our waters had nothing to do with it, it was the working class Mannys fault. "

Dont worry, the owners of those companies will soon be Asian.

WOW!...that was very interesting reading...:uhuh: I prefer Chutes and Ladders to Candyland...just for the record...

GIDDAYUP!!!!

Funny how several of you see more of a problem with those of us who abide by the laws than with those who do not?? This is why things are so screwed up and.....why I could give a flyin' fahoobee less what others do anymore! I am out there for me.....to relax and enjoy myself! Life is too damn short for the BS!

Poaching=stealing
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Apologies to fishbone. I was speaking to the tenor of the thread in general rather than anything he specifically has posted about striped bass or immigrants and regret that my post implied otherwise.

Slip, I phrased it badly but my point is that an ethic of saltwater fishing has always been to keep and kill the largest fish one catches. It feels good to do it, we have all done it, it is perfectly legal, it is an entirely valid use of a public resource,...........but it also is a major harm to that resource and thereby hurts other fishermen. When the ethic becomes to catch and release the largest fish we catch (and yes I know some of those fish die) we all will be better off.

When people rant about poachers it is usually implied that they are hurting the resource. They are, but so are we who fish legally, enough said.

As for the bit about breaking the law, that might hold water if the poster never broke the speed limit or crossed railroad right of ways, etc. Since that isn't usually the case, protestations about breaking fishery laws are usually hypocritical even though they feel justified.

The other ugly side of this is the xenophobic emphasis. The fact that the ethnicity of the offender is often prominently described is unfortunate, since it shouldn't make any difference.......but obviously does to many of us.

Finally, I'm not claiming to be holier than anyone. I don't keep large (or short) bass, but if I get a large fluke or large seabass I don't care about the resource one bit.......I'm keeping it. Likewise, I don't fish live scup, but if I decide to I don't plan to carry a ruler. And when a bunch of guys show up drifting seaworms both sides of me at Nobska and force me off my rock I have no problem referring to their ethnicity when I bittch about it later.

^Bump.

Though I have seen too many instances of "Americans" stop their boat, target fish hits the deck, they take off. Same thing on the jetty and beach.

I release all my fish but if I think they aren't going to make it, I'm keeping it (rare). Usually a foul hook or they just are in bad shape for some reason or another and just won't revive in the water.

It is always infuriating to see illegal fish be taken, but sooner or later they do get caught.

Best thing I see is that we all do our part to help out, whether it's calling the officials or going up to the person and telling them yourself. I had to break my silence one night a year ago and warn someone as well as telling another person that the fish had to be tossed back.

Some people genuinely don't know the regs even if they speak English. Regardless what they speak, they understand simple sign language and numbers. Tell them how much it costs when the ranger comes around and sees that fish....

Though I'm not talking about conservation per se, more of a moral thing to me.

If I catch a legal striper (don't get to fish that often), I'm 50/50 on whether or not to keep it. It's a treat, puts a meal on the table, and I worked my ass off trying to catch it.