Quote:
Originally Posted by numbskull
Fecundity in Striped Bass increases with age. Older fish spawn at a different end of the spawning season than smaller fish, which helps improve the the species spawning success (since conditions for egg survival may vary month to month). The eggs of older fish have better lipid content which also improves egg survival. The number of eggs a fish lays increases expontentially rather than linearly with size. Most importantly, the eggs of larger fish obviously possess the valuable genetic traits for size and survival. Finally, the possibility of catching a trophy fish is of greater economic value than the the possibility of eating that fish, whereas the possibility of eating a smaller fish is of greater economic value than catching it. How many guys drive hours, rent rooms, buy expensive boats, tackle, and vehicles to haul it, in order to chase small fish? How many do so to target larger fish? On the other hand, does the fish market charge more for a pound of large fish than for a pound of small fish? Why not?
So once again, why are slot limits which ensure a balanced population asinine?
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Nice info, and thanks for sharing it. I didn't say slot limits were asinine, I was suggesting that making a slot limit without the type of data you presented would be asinine. I would agree that the slot would have to be based on the size fish that would least hurt the developing population. That info does leave more questions than answers, though. What size fish are you referring to when you say "larger"? Where would that slot length be based off of your info? How many eggs does a slot length fish lay? I also wonder how many of those eggs reach maturity on average. Also, I wonder if there are less fish laying eggs, do more eggs from each "litter" reach maturity due to less competition from other litters? (therefore a similar amount of fish reaching maturity regardless of how many fish are laying eggs)
Still though, you are either taking a future layer of thousands of eggs out of the mix or a current layer of thousands of eggs out of the mix. Either way, depending on the size of the fish, you're having some type of shorter or longer term impact on the population, so how does a slot work for sure? A slot would certainly ensure the taking of one specific year class for several years in a row. Without a slot, I wonder if you may have different people taking different size fish for different reasons.(bigger ones for trophies, smaller ones for food, etc..) and (potentially) a more varied removal of fish from the population.
Actually, I've seen a variance in the price of fish at the RI markets for the smaller size fish. I've often gotten more for the 34-38" fish because they are in higher demand in certain markets. I couldn't tell you what those markets are for sure, but I believe it's the sushi buyers.
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