[SAUERKRAUT]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

***lighting match, stand back BEGIN FLAME ***

You comm guys with "the quota is the quota no matter how fast we take them" mentality make me laugh. Why not take them all in one day then? Unlimited? 3/d is not enough, 10/d is not enough, you guys said 30/d is really not enough, 50 is a minimum you would like per day...But no, you need to get yours as fast and as many as possible befor the next guy can catch his...jezz... to me this spells personal greed. (Not to mention 14" comm fluke is a HOAX as well )

If you dropped it to something like 3 fish/day the $/lb would be even higher, the season would be more than just a few weeks and the fish would be taken over a much larger area, more people would be involved over a longer period . What we have now is 60+ boats working an area the size of a football field hard for 10+ hours a day putting a big dent in a local fish population leving next to nothing after the season is over. Also I think it would reduce the pressure on the bunker that get up this way. If you just need to get 3 fish, you don't need to go net a 1000 to put a 300 dead bunker in the water every other day to do it. Heck if you are any good, you can catch 3 fish with no bait. If you need 30+ fish, you need a lot of bait on board. (BTW what is RI's daily limit? )

Heck, forget this bogus R&R bass fishery all together, if the "quota" is the be all and end all, then if they just made the draggers sell the bycatch (instead of dumping it overboard dead unreported) they could meet the easily meet the quota ALONE without ANY R&R comm fishing. The money the state would SAVE from not having to give the juicy (and mostly bogus)tax write-offs to the comm R&R's (who we all know fish recreational with the gear they are writing off with, also I would suspect there is a little fibbing going one with regard to write offs as we all know fishermen tend to lie a bit) would more than make up for any loss due to loss of no SB lic fees. Moreover the charter guys should be counted under commercial, they are a commercial operation, they are getting paid to catch bass, that is commercial bass fishing.




Most comm R&Rer's just don't see the the beauty of the SB and don't think of it as a special fish that should be around for EVERYONE to catch, not to remove at some bogus maximum yield theory for the benefit of a few. It is just something to catch and sell to them. Most comm guys are doing to this to write off their equipment (boat fuel slip gear, etc) and put a few bucks in their pocket. Why should the public be forced to subsidize your hobby? End this farce once and for all. shut it down.

GAMEFISH IS COMING
***burn baby burn, END FLAME***

The striped bass commercial fishery is a disgrace...it is a disgrace of the democratic principle of will and benefit of the majority, and the idea of a public resource protected for the greatest good of the greatest number. The commercial fishery is a disgrace of management, enforcement, and the reluctant compliance of its participants... to which I refer to the Buyers, the Counters, the Middlemen of all levels, as well as the R&R suppliers. Kill this commercial fishery.