Whale on the Wall
 

A sad sight yesterday morning -- at 9:00 AM the Coast Guard were standing by a dead whale just a few yards off the East Wall in Point Judith. There was a gill netter busted off Block Island recently and they found a dead Minke nearby and a couple of seals in his nets. I wonder if this could be a similar victim.

Block Island Times - Fishing boat found with illegal gillnets off Block Island

Mike, interesting article and worth the read.

Block Island Times - Fishing boat found with illegal gillnets off Block Island

And these are the same guys that were bitching and moaning about the Striper quota. I was at the Fisheries meeting as was Clammer and Timber. The gillnetters made the most noise.

What a waste!

So what's the fine for not having the pingers on?

pingers to outfit 10 strings of nets... 10k folks.... My father just took the hit on them. Guy should know better. And please dont judge us all the same. We ( My fathers 3 boats) all fish bigger mesh then a dragger and its square so it does not compress and shrink like a towed net. We fish 12 inch mesh gear, We also do not fish that close in we are out in the canyons now. But riddle me this.. Why is other fixed gear fisheries can fish in a closed section but large mesh ( read Monkfish) boats can not, and are subsequently left to the draggers to get towed through. Last trip last week 9 nets GONE $2500 LOSS off the top..I am not crying about stuff, and I don't know what gill netters were at the meeting making noise either. And as far as seals go.. I am gonna make some enemies but reality, If you fish or live on the cape make your way out to the backside ( East I believe) of Monomoy and you can see about 25k of em lined up on the beach plus god knows how many in the water. Now tell me why you are not getting the fish you used to... Oh wait its that evil word that does not happen.. PREDATION... The Tiger Jo ties up in point jude seen the boat plenty. Don't know what he is fishing for or why so close in but hey I don't work own or have any ties to that boat. The gill netters must have been grumbling about ground fish.. I have one big complaint about current regs on us, If we catch x amount we CAN NOT come in till x amount of time passes. And there are no breaks for weather or anything else. It has been referred to as " Cod Jail" before but its all the same. Cross the demarcation line and lose your catch if time is not up.... Oh its blowing 30-60 knots oh well come in lose your catch.. No quarter no mercy for us from feds. Saltheart they could take his license if they push hard enough, More than likely you will see it turns into x amount of day tie up for boat and captain, In addition to some days at sea, and a big fine... In end itll be a tie up and MONEY... The nmfs just quadrupled the size of pinger required area this year, and have stated if you dont have them dont fish. But then said oh wait notice is to short so not yet.. Whales have always been a victim of fixed gear fisheries, They get tangled in the buoy lines and it is sad. The gear should have breakaway swivels. Again I am not on a "plight" or sympathy party here. Just stating the fact that NOT all gill netters are the same.

Josiah:
You know I am, and always have been, on the side of the commercial guys. I have no problem with those who make a living at sea. I have a problem with the gill netters inshore. It seems everytime there is an ecological diaster, an abuse issue or a problem with a species, these guys are involved. As the Fisheries meeting their policy was that they should not have to adhere to the commercial quota of 5 Bass per day. That THEY should be allowed to keep and sell every bass that ended up in their nets. Yep, that makes sense especially since the commercial bass regs state that it is rod and reel only in RI.

Paul I know you are. As stated I did not know what fishery they were talking about. You are correct sir they. Should be happy they get to break rules at 5 a day. We can't keep any. We also dont get many in our gear 60 fathom is a bit different though. Sadly enough I wonder how many realize this bp oil problem is killing off an bft spawn season seeing as they are or would be in gulf of Mexico spawning ummmm now...... again Paul your right they shouldn't be bitchin about anything if they get a 5 a day limit....
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

General Cat SB.....
 

...please correct me if in error..... in the great State of Rhode Island and Providence Platations---...about a decade ago, the Com RR SB quota was changed to "General Category"...which allows dragger caught fish to be applied towards the former exclusive Comm RR SB poundage at the rate of five per day per com licensed individuals(a while back, five SB per licensed individual was in effect..i.e. 5 Commercial SBB licensed individuals on one vessel =25 fish to be sold).-now, it is 5 fish per vessel for commercial striped bass in designated seasons)....also, in SB Gen Cat quota diver speared fish can be sold..........this trend towards "SB General Category", is considered by many, the first domino to fall in the reduction/elimination of the small time RR...with a desired move to privatize the commercial SB quota by several large concerns....also, many RR com anglers are fearing the privatization of the fluke fishery in the same manner-appears to be occuring.....:wall:

I am not sure TP. I believe that if each guy on the boat had an individual commercial license and there were 5 guys then they could each take 5 fish in a day or 25 fish. If 4 were crew members without commercial paper then I believe they could only take a total of 5 fish per day.

No, its five bass per boat during commercial season; as Trapper said, it was changed several years back, to try and nullify poaching/ hoarding fish by draggers,RR's, Charter boats, etc. It is counterproductive with high fuel prices these days....a couple of RR commercial guys could fish 1 boat to cut down fuel expenses.
All endorsement fish (fluke, scup, sea bass, striped bass) quotas are based on boat, not licenses.

Re; gillnets-gillnetters CAN NOT keep or fish for striped bass in RI...that is mandated by the State Legislature, not the marine fisheries council or RIDEM. The gillnetters have been trying for the last several years to get a "piece of the pie" at RMFC mtgs...that is a law that has to be repealed by the Legislature. Up until approx. 1976-78 (no quota limits back then) there were a few gillnetters working off of Deep Hole/ Mary's Bar for bass...a couple of guys worked the Bay for tautog, but there was so much bycatch waste that it was prohibited back then (or during the moratorium)...now most inshore gillnetters fish fluke, scup, sea bass or whatever else swims into their nets...but they can't keep bass to sell....

That is true for the federal licenses but for RI licenses I don't think that is correct. I'm pretty sure that two or three RR commercials can share a boat and all land their daily limits as long as they stay in state waters.

No, not anymore. The reg was changed maybe 4 or 5 years ago (I have held a Rhode Island commercial license since their inception). You can have as many anglers as you want (Rec or Comm) , but can only keep the commercial quota for the boat; that is why I am issued a License (credit card type) AND boat sticker...believe me, this reg gets hammered at during all advisory and MFC mtgs during the winter....it was changed as I stated above- because draggers and charter boats were taking licensed quotas for all people who held a license; in effect, if there were 5 licensed deckhands on a dragger, 30 bass would be landed, i.e., a mate and captain on a charter boat would sell 10 fish (plus have all paying charters fish onboard, also)....because of all the loopholes RIDEM changed it to a boat "bag". Local gossip has it that pilot sector boats deckhands were bringing in fluke and putting it on their logbooks as rod/reel fish (RIDEM SAFIS landings showed fluke caught by rod and reel in the winter...now you know that ain't gonna happen) this past winter.

As stated previously, I and others, would love it to be "licensed based quota" to save on fuel expense, but if the alternative is to keep the commercial fishery as "clean" as possible, I'd rather have it be the way it is now (boat based quota)......

Thanks for setting us straight. As I said, I wasn't sure.