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I agree with Kenny on this issue; I'm fine, for the present time, with the commercial quota the way it is (I have fished commercially since 1972, thru the good and the bad). My issue is that the rec people do not realize how many fish they kill during the season. As I said, I have been on the water for close to 40 years, and I don't EVER remember seeing this many people fishing for bass exclusively....each year, as fishing has gotten better, more people fish for them....look at the charter boat industry, even headboats regularly fish for striped bass these days. Back in the beginning of the lean years (late 70's, early 80's) charter boats fished for bluefish regularly, tuna most of the late summer and fluke, cod....they were only 3 or 4 boats at the Point (Judith) who fished bass regularly. Striped Bass is now a mainstay of the charter industry...as Kenny said, see what goes on down south of us (NJ, and Maryland, Virginia in the winter); that is what is effecting the population.
The coastwide commercial quota has been static for more than a few years; the recreational catch has increased exponentially with the increase in biomass for the last several years...anyone (Rec or Comm) who denies that is living in a fantasy world.
It gets very tiring to constantly hear how the commercial fisherman is killing all the bass when I have only been allowed to use the same amount of quota each year....I only catch more if some other areas don't have fish, but I do....at the end of the day X amount of fish are landed and subtracted from the alloted quota (be it MA or RI or NY)...
Now, reduce the recreational bag limit to 1 fish per day (as it was back when fish were everywhere, sic 1990's, early 2000's)...then see who squawks....
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