Menhaden Bill introduced

[Clammer]

WANNA F #$%^&*( PLAY <><><><

THOSE IN GLASS HOUSES SHOULD<NT BE THROWIN STONES ><><<>
I<VE HAD A COMMERCIAL LICENSE FOR EXACTLY 45: YEARS >>>>>>>>> I BELIEVE YOU WEREN<T BORN YET ;;;;

I WONDER WHO ASKED ME >>> {{{ IF THEY GOT A MONEY FISH TONIGHT}} WOULD I SELL IT ON MY LICENSE FOR HIM ><><>

[Slinger]

Gentlemen, please control yourself. This is too big a deal to let it break down into a flame war. When will you people realize that if we don`t all stand together we will all surly hang alone! If somthing isn`t done now to stop the further degradation of our forage supply very soon there won`t be anything left to argue about! It`s been years since I`ve felt so motivated, still carry too many scars from 30 yrs of beating my head against brick walls, but this is a battle that must be fought and won. I will do my utmost to see it happen.
Slinger

[snake slinger]

chill out

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Slinger

Gentlemen, please control yourself. This is too big a deal to let it break down into a flame war. When will you people realize that if we don`t all stand together we will all surly hang alone! If somthing isn`t done now to stop the further degradation of our forage supply very soon there won`t be anything left to argue about! It`s been years since I`ve felt so motivated, still carry too many scars from 30 yrs of beating my head against brick walls, but this is a battle that must be fought and won. I will do my utmost to see it happen.
Slinger

Good points!

[JFigliuolo]

I can't really see why everyone's wigging out here. The ONLY negative thing in this entire thread (besides the flames and pissing). Is that pogies in the bay will CHANGE surf fishing. NO ONE (except as far as I can tell DZ for what seems like a well thought out OPINION)
says it will be a bad thing, EVEN THE GUYS WHO THINK IT MIGHT, I STRESS MIGHT, hurt a few surfside spots, agrees this is a GOOD THING. If you think otherwise, go back and re-read the thread.

[goosefish]

Holy mossbunker! Forage is key. Look what's happening up North, epic arguing, with the lobsterman and the herring boats and the tuna boats and the groundfish boats. Resources should be managed not individually but ecologically. It is the future to a sustainable planet. The relationship of one thing to another. Whatever we can do to improve the productivity of our estuaries is, I think, a good thing. Oysters and pogies and eel grass. The Trinity. Pass the hot sauce, please.

[RIROCKHOUND]

Originally Posted by goosefish

Holy mossbunker!

Resources should be managed not individually but ecologically. It is the future to a sustainable planet. The relationship of one thing to another. Whatever we can do to improve the productivity of our estuaries is, I think, a good thing. Oysters and pogies and eel grass. The Trinity. Pass the hot sauce, please.

Amen brother goosefish!
Ecosystem based management is the key.
It does start from the ground up.

Damn this thread exploded!!!
Everybody take a DEEP breath, relax and realzie that ultimatly we are all on the same side (the bass) ...

As the great philosofer Bob Dylan said
"We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Clammer's Tangled up in blues." (OK. added a bit )"


What I would like to see:
Numbers (#pounds Ark takes/yr) vs. the total catch coastwide
Would they still be scarfing them up outside the bay, before they get to RI? Probably unless more wide reaching legislation is passed. This would be a good step though.

Everyone is probably right to some extent:
The structure of fish would change in the surf and in the bay. They'd be around but maybe have different patterns, maybe not.
large schools of pogies in the bay would make bass an easier target for commercial and recreational fisherman no doubt..



When I was a kid it was the moratorium, but I remember Newport harbor LOADED with adult pogies and monster bluefish all summer. Was it a good thing? Of course. With the population of bass back up it should be a benefit, especially in the bay.

Lets be honest; in the context of Narragansett bay pogies would be a good thing, but what I'm curious is how much of a drop in the bucket is it coastwide. (Ark is potatoes next to Omega protein). we need healthy stocks of bait fish throughout the range of the bass. With out that any benefit will probably be localized in my opinion.

I've heard rumblings from biologists who would never want to be quoted, that the bay may not handle the large population of pogies from decades ago because improved water quality has decreased some of the nutrients (algae) in the bay.. go figure...

[Krispy]

RIrockhound,
In my unscientific opinion, the bunker reaching RI and MA now, are a direct result of NJ's reduction boat bill 4 years ago. Thats a pretty short period to realize such great results so far north. I think maintaining strong abundance of bunker in the bay will be a huge stepping stone for expanding populations of the bunkers northern territory. Its not just about us in RI, the bay or Striped Bass or surfcasters
What Narragansett and Buzzards Bay is seeing is just the tail end of the bunker biomass. What we are seeing now is not close to what we remember, at least when I was young.

[piemma]

I go on a business trip for a week and all hell breaks loose.

OK, my 2 cents.

Banning the taking of Pogies by ARK bait is a GOOD thing. It will benefit everyone. To say that the rec guys should also be prohibited from taking Pogies is ridiculous. It's like saying that all deer hunters should be banned because one nitwit goes out and slaughters 10 deer.

There is a big difference between a rec guy in a boat like me snagging a half dozen pogies to live line and Ark bait netting 50, 000 pogies on one drag.

If they do ban Ark bait from netting Pogies there will be a lot more Pogies...EVERYWHERE!!! The upper Bay will not support a huge biomass for an entire season. Sooner or later many of the Pogies will filter down the Bay and end up around Narragansett. Do you think there will be a line of demarcation where the pogies will stop?

And what about fishing the bay from shore. Last I hear Jamestown was in the Bay. Casey, Point, Sally Rock, Goddard Park, Barrington Beach, Colt State Park, Rome Point, Sabin Point. Pojac Point, Warren River, etc, etc.
Everyone will benefit from the commercial ban.

[zimmy]

[QUOTE=piemma;456808]

There is a big difference between a rec guy in a boat like me snagging a half dozen pogies to live line and Ark bait netting 50, 000 pogies on one drag.

QUOTE]

You are probably right... but how can you be sure there is a big difference in the overall impact between comms and recs? There are alot of boats out there snagging a couple dozen at a time several times a week for months. I hear the same argument about the rec vs comm. striper catch. The data indicates that recs dramatically out-harvest the comms. with bass.

[piemma]

[QUOTE=zimmy;456861]

Originally Posted by piemma

There is a big difference between a rec guy in a boat like me snagging a half dozen pogies to live line and Ark bait netting 50, 000 pogies on one drag.

QUOTE]

You are probably right... but how can you be sure there is a big difference in the overall impact between comms and recs? There are alot of boats out there snagging a couple dozen at a time several times a week for months. I hear the same argument about the rec vs comm. striper catch. The data indicates that recs dramatically out-harvest the comms. with bass.

Zimmy:
Point well taken. But, I still don't think the rec bass guys or the comm bass guys will make a dent in the Pogie population compared to what the ARK bait boats and their spotter planes do. We are talking tons as opposed to pounds of pogies harvested.