Quote:
Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND
Skunk:
This has been heavily rehashed on this site. so a search for me under menhaden/pogies it should come up.
My opinion is that a lot of the 'science' and claims by risaa et al are unfounded. IF Ark is doing so much damage, and they have been fishing at the same levels, WHY do we have more pogies now than 5 years ago? Doesnt make any logical sense to me. I think there is a compromise, and I think the July cap limit set my DEM is a great start.
The other problem is Franklin's book gets taken as science... Sebastian Junger is a great writer, but I wouldnt take his word as gold if we were fighting about Swordfish!
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The real issue right now is the fact that boats that otherwise would be chasing squid or herring have taken a big interest in the pogies which is why the DEM regulation suddenly came to life.
Very efficient and thorough boats, capable of doing things on a scale much more dramatic then anything Ark does.
To be honest I don't trust science from anyone at this point. I do trust, that when a friend of mine in the dead fish biz who knows the owners of said boats tells me they can wipe the Bay clean, I have little reason to doubt it. He told me about a month before the additional boats came that they would come, who was coming, and that DEM would probably have to take action. It all came to pass.
Sure, pogies swim coast wide. Why they go, where they go, and when they go is surely open to debate but once they're in the Bay I just assume we keep them there as best we can.
Some regulation was/is needed. The science (who ever's science), hopefully, won't slow it down. To me the local regulation should be to protect the local fishery, and it shouldn't necessarily be related to the overall menhaden fishery which is supposedly fine.