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One of the saddest things I heard about the Canal this week from a reliable source is that a commercial boat angler hung around outside the land cut at the west end and managed to get his 15 fish limit by netting floaters.
I agree with Paul that you can't blame this all on the commercial - ahem, recremercials - but I do that some boat guys have been getting their 15 fish limit inside the Ditch by catching them and transporting them to the box on their boat. I've even heard some say that it is legal and there is one of these clowns who picked up over 450-pounds at Block Island when the price was high.
It just seems that there is an imbalance in terms of enforcement when it comes to what is going on in the Canal and what the boat guys do. Extra loads of 15 fish go missing and unreported when certain people get caught. As long as some of the EPO's are friends with rule breakers, then the system is corrupt. But then what in Massachusetts isn't?
As for stuffing extra fish in the rocks and bushes, it won't stop until there are laws with some teeth, in other words consequences, and they are enforced without interference from the courts. I need to do more research about how fishing violations are handled in other states, but a minimal fine just doesn't cut it.
Ultimately, if you're going to make laws and rules but not enforce them, then don't waste anyone's time making the laws.
As for it being too easy, I don't get it. Catching a personal best is something to be celebrated, but if that fish is killed and then wasted, as in going around looking for someone to take fish off your hands, well that's another thing. I will never say anything about it being too easy; looking back to when I started as a kid, I sure would have liked it to be easier since it took me a long time to catch my first schoolie.
Ultimately, what people should be concerned about is that there is such a large concentration of fish being harvested and poached, as well as released after being out of the water for five minutes for photos and videos or guthooked due to carelessness. Keeping a fish is not criminal; wasting one is.
And without tagging, I can't prove this, but I find it hard to believe that these schools aren't the same ones that are off P'town in the spring and used to in the bay around Sandwich and Barnstable, but are now in the Canal because that's where the bait is.
Does anyone remember when Gay Head had a fleet? Wasque? Cuttyhunk?
Fish aren't magically replaceable, period. Put enough pressure on any local population and watch is disappear.
And, please, oh please, don't mention the EEZ! I have enough of a headache as it is.
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