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Scott;
You are missing several things. Some of which I may forget. These came from the notes I took at the meeting, remember I'm a geologist, not a biologist, so these are my opinions/observations on what was said...
1. DEM now observing and measuring/calculating how many pogies enter the bay using a bunch of data. All available data (and common sense) indicates they are underestimating the #, which is good since it reduces the actual % caught!)
2. They are sticking to the daily cap AND putting a quota at 50% of the amount of pogies that enter the bay. After that, no fishing.
3. Pogies remain not-overfished. There may be local variations, ASMFC is working on that. As far as the target numbers and such that ASMFC has pogies are fine...
4. The claims being made during/by the Bill (water-quality) were proved to be way more complex that they were portrayed, and the importance (or lack there of) of pogies relative to the health of the bay (i.e. Nitrogen) was pretty clearly demonstrated
5. The huge populations of pogies mentioned (i.e. 1970's) was the reult of HUGE year classes along the entire coast. Why that occurred was likely climate driven; since a majority of the pogies spawn offshore, changes in wind/water circulation can effect recruitment. Again, this bill is based on warm fuzzy feelings regarding years past. the guy from NMFS who was their pogy expert seemed to indicate that in this regard we can't manufacture more pogies to get to that level.
As far as the starving pogies... sounds like they got trapped in by Bluefish and wouldnt leave... I stick to my original thought that the water quality in the bay HAS changed, and we just cant support the sheer number of pogies it used to...
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