Stripers Forever

[Mr. Sandman]

Where is the Black market numbers in this? You know, the undersized and illegal bass that are cleaned and sold to restaurants who don't hold buying permits? Oh, that does not exist I guess. Lets not be naive, this really exists and is being ignored. Also, when I see draggers working the shoals off Muskeget channel in late August and September I guess they don't catch any Striped bass at all huh? They don't seem to report any, that much I know and boats all around seem to be catching them.A few years ago draggers from Montauk and Point Judith were pounding the waters off of squibnocket, close to the beach < one mile at times. A beach goer/fishermen saw them several days in a row. He called the EPO. He looked into it. They claimed they were squid fishing. He went out there with the help of the USCG on a helicopter and got the numbers off the boat(s). He tracked one down in Point Jude when they got back. Guess what he had on-board? Hint: It was not squid. The problem is the penalty is not severe enough to make people stop...chances of being caught are slim, while the payoff can be good. Just make it a game fish and take the $ off the fishes head and 98% of this will stop.

The rec kill #'s make some assumptions that every fisherman is keeping his limit. Do you know how many Striped Bass I kept this year????? ZERO, NONE, NADA...Please adjust your numbers accordingly. Oh and I put over 400 hours on my boat this season. Nearly all of that was spent fishing. So I put some serious money into the economy and took mostly memories out of it.

The Banner statement below has the necessary "science" and "management" needed to make SB a healthy, stable as well as an economically and socially beneficial activity for all.
Your welcome in advance.