DMF

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Rockfish9

You are making too much sense.. I have been saying this for years, brought it up at meetings until I hurled... falls on dead ears..small fish are better eating, there is less waste, and command a better price, they also have not run the gauntlet of life, a 20 lb plus fish is safe from most predators except man..

Quotas should be used to regulate, not just to fill pockets of a few.

Someone needs to come up with a viable way to record recreational catches, and dead loss, there is too much speculation, not nearly enough science...fishing logs/ reports would be a good start so would a tag system, just like Texas has with red fish..there are
Alot of fish up my way but few fisherman, I suspect, opening the quota to 7 days will smoke out a few that haven't bothered because it's hard to get the fish to a buyer ..but with the option of being open 24/7.. they will ice their catch, then deliver the next day after work..

It all needs to be examined, maybe a no kill moratorium needs to be implemented..maybe no fishing, artificial bait only.. it all needs to be explored, but until EVERYONE sits down like grown men and women and discuss this logically..well..it ain't getting any better.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Joe, I have written a couple of articles on the Tarpon/Snook fishery and how it got shutdown and is now a world class fishery. I think that the time has come for the commercial guys to target another species, not that that would help.
I am NOT saying the comms are at fault but if you take a price off the fishes head and declare a moratorium that includes everywhere and everyone, maybe we save them again.
At 73, I don't have a lot of years left to fish but I do have heirs and would hope there would be a fishery for them.

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by piemma

Joe, I have written a couple of articles on the Tarpon/Snook fishery and how it got shutdown and is now a world class fishery. I think that the time has come for the commercial guys to target another species, not that that would help.
I am NOT saying the comms are at fault but if you take a price off the fishes head and declare a moratorium that includes everywhere and everyone, maybe we save them again.
At 73, I don't have a lot of years left to fish but I do have heirs and would hope there would be a fishery for them.

Everyone is culpable when it comes to money,as you know (youve got 10 years on me)..striped bass have a long and storied history, as both a game/ surf fish and a sorce of seasonal protien... I don't advocate one side or the other as the saviour or problem, I've been on both "teams"..but trying to look at the problem rationally, I think both sides can ( and should) put differences aside and do what is right for the fish...it is time for recreational reporting,its the only way to even come close to estimating how many fish are caught and retained or released, then the science of release mortality may be able to be more accurately estimated..

If this was 1980, I would never know there is a problem, we have fish of all sizes everywhere, people with the IQ of a coconut are catching large, so now the next problem,the 10 minute photo session while the fish suffocates..I'Ve seen more dead sub legal fish than I have in 20 years, party boats are chunking for those small fish( and killing them) no one can blame that on the commercial sector..mean while, I'm still fishing , releasing fish boat side without removing them(hoping Whitey doesn't come calling)..
I'm getting old too, each trip is harder than the last..I hope, this glorious fish gets the respect it deserves before I can't do this anymore.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device