Quote:
Originally posted by flatts1
Spence, Stripers Forever wants to keep the EEZ closed even though there is no science to support its continued closure (stripers fully recovered since 1995 and now very abundant). They claim that they want to keep it closed so that commercial fishermen won't have more waters available to them to fish.
What Stripers Forever doesn't tell you is that a closed EEZ is closed to both commercial and recreational fishermen.
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Keeping something closed that has proven successful isn't a new restriction in my book.
For all the numbers that show the stock is fully recoverd, there is also a lot of evidence that shows looming problems. We won't have a genuine healthy stock until we address forage, pollution and spawning ground issues as well.
Quote:
Originally posted by flatts1
Further more even if striped bass were the target fish of these netters then these fish would still go against the commercial quota whne they were sold at shore. In other words, this would only affect other commercial fishermen by forcing the price down for stripers and closing the season earlier than expected.
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How many fishermen try to sell poached fish legally? Chances are they don't, and they don't come off the comm quota. We just had a boat down the road get busted this summer for selling 30,000 pounds. How many times didn't they get caught? How many other boats are doing this?
I fully understand that recs take more fish than the comms, but that's not the real issue. The potential impact to individual state's revenue is much larger than a limited comm take could ever produce. The notion by Flaptail above that gamefish status is a tool so fishing guides can make out is ridiculous. Will they do better, most likely...but the benefits to all related recreational fishing markets are much broader.
It doesn't seem like the commercial fleet is eager to change, but change is just what is needed to balance a traditional industry with today's necessary environmental and management standards.
-spence
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