First of all, I don not have and no one related to me has a license to sell striped bass, in any way shape or form. Yet, contrary to some believes I still support a commercial atriped bass fishery. I'd like to correct some misstatements;
1) the recreational striped bass fishery is economically more important than the commercial fishery.
That's true, but only on an overall basis, because the recreational fishery kills far more bass than the commercial fishery. On a fish by fish basis the commercial fishery has to be more economically important, if the commercials are fishing rod & reel they have to spend roughly the same amount as the recreationals, for bait fuel, etc. plus there is the economic activity generated by the sale of the bass.
2) 40 fish per day vs 1 fish per day. Would recreational fishermen be happy if their limit was also 40 fish per day but the entire fishery was shut down once a quota was met? Of course not! Look at the facts, recreatinal fishermen catch 4 times the amount of fish as the commercials, its just that the commecials catch all of their fish in a shorter period of time.
3) Stripers forever is some sort of pure organization that has no self serving interest. Who do you think gives stripers forever the big money? Sportfishing businesses that's who. You really think they are getting by on $25 donations, I have a bridge to sell you
Its all about money, its just that on the recreational side the money goes to the business that sell stuff to the recreational fishermen, while on the commercial side, most look at the money the fishermen themselves make.
4) constantly increasing commercial quotas. that's pure bull. Look at the facts, the commercial quota has increased ONCE, since the stock fully recovered and that increase only brought the commercials back to where they were before the original restrictions were put in place. If you look at the long term the commercial quota hasn't increased in the last 20 years.
5) The fish are a public resource. True, so why should the 99.9% of all american that don't fish for striped bass be deprived of the ability to enjoy them on the table? From an economics point of view all the commercial fishermen are doing is providing a service for the non-fishing public by catching the fish and deliverying them to their table. So now tell me why .1% of the population should be entitiled to 100% of a public resource?
IMHO the recreational catch should be subject to quotas just like the commercial catch is. It should be measured and the fishery shut down if the recreational catch exceeds the quota.