Undersized Stripedbass openly sold

[Swimmer]

Much to my dismay this morning when perusing "The Boston Globe Magazine" I opened the weekly to page 45 where there is a picture of an Asian employee of the Vietnamese Super 88 ethic supermarket holding up a 12 to 14 inch striper. The woman customer obviously wants two fo the fish. And there is a sign that says $3.99 a pound in the case below and in front of the employee. If that was a farm raised bass it would be fileted. Boy does this tick me off. Howe do we go about reporting this? I wonder what else is sold there that is undersized or protected? The market is in Dorchester I think.

[BigFish]

Tip off the environmental police and at least they could look into it....seems to me these are the types of outlets they should be investigating as there is a large market through them for illegally caught fish!

[Clammer]

B/F /Whats the size limit down the coast //

years ago the Maryland guys were killing us with legal 10" - 12" fish ?????

[ThrowingTimber]

yea what clammer said, it may be fish taken further south.

[zacs]

they sell whole dressed and whole round farm raised stripers all the time.

[Swimmer]

Just got through reading Striper Wars and in that book inside the Cheasepeke (sic?) the minimum is 16 inches. If it was a southern fish or imported from Arkansas it would be filet, yes? The fish in the picture is barely twice the size of the asian guys hands.......

[basswipe]

Originally Posted by zacs

they sell whole dressed and whole round farm raised stripers all the time.

Zacs would be correct.I've also seen them sold whole.

[Nebe]

Originally Posted by basswipe

Zacs would be correct.I've also seen them sold whole.

I was just in chinatown @ philly last week- ewvery market i went into had whole schoolie sized bass & live ones in big tanks.. all were hybred bass...

[Saltheart]

We used to fish Montauk every year for the Thanksgiving weekend. Right there in montauk with tons of native caught fish available , they sold whole farm raised striper. Been going on for decades.

[BigBo]

I've been in there and seen them. They look like farm raised to me.

[Notaro]

yeah, probably farm-raised stripers. i know this because i am half vietnamese

[fishweewee]

sometimes those farm-raised/hybrids are easy to distinguish from their wild cousins. usually, the lines are a bit broken. also, the hybrids are more "squat" than pure-breeds.

[MakoMike]

Ive seen lots of whole farm raised hybrid bass in markets up and down the coast. Still might pay to call DEM, just to keep them honest.

[RNC]

Its not uncommon for some asian markets to have undersized stripers but they are all farm raised and comes with tags.

[Karl F]

As long as they aren't coming out of Lowell

Like FWW said, they (farm raised) do have the broken line and the football shape, pretty easy to distinguish.

A legal sized keeper, thru the back door, will get ya a full course dinner, late night, at a certain local Chinese Restaurant down here , or so's I've been told....

[sokinwet]

I believe that during the MA commercial season it is illegal to sell stripers under 34" During the "off season" smaller fish may be purchased from legal out of state sources.

[Swimmer]

I have read a that certain young bass have the out of sequence stripes because of the genetic abnormalities caused by the many years of PCB infusion into the adult fish. One person that spoke of this was Bob Pond. The uneven stripes was thought to be "possibly" the fishes body change to the PCB's. That being said, I find it hard to believe that the size of the fish in the picture, in the Globe Magazine, is the size fish that would turn a profit for a fish farmer. Farm raised farm do not have brilliant stripes or coloring I thought. The overall coloring is faded. A 12" fish just isn't profitable for anyone but a poacher.

[zacs]

i am in the business man. the stripes are bright, the fish are whole, and they are sold in various size ranges as low as 1 lb fish. 1-3 lb. fish are common.

[S-Journey]

Originally Posted by Swimmer

Much to my dismay this morning when perusing "The Boston Globe Magazine" I opened the weekly to page 45 where there is a picture of an Asian employee of the Vietnamese Super 88 ethic supermarket holding up a 12 to 14 inch striper. The woman customer obviously wants two fo the fish. And there is a sign that says $3.99 a pound in the case below and in front of the employee. If that was a farm raised bass it would be fileted. Boy does this tick me off. Howe do we go about reporting this? I wonder what else is sold there that is undersized or protected? The market is in Dorchester I think.

They have them all the time - year round - and they're farm raised. I've seen em like that at A&P in duxbury a few years back too.

[basswipe]

Originally Posted by Swimmer

That being said, I find it hard to believe that the size of the fish in the picture, in the Globe Magazine, is the size fish that would turn a profit for a fish farmer. Farm raised farm do not have brilliant stripes or coloring I thought. The overall coloring is faded. A 12" fish just isn't profitable for anyone but a poacher.

Smaller=faster turnover.Remember these fish are raised in southern states and are steadily fed a high protein grain diet.Hybrids grow much quicker than either striped or white bass.They can be "farmed" year around.12" size can be attained in no time,though most brought to market are larger.They are just as brilliant as stripers except the stripes for the most part are broken.

Many a evening when I lived in TX.was spent hybrid fishing on Lake Braunig and a few other lakes.

If you're really interested in how they're farmed check out:
www.aquanic.org
Its a LONG read though.

[RIJIMMY]

Yup, what Zacs said, I see them in the asian markets all the time.
WHat I couldnt beleive is that largemouths are selling @ $10.00 a pound! I could support my family just by catching these from my local ponds!

[Notaro]

Originally Posted by RIJIMMY

Yup, what Zacs said, I see them in the asian markets all the time.
WHat I couldnt beleive is that largemouths are selling @ $10.00 a pound! I could support my family just by catching these from my local ponds!

largemouth?!? yeah, they even sell them in pacific house restaurant in chinatown. they taste...

[scoobe]

For the most part... freshwater fish just don't compare to salt fish in terms of taste.

Originally Posted by Notaro

largemouth?!? yeah, they even sell them in pacific house restaurant in chinatown. they taste...

[Swimmer]

I knew farm raised stripers are readily available all over the country and I gave that aspect serious thought before I posted my thoughts on the "Globe" magazine article. I appreciate all the info that ZACS and others posted in reply. As we all know many stripers use to be sold in the back doors of various restaurants and markets. Most if not all of those fish were of "size" though, which makes no difference with regard to the illegal selling of stripers, but their is a little hypocritical romanticism involved at least if the fish sold illegally were 30", 40", or bigger. One can conjure up a scene where an old pickup truck backs up to the rear door of a non descipt restaurant and sells a few fish to the owner just after sunrise. Hopefully stipers sold in any market are legal.

Where I have seen farmed stripers in the Whole Foods Markets the fish are substantially larger than what was pictured. It seems to me to sell a farm raised twelve inch stripers is just breaking even on the investment at best. For what it takes to breed and then grow in one year a twelve fish and then sell it seems ludicris. That also seems like a great cover to hide small stripers that were poached. I still have concerns though especially if no one ever checks the retail merchants who are licensed to sell any fish. Their is too much here left unchecked.

[Saltheart]

I don't know the exact numbers but i once saw a program on fish farming and it turns out that the most economical size to sell is faily small. I guess its based on the max harvest pounds vs the feed cost and available space and turn overs. . For some fish species its only 9 inches.