Your friend (actually many of the comm guys out of that area) is not what caused the problem. Rod & reel guys won't wipe out a fishery and I don't think they should be punnished for it either but they are more the exception than the rule. Unfortunately, they are just as likely if not more likely to get screwed by this than the recs. It's the draggers and massive nets fished too hard & too often by too many boats that did it. And for the most part, they did it legally, even though everyone knew it was coming...
I agree with you about the party boats re S-B too. Do you recall if they are still allowed to sell the extra catch when bass comm season is open? Or did that get stopped too?
While I'm not against the recs taking a small hit to help in recovery of the cod like adding a couple inches to the minimum lenght or dropping to 8 per day, it's not fair to exclude the recs because the recs didn't screw up the fishery in the first place... You think it's bad around the cape - it's far worse codfishing in Rhody, NY, & NJ waters compared to what was available 20 years ago...
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I'd say everyone may have to sacrifice to get the stocks up to the levels where you could catch 20#ers at night in the spring right in the harbors. Success will require the same teamwork that the Pats employed to win a Super Bowl. Will it happen??? What do you think!!
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Everyone should pitch in & sacrafice, but the ones responsible for the most damage need the most sever penalty (which they are in right now). The ones that didn't cause that damage shouldn't need to bear the burden too. Will a Pat's style success be possible? Probably not. The current NEFMC "team" not only couldn't play together, the forfeited the game last month when they folded their cards. Now leagues office gets to pick the winner & loser...
Damn - didn't see the time - gotta run....