Cape cod canal C&R only question
 

Anyone see the possibility of CC being designated a C&R zone ?

just looking at it from a conservation angle .. would like to see a slot limit also not saying it could even be done legally

(environmental police ) can't inforce 1 fish rule on the canal now not sure how C&R could be enforced

not look to argue over the topic just looking for the pros and cons seeing we all have grown up fishing.. some in the bad times and some in the good times

Wayne, see my post about NC. They have shut down sections of intercoastal waters. The DEM of Mass could do the same. Never mind C&R. CLOSE IT!!!

Hopefully it doesn't get to this level. My friend sent me this from Hong Kong this weekend.

Good luck with that. So many people who sit on the regulatory boards for striped bass regulations are either commercial fisherman or poachers. The conflict of interests are so glaringly obvious. In simple terms, it’s like the foxes are designing the fence to protect the hen house.
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that will never happen ><.

The Canal isn't going to be shut down or made C&R as there is simply too much money being made (legally and otherwise) off that fishery.

I can't believe that after the latest stock assessment some people are still blaming commercial fishermen. Have yo guys seen this graphic of the 2017 catch?

What % of the fisherman are commercial vs rec? W/o that stat, the chart is meaningless.

I don't think it is completely meaningless. From a population perspective, it is all about dead fish. Who should be able to kill them is a subjective discussion. Recs kill the vast majority of fish; an enormous # of fish. Until that is dealt with, it is gonna get worse and worse.

I understand that a dead fish is a dead fish but to use that chart without including the percentage of rec versus commercial fisherman to try to make a point needs some clarification.
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I think the total taken commercially in Mass was 800,000#. Hell the lunatics at the Canal would kill that in 2 weeks.

The answer is quite simple. Make the Striper a gamefish, impose a reasonable season, impose a slot and bingo, the stocks rebound and our kids and their kids have Stripers to catch.

Of course, pigs will fly before that happens. Too much money involved.

Canal should be closed to fishing for at least a few years.... give fish a break, and will ultimately push fishermen to work for their 30's and 40's.

You think it is not work to catch a 30 - 40 in the canal?

What difference does it make if the commercial fishermen numbers are one or a million, they are only killing 10% of the fish.

Making stripers a game fish reduces the kill by 10% do you really think that would make a significant difference in the trajectory the SSB?

Slipknot:
Its "physical work" reeling them in against the current ...

Its not always "work" finding them, and thats what I was referring to.

(*That's my opinion... No disrespect to the people that enjoy
the canal as a format to catch fish in...)
I went to the canal for the first time last summer, and
It was ridiculous how easy it was to catch close to a dozen large fish...
The ease of it all made the catch fell less rewarding than when I would catch
a single similar fish out in the surf at 2 am. To each his own... But catching
trout on opening day in stocked pond doesn't make me feel like an accomplished
angler, even if the fight is fun.
And yes, I realize the canal is not always "on" , but those are the days I'm referring to

I can see the armada at both ends of the canal.... it will look like a blockade, making entry or exit impossible... No doubt that fleet would include everything from kayaks, canoes, and eight foot dinghies to the half million dollar sportfishing center consoles...


Not saying I am for or against, just pointing to possible outcomes. USCG would have to be onstation at both ends just to keep it navigable, nevermind pulling fishermen out of the water when their overmatched rowboats swamp, sink, or get run down

The difference is you are blaming the recreational fishermen without taking into account the % of each sector. If recreational fishermen are 99% of fisherman then they should be killing 99% of the fish.

Make it a game fish and a some of the problems are solved. Not all the problems but some of them.
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Most of the local rec's and newbies are lagit.

The Van's from Downtown Boston with the Asin catch and take EVERYTHING THEY CATCH and they leave more trash than at Woodstock!


Just my opinion.
5/0
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Always been curious to how they truly measure the Rec. harvest?

"Hi #^&#^&#^&#^& Little, I understand you target Striped-Bass during the season.. how many stripers did you catch last year?"
"To tell you the truth mam', I killed em'....probly couple hundred!"

How many did #^&#^&#^&#^& really catch?
How are the reported numbers justified?
Honor system?? :laughs: ....I can tell you this, 90% of fishermen that I've come across in my life stretch the truth...whether it's with their hands or their mouth.

The Canal is an anomoly.
When a big push of fish move in, so should a big push of law enforcement.
Regulations should be the same regardless the area....I'm still confused why size limits change for scup depending on the location?

this rec vs comm guys

full disclosure I have applied for my Comm Bass permit


i dont know many rec guys catching 15 fish a day and keeping their 1 and releasing the rest and not everyone who owns a saltwater license fish for Bass ... not saying every comm guy gets 15 but to get their size limit there going thru some fish..

But for comm guys to suggest it's everyone else impacting and rec guys to say the same thing about the comm guys... is not based on reality ... and id love to see how scientific that chart and where the data comes from.. i did some research the graph is based on the whole east coast .. here is some information from the site ... some issues for me uncalibrated MRIP catch estimates and this
commercial landings in 2017 include Massachusetts (17%) recreational landings by Massachusetts (16%) not sure how mortality rates are not the same or very close? in Mass at least ,, and this applies here I am sure.. Anglers continue to release the vast majority of striped bass they catch; 73% to 91% not a math wiz but how many would need to be caught to get 16% landing if 73-91% are released ??

The following recreational estimates is based on uncalibrated MRIP catch estimates: From 2007 to 2014, total recreational landings along the coast have averaged just over 25 million pounds annually. From 2015-2017, recreational anglers harvested an estimated 16 million fish annually, which can be attributed to implementation of more restrictive regulations via Addendum IV. Of those coastwide recreational landings, Maryland landed the largest percent in 2017 in terms of number of fish (52%), followed by Massachusetts (16%), New York (10%), New Jersey (8%), and Virginia (5%). Anglers continue to release the vast majority of striped bass they catch; 73% to 91% since implementation of Amendment 6 in 2003. The number of released fish peaked in 2006 at 23.3 million fish. Total numbers of releases have declined since then, averaging 8.6 million fish annually from 2008-2017. An estimated 12.0 million fish were caught and released in 2017.

Under Amendment 5, commercial striped bass harvest grew from 3.4 million pounds in 1995 to 6 million pounds in 2002. Since the passage of Amendment 6, commercial harvest has been managed through a quota system, with landings averaging just shy of 7 million pounds annually from 2003 to 2014. In 2015, the commercial quota was reduced through Addendum IV. Chesapeake Bay jurisdictions accounted for approximately 62% (2.9 million pounds) of the total commercial landings in 2017 (4.8 million pounds). Other primary contributors to coastwide commercial landings in 2017 include Massachusetts (17%) and New York (15%). In 2017, commercial harvest in the Albemarle Sound/Roanoke River (A/R) management area was estimated at 75,783 pounds and recreational harvest estimated at 101,131 pounds.





I still feel a slot limit is the best bet keep the breeder out of the food chain

How do you come up with 10% Mike? If it's a game fish and there is a slot limit and a closed season for certain times of year then the total take is correspondingly reduced. Your logic is flawed because you assume I'm talking just about comms. The gamefish status would apply to everyone and the slot and closed season would also apply to everyone. It also would have a detrimental effect on the black market. No more striped bass on the menu in all the Asian restaurants.

Listen, Florida did it for Snook and Tarpon and it worked. I realize that those 2 species are indigenous to Florida and Stripers are much more widely distributed but if it were species wide then geographic borders would be meaningless.

The Canal may be an anomaly but the SW Ledge isn't. The whole sale slaughter that takes place out there is crazy. The charter guys from Montauk, RI, CT and even MA make a couple of trips a day with a 6 pack on board. They all limit out on big fish. Take 1, 20 to 30# fish times 6 guys, times 2 trips, times the number of boats and you get the picture of the slaughter that is taking place.

It isn't a 1:1 kind of thing. If commercials are 1% of fisherman, they are catching for 1000's of other people. I guess it comes down to whether the fish, as a resource, should only be available to the person who is able/interested in catching it himself.

The spirit of Mako's original post is that some recs are quick to blame the commercial guys for the population problems and the data does not support that.

I think gamefish status reduces the harvest by more than 10%, but it wouldn't end poaching. It would be nearly impossible to police whether a restaurant is serving an illegally harvested or farm raised fish. Better that then what we have now, I suppose.

That crowd can go out of business far as I am concerned. Moratorium, followed by a coastwide slot would end that nonsense.

Both posts spot on Zimmy.

Anyone that keeps up with where the fish are and if the bite is on has the ability to catch 15 fish whether they are rec, comm or charter(rec).

Whatever action that takes place in the future needs to be coastwide, not per state.

Gamefish status does nothing to reduce the release mortality rate.

Not sure if the slot limit theory has been proven to help when you take just a certain age fish out of the mix every year. Maybe a slot limit that changes every year or 2 depending on the YOY data?

You guys all talk about the canal and SW ledge. IMO there are far more big fish taken down in Jersey and the VA area early and late in the year.

O.K. here we go, I'm going to try and dress each of these messages separately.

Making it a gamefish does nothing but eliminate the commercial catch, which is, according to the stock assessment (which is where that chart comes from) is 10%. The fish belong to everyone, not just the guys who pick up a rod and go fishing. The commercial sector catches the fish for the rest of the country that doesn't fish. Fact is that by eliminating the commercial sector you are reducing mortality by 10% while doing nothing to address the other 90%.

Here is an synopsis of how the rec catch is estimated, for more detail go to countmyfish.com.

There are trained state employees deployed throughout the fishing season (except for Jan. & Feb.) at point where they are likely to encounter anglers returning from a fishing trip. Those locations are NOT random, they are statistically selected to produce a statistically valid random sample. When the encounter and angler who agrees to be interviewed, they count and measure the fish in the anglers possession. They also ask about how many fish f each species were released. Those interviews are used to produce an estimates of the catch per unit of effort (CPUE) for that area.

Then there is a mail survey, which is sent to statistically valid random sample of addresses listed in the postal service database for the coastal states. That survey is used to produce an estimate of the total recreational effort.

Then the two are combined to produce the estimated catch. For released fish, and a huge amount of striped bass are released, the estimated mortality is derived from several scientific studies (one of which was conducted by Diodati of MA DEP) and is estimated at 9%.

That, in a nutshell, is how they get the recreational numbers. Basically the only thing they are taking someone's word for is how many times they went fishing and what they were fishing for.

Just FYI the terms "calibrated" and "uncalibrated" refer to a change in the methodology used to estimate the recreational catch. Originally the effort survey (see my note above) was made vis phone call. When they switched to the mail survey they got a much better response rate that was so different it called into question all of the estimates made in prior years. So they want back and reestimated (calibrated) the prior years to make them comparable to the estimates using the new methodology.