Quote:
Originally Posted by Fish_Eye
In the past I couldn’t support game fish status for stripers simply because a well managed stock should provide enough fish for both recreational and commercial interests. However, over the past several years I’ve seen more and more pressure put on the stocks by both user groups. Yes, the recreational take is massive, however the commercial quotas never seem to be high enough for the commercial interests and the black market fishery is completely out of control. How many pirates do you know? How many pseudo-commercial fishermen are out there looking to offset boating and fishing expenses? How many “anglers” sell fish at the back door of a restaurant? How many tons of undersized fish make it to market? How many fishermen exceed their quota and look at a fine as a reasonable cost of doing business? How much meaningful enforcement is there out there?
Consider all of the above and all the anecdotal evidence that the fishery is in decline and it’s time to do something NOW.
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The only sector who has increased their "pressure" is the recreational.
Recs are killing 2/3 as many fish as they are keeping and they are already taking 80% of all the fish. Their discard mortality is equal to all the commercial landings and discards....so who do the fish really need saving from?
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