Not about striper but......
 

Ok guys no bass here but sign and read please this is all bad.. With a capital bad seriously....


OPPOSED TO THE LISTING OF ATLANTIC BLUEFIN TUNA UNDER THE CONVENTION ON TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES (CITES) Petition

better than I can explain so copied and pasted....
 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but to all those who have not heard, there is a push being led by certain enviro groups to get bluefin tuna listed on Appendix I of CITES. A listing on CITES will be the end of ALL fishing for bluefin in this country- both rec and commercial.

For those of you who do not know, CITES is an international convention made up of 175 nations that deals with trade in "endangered" species. While any listing on CITES would stop fishing for bluefin in this country, the enviro groups are pushing for an Appendix I listing, which is far and away the worst listing you can have. For a species to be listed on Appendix I, it has to be "threatened by extinction".

While the primary goal of a CITES listing is to stop all international trade of that species, in a country like ours, it will do much more. If bluefin are listed, as just mentioned, they will be deemed to be "threatened by extinction", and in this country, that means no more fishing for that species. Some will try to fool themselves into thinking that this will not stop all fishing but they will do so at their own peril. This listing, if allowed to happen, will end the US fishery completely. If you think you will be allowed to go out and cause any kind of mortality on a species that is "going extinct", think about when was the last time you were allowed to catch and release a right whale, or a tiger. That sounds silly, but thats the category bluefin will be relegated to if this happens.

Worst of all, a CITES listing will shut us down, but will do little to stop the nations doing the overfishing. While in our country a CITES listing means no more fishing, you can bet your ass that is not the case in just about any other ICCAT nation. They will continue to catch bluefin and will do so without many of the regulations in place today. At the same time, Japan and other nations already fishing in the Central Atlantic will likely increase their catches to make up for any loss landings from nations like ours. In the end, as they always do, these nations will find a way around this.

But here in the US, we are screwed. If this goes through, we will all be finding a new job or hobby next summer. And since a listing is essentially permanent, you will have to find one to keep you busy the rest of your lives, because there is no going back once this listing happens.

Now, while we all know that the other side has been overfishing, I doubt there is a single person around here that thinks these fish are "threatened by extinction". Its a joke. We have so many fish around its amazing. But if this happens, next summer we wont be able to touch them. I dont know about you guys, but we have seen more tuna this summer than we have seen in a decade or more. Its so obvious that with bait we get tuna. To hear about this listing now is almost too much to handle.

Our government has a vote in any CITES actions, and so it is in the process of deciding what it wants to do. Just this week, the government put out a notice in the Federal Register asking for comments on this. I do not have the link in front of me, but tomorrow I will put out all the information needed to comment on this. There are a bunch of different people we need to bombard with letters if we want to help in saving this fishery. This is serious, guys, we all have to speak up. If we dont, there is a good chance we wont be fishing next summer (or ever again). We will have all these tuna off our coast and will be banned from going near them. I wish I was joking.

The other thing to do, if you have not already, is to join the American Bluefin Tuna Association. I am member and I would urge you all to join so that we have a united front on this BS.

Here is the link for that: Index

Again, this is not a drill, we are going to be fighting for our lives between now and March. We need to all get involved- there has not been an issue since most of us have been fishing that has been more dire.

,,,,and here we go again..let the U.S.A. anglers(both recreational & commercial) take the hit...while the central and eastern Atlantic is pillaged......EU & Asian countries will have a field day..............at our expense...never mind the increased pressure on the BFT........add this CITES activity to.......MPA's , animal rights, etc. etc.....................all fisherman of any pursuit grouping, better solidify an alliance to combat these threats that will attemped to "do away" with our established life styles.....yes, all fisherman are under attack.....

Thanks Trapperpierre.... Thats the point I have been tryin to get across...

Gonna buy my own LAKE
and raise my own fish
F- them :uhuh:

Unfortunately I have to admit that I think some restrictions are needed with regards to BFT, but the big problem is that they are so migratory that it would have to be world wide in order for it to work. Of course this will never happen. This is a big problem, really no way to fix it either.

Ok well then let them hit the list and NEVER fish for them again.... Period in this country while the others destroy the fishery.. Good plan...

I agree with this. It's better to do the right thing and continuously try to pressure the rest of the world to join in. Then one day we could all fish for the BFT once populations rebound.

Sea Flat and Bassmonkey your missing a valid point... ONCE on the CITES list it can NEVER BE TAKEN OFF :wave::wave: So if it goes on you will NEVER be fishing for it again IN THIS COUNTRY.. Not a untill it rebounds NEVER.... CITES is not temporary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So feel how you like but being a multi generational fishing family ( and yes my father and his 8 employees do rely on it partly) I am oppossed highly to it being listed as an endagered species..... So let it go on the list like you hope cause then we IN THIS COUNTRY WILL NOT NO WOR EVER AGAIN BE ABLE TO FISH FOR IT... But those othe rcountries will just continue over fishing it and suck up what the USA HAD for a quota and more....



"Worst of all, a CITES listing will shut us down, but will do little to stop the nations doing the overfishing. While in our country a CITES listing means no more fishing, you can bet your ass that is not the case in just about any other ICCAT nation. They will continue to catch bluefin and will do so without many of the regulations in place today. At the same time, Japan and other nations already fishing in the Central Atlantic will likely increase their catches to make up for any loss landings from nations like ours. In the end, as they always do, these nations will find a way around this.

But here in the US, we are screwed. If this goes through, we will all be finding a new job or hobby next summer. And since a listing is essentially permanent, you will have to find one to keep you busy the rest of your lives, because there is no going back once this listing happens"

No, I am not missing the point. I see your point and I agree with you that it would be unfair and just stupid for only the U.S. to be the ones not fishing for BFT. The BFT stocks would still not rebound due to the fishing that would continue other places.

I was just adding my 2 cents here that something does in fact need to be done, but only doing it in the U.S. is not going to work. This needs to be a worldwide thing.

My apologies for the misunderstanding, I thought you were saying letting it go on the CITES list would be a good thing..

If CITES is an international convention why would only the US be affected?? Is it because other countries will not honor the treaty? Wouldn't they become poachers if the world has banned the sale and hunting of tuna?

If there is a real reason to protect any species from overfishing, even at the expense of commercial fisherman, I am all for it. The commercial fisherman can find another job or hobby but when the species is gone they cannot be brought back.

CITES is international just we Americans are the ones who live up to it... Other countries IGNORE it and do it anyway...

Need to run a few torpedo boats in the mediterranean waters where they're net fishing miles of BFT and that'd be far more effective than CITES... :-P

:thanks::cheers2:

No worries, I didn't exactly make that clear in my first post either. I truly hope that the BFT's stay off that list. I just want everyone (worldwide) to start thinking long term and do something to maintain the fishery.