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the economic impact of Recrational fishing for Striped Bass far exceeds that of Commercial fishing for Striped Bass. Bass for commercial fishing is not a staple bread winner but a time limited side game that few regular comms particpate in. Many of the "commercial" rod & reelers are in fact recs with the comm license for bass fishing. Also where it is rod & reel most often and not damaging to an ecosystem, I feel that it is not "bad" (comm striper fishing) as long as regulations are adhered to and that these regulations have built in triggers to protect the stocks should they decline. Again, the bigger issue is the forage fish... Also penaltys should be far stiffer for those that break the law - comm & rec.
Ol PJ - you want power? Did you get your meds in on time? You want power, so you want to be judge and jury and determine who gets allocation, right? WTH does that have to do with protecting the fish?
Both parties ruined the stocks the last time and both parties suffered thru moratoriums and regs til they came back. I remember being a kid on the Chesapeke filling buckets of "rock" because we didn't know any better and nobody else did either. Things should be alot different these days and the stock should not collapse due to over fishing - might due to health and lack of forage but not overfishing as the rules are in place already to protect that.
Hotfish - you're correct - forage fish are the red headed step child in this equation.
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