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Quotas and size limits appear to me, to be a big joke. On the surface, it would seem to help resolve the problem.
But its the methods that must evaluated.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but blue marlin and atlantic sailfish are protected from commercial harvest. Do longliners put a note on the hooks that say,"swordfish only please"? Marlin and sailfish and many other fish take those baits and alot of them die, either on the hook or after released... no doubt commercial fisherman release them carefully and spend alot of time reviving by-catch. Same goes for undersized fish, or fish caught in nets, or whatever.
If a certain portion of lip-hooked fish die from shock after a quick fight and a gentle release, how would they do after being on a longline hook for 24 hours, or after being dragged up in a net with several tons of other fish and debris, being dropped onto the deck, many crushed under the tonnage, then tossed overboard after how long out of water?
Tell me what good it does short fish to be thrown back into the water dead or badly injured? Quotas and size limits and even total protection certainly help to a point, but nets and longlines don't discriminate which species they catch.
Personally, I believe the quotas and size limits are used to show us that something is being done, when in actuality, they know its BS... if they have access to the info that says stocks are down, we need to do something, then they have access to the info that says the bycatch is still doing much, much damage.
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