I hope this sheds some light on the their ability to manage a fishery.... under their management, things got so bad they had to shut it down altogether. This is not good science or good management. It is a group of commercially biased greedy fools trying to extract the most they can based on bad numbers. And it is never "their" fault...they are always acting on "other peoples" advice. Forget this approach, fire everyone and start anew with a different (More Conservative) philosophy that focuses on the fish, not the maximum yeild.
IMO it is not a few fishermen taking 10 or 12 herring 2X per week at a run that is decimating the population (considering a single cormorant can eat more then that itself), but regardless, we recs will take it up the butt and stop taking the fish so that the commercial harvest can be re-established.
The next couple years could be tough for bait fishermen...no herring, no scup no eels...do bass eat spiny dogfish?
Actually, what bothers me the most is not the herring ban but the social aspect of hanging out at the run. Where else can I go at 5:00am in April? I get to see a lot of fishing friends I have not seen all winter. This is the first fishing related thing I do each year, now what? This herring ban could cause some serious social problems, as it will probably drive us to the bars now
