I got this yesterday & wanted to pass it along

[JohnR]

This is from the MSBA club President:

The Executive Board is very concerned about the potential for a large kill of Striped Bass off the coast of Boston.

Many of our members Fish between the outer harbor islands and federal waters. As a result of the recent federal judges order regarding commercial ground fishing, there is a possibility that commercial draggers will drag for Cod in this area. Many of us know that during the month of June there are large schools of Striped Bass migrating north throughout this area. These draggers may and I stress the word may, catch and kill a large amount of Striped Bass in their nets while dragging for Cod. I called DMF Commissioner Paul Diodati to express this concern. His office assured me that the current data that they have on hand suggests that the draggers proceed slow enough that Striped Bass swim out of the nets before being tangled. I have spoken to others who disagree.

With the possibility of this type of by-catch MSBA is urging all members to take the following action. First make sure to always have a camera on your boat loaded and ready to use at a moments notice. Second, if you come upon a commercial vessel dragging a net outside of Boson Harbor, do not get in his way. Simply wait until the net is being pulled in and pull up next to the vessel. Take pictures of the fish being thrown over the side. If you see Striped Bass being thrown over, take as many pictures as you can, including pictures of dead Bass floating behind the boat. Do not interfere with the operation of the commercial boat but record on film and by count what is being discarded. If you do record Striped Bass being discarded, call an Officer of MSBA immediately when you get back on shore and have the pictures developed immediately.

Hopefully this concern does not turn out to be a problem, but if it does, MSBA will put all of it's resources into forcing the DMF into enacting an emergency regulation to stop the problem. I want to reiterate that this is just a concern at this time, MSBA does not want it's members to take any action outside of photographing by-catch. We do not want to be seen as some radical group attacking commercial fishing. Be courteous and observe the rules of the road. Just take your pictures and let us use the system.

This is an interesting topic and something maybe to be applied IF you see dead striped bass discards. For those not in the club, if you see something you can e-mail it to me & I'll forward it. Hopefully it will not be an issue to begin with like there has been with some netting off the Carolinas.