DMF
 

The filling of Com quota’s for several species are way down (again)
Soooo, why put those fish under more pressure ? If stocks are down, lay off!

https://content.govdelivery.com/acco...letins/2998c05

That would be smart reasonable and long term management, what are you nuts?

Just emailed... absolutely ridiculous.

Yup, in the final analysis they are going to open the comm season for 7 days. They won't catch anymore in 7 days than they do in 2 days because there is nothing to catch. DMF are the Stupidest bastards on the planet.

Then we'll just need to go to 8 days, or 9.

Amazing logic. Can't fill the quota... add more day.

How can DMF on the one hand look to open more commercial days to fill the quota while at the same time initiate a release mortality study on circle hooks to better estimate actual harvest numbers with conservation in mind? Here are the details on the study: http://www.thefisherman.com/index.cf...2&ParentCat=19

Maybe I missed it, (and before you read on make it known that I do not feel in any way, shape or form that the SB population is fine and I have never been involved in commercial fishing legally or otherwise) but I rarely see anyone bring up the point that while the commercial harvest isn't being met, year to year it seems like commercial anglers are given less and less legal time on the water between reduced days, reduced bag limits for shore-based anglers, reduced shoreline from which they can legally fish (canal) and so on. I mean, shouldn't perhaps the quota be adjusted for available days on the water? Meaning if there are now only 2/7'ths the legal fishing days as compared to the date range used to generate the quota, then shouldn't the quota be cut by the same value? (I know this isn't reality but it's the kind of thing that pops into my head as I enter the 4th hour of another skunking in the surf.)

Did they not stop com fishin in the ditch because of poaching?

Should not be a pound quota...make it a certain time frame for commercial then whether its met or not shut it down! How difficult is that?

Game fish and smart slot limits, time to get smart.

Ummmm,,, probably wouldn’t happen but that scenario could exceed the rocket scientist’s estimated # to maintain the resource ...

Ray used to teach people how to use Autocad.

He’s pretty much a rocket scientist.
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Just recently got my boat in the water, have not sold a fish this year yet. I may or may not. Busy running charters on a friends boat.

But, just because you have a numbered quota does not mean you have to fill it. Leave it 2 days a week, if it gets filled, fine, if not fine. Just reference the last 2 years.....

I am not sure what the current boat price is but I know 3-4 weeks ago it was only $1 a pound. I am guessing allot of people don't fish when it is not worth the effort. And the whole covid19 thing has messed with the demand and price of many species.

Why go to 4 days and then 7 to get more fish on the market when the demand and price is low mainly because of the current state of restaurant volume.....seems it would be a waste of fish. Again, not just a bass issue, the tuna market is going thru the same issue this year.

I never understood why you let the comm harvest the breeders and let everyone else only catch a slot. Why not have everyone, recs and comms fish the same slot and leave the breeders alone. I think every one cooking and eating bass would rather a filet from a 30" fish that a 50" fish.

Many people say take the price off the fishes head....as in no comm harvest. But that is only the tip of it. That price includes tackle shops, plug builders, charter boats, sandwich shops and hotels for people who travel here to fish....the list goes on. So I guess the only answer is no fishing period for anyone. But really, it would never happen, what fun would that be....the golf course would be too crowded.

Life is very short, go fishing (responsibly), have fun and laugh once a while.

Hate to say it but this year the golf course is overcrowded and go to any box store not a fishing rod or tackle left on the shelves. Thankful for a the few local tackle shops that I prefer to stimulate anyways. Golf courses look like the canal on a moon tide.
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The secret is to golf early in thee day. Jeanne and I have been playing at 6:54 AM at our club. Almost no one on the curse.

Oh, and by the way, I have been surf fishing. My old haunts (Oakley, remember). I have been doing nothing. Riggies, plugs and soft plastic.

If your not out early it’s a double whammy, your dealing with slow play and hot and humid. Yesterday wasn’t to bad down cape with overcast until the 16th hole, otherwise even an early time wouldn’t have saved you from the heat.

You are making too much sense.. I have been saying this for years, brought it up at meetings until I hurled... falls on dead ears..small fish are better eating, there is less waste, and command a better price, they also have not run the gauntlet of life, a 20 lb plus fish is safe from most predators except man..

Quotas should be used to regulate, not just to fill pockets of a few.

Someone needs to come up with a viable way to record recreational catches, and dead loss, there is too much speculation, not nearly enough science...fishing logs/ reports would be a good start so would a tag system, just like Texas has with red fish..there are
Alot of fish up my way but few fisherman, I suspect, opening the quota to 7 days will smoke out a few that haven't bothered because it's hard to get the fish to a buyer ..but with the option of being open 24/7.. they will ice their catch, then deliver the next day after work..

It all needs to be examined, maybe a no kill moratorium needs to be implemented..maybe no fishing, artificial bait only.. it all needs to be explored, but until EVERYONE sits down like grown men and women and discuss this logically..well..it ain't getting any better.
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Yep. Until then is Deck chairs / Titanic

Here's a question. How did the moratorium get done in the late 80s?

Was it Chaffe as in John Chaffe not his idiot son? I think I will need to re-read #^&#^&#^&#^& Reynolds book Striper Wars.

Joe, I have written a couple of articles on the Tarpon/Snook fishery and how it got shutdown and is now a world class fishery. I think that the time has come for the commercial guys to target another species, not that that would help.
I am NOT saying the comms are at fault but if you take a price off the fishes head and declare a moratorium that includes everywhere and everyone, maybe we save them again.
At 73, I don't have a lot of years left to fish but I do have heirs and would hope there would be a fishery for them.

Everyone is culpable when it comes to money,as you know (youve got 10 years on me)..striped bass have a long and storied history, as both a game/ surf fish and a sorce of seasonal protien... I don't advocate one side or the other as the saviour or problem, I've been on both "teams"..but trying to look at the problem rationally, I think both sides can ( and should) put differences aside and do what is right for the fish...it is time for recreational reporting,its the only way to even come close to estimating how many fish are caught and retained or released, then the science of release mortality may be able to be more accurately estimated..

If this was 1980, I would never know there is a problem, we have fish of all sizes everywhere, people with the IQ of a coconut are catching large, so now the next problem,the 10 minute photo session while the fish suffocates..I'Ve seen more dead sub legal fish than I have in 20 years, party boats are chunking for those small fish( and killing them) no one can blame that on the commercial sector..mean while, I'm still fishing , releasing fish boat side without removing them(hoping Whitey doesn't come calling)..
I'm getting old too, each trip is harder than the last..I hope, this glorious fish gets the respect it deserves before I can't do this anymore.
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The Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act was passed by Congress in October of 1984, and it gave the Feds the authority to impose a moratorium on states that weren't in compliance with the conservation plan put out by ASMFC. Moratoriums were done by most coastal states without the Feds having to intervene. Mass never had a moratorium for either the rec or comm sectors. 1@36" seemed to satisfy the Feds.

As far as what Chaffee had to do with it, no idea. The bill was sponsored in the House by a Congressman from NJ. His attempts to get gamefish status for the bass later were all shot down by Gerry Studds, who chaired the House committee overseeing fisheries, and who got tons of campaign contributions from the commercial sector, especially in New Bedford which was part of his district.

I made a fu k in in post & either I lost it or it didn,t post .. this old stuff is worse than old :bs:

Can't make this stuff up, freekin' idiots!

Wonder how much fisheries stuff gets lost due to COVID

(Clammer - you only get censored for posting porn - usually ; 0 )

damn ………..forgetting almost everything …………. oh well back to dead #^&#^&#^&#^& ….>>pussy hunting >.:lama:

Mike, this is what I was referencing:
In 1981 Senator John Chafee (R-RI) became an advocate for striped bass obtaining millions in funding to conduct important research on the dwindling species which led (in 1984) to Representative Gerry Studds' (R-MA) sponsoring the Striped Bass Conservation Act in the House.Mar 8, 2018

Well you all know what DMF stands for!:bgi:

But NONE of it would have gotten legs had there not been the public health concern (high levels of mercury if I remember correctly.) The powers that be didn't do it for the bass, they did it for the humans who were too stupid to stop eating poisonous meat.