Ok I gotta jump in here for a minute, 1st of all as a charter boat you have to carry a federal permit on you boat which covers all ground fish and striped Bass and bluefish, we have to send them in a slip for every trip we do and the count of every fish we catch and wether they are kept or released. So as for the charter fleet they know exactly how many fish we are catchihng. We also have to carry a commerical permit as well if we want to commerical fish for striped bass. Those permits also require documentation for every fish you keep and sell.
ALways remember that just because a person owns a charter boat does not mean he is catching and KEEPING ever fish that comes to the boat, most of our clients only want 1 fish to take home and alot of them just want them released, we are a means for fisherman to get out on the water and fish for what they love, no different that a shore fisherman who does not own a boat and can pay a fee to get offshore.
What amazes me in this whole argument over an over again of recreational Striped Bass anglers against commercial striped bass fisherman. The biggest killer of Striped Bass biomass is BYCATCH from draggers and longliners.
They can kill thousands and thousands of pounds a day of multiple species of fish including ALOT of striped bass because they are out in the zone that these fish are hanging around like Stellwagon Bank,
Even though they can not put there equipment on the bank they can still put it all around it. and the real issue with the bycatch is IT IS NOT COUNTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Millions of pound of fish killed every year and just thrown back in the water and NOT COUNTED
This back and forth argument between recreational anglers and commercial rod and reel anglers is really getting old.
The difference between recreation anglers is this, they can keep 2 fish per day over 28 inches.
Rod and reel commercial fisherman can keep Striped Bass OVER 34inchs and UP !! 30 bass a day, 3 days a week, and 5 fish per day on sunday. Now I just want to say that there are a ton of commercial fisherman that we know out on the water around Boston harbor and they are lucky if they total 15 commercial fish in a WEEK.
The thing that is different with this type of commercial rod and reel fishing is They know exactly how big they have to be and if not they go back alive hopefully, also the only thing they catch are striped bass or bluefish, unless you have a ton of dog fish around.
SO at least they are not killing fish like long lining and gill netting as they do not check their gear everyday, as well as draggers that crush the bycatch of everything that comes on board. then it is sent back over dead, BUT NOT COUNTED, that is one of the things that need to change.
the other issue is forage for the fish, if we want these bass back in inshore waters than they need food to eat, if there is no bait there are no bass, simple logic, we saw it happen last year in the harbor when they took almost all of the pogies out of the inner harbor.
So stop bitchen and try and get involved like alot of the rest of us who are writing letters, and making phone call to congressman and getting involed to make this a better fisherie, not just bitchin about who does what and we have no fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry for the long rant but had to get that out of my system, OK carry on!!!
