Quote:
Originally Posted by inTHERAPY
i think it's a dragger thing. Many, many of the fluke that come up in the nets are small. I think it is an effort to try to cut down on the dead throwbacks..... Art
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If this is truly the case, then what they are doing is setting regs based on the boats and not on the fish stocks.
If the draggers are catching way too many 14" fish, logic would dictate that there aren't many large fish. It only makes sense.
Instead of basing regs on what evidentally is a fish stock issue, they choose the wussy way out and say that since you're catching these small fish ANYWAY, why not make it your legal size?
In otherwords, they don't really care about the fish stocks as long as the fishing industry can still make some $$.
Any guess what will happen if the average fluke size caught by draggers drops below 14"???
They'll change the regs to accomodate that smaller size, what else!
OK, I know this sounds a little too over-the-top, but you can't tell me that something along these lines hasn't been done before.
Remember a few years back when they INCREASED the recreational regs almost every year yet did almost nothing to the commercial regs? How about the shortened season?
Let's hope that they haven't pushed the envelope too far!