Upcomming Regulations

[snake slinger]

i would like to see a warden out checking the size of fish taken.ive never seen a warden at nite.

[Nebe]

as far as boat sales go, i think it should stay the same... my reasoning is that boat sales are the only time a guy can sell his fish at retail prices ( or at least above wholesale) givin the tight restrictions on finfish catches, at least allow the guys to get a fair price for their catch.

Herring pens- IMO pens are .0006% of the problem.. its the herring fleeet. why not regulate them. ????

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Eben

as far as boat sales go, i think it should stay the same... my reasoning is that boat sales are the only time a guy can sell his fish at retail prices ( or at least above wholesale) givin the tight restrictions on finfish catches, at least allow the guys to get a fair price for their catch.

One problem with selling as Goosefish alluded to above is that the species that are regulated with quotas need a centralized accounting like the wholesalers. Yeh, I would like to see some of the guys make more dough instead of slaving to the wholesaler's whim but how would you account for quotas?

Herring pens- IMO pens are .0006% of the problem.. its the herring fleeet. why not regulate them. ????

Does anyone have any real hard data that the "Sea" herring boats are not catching loads of river/bluebacks as bycatch?

[Nebe]

Originally Posted by JohnR

One problem with selling as Goosefish alluded to above is that the species that are regulated with quotas need a centralized accounting like the wholesalers. Yeh, I would like to see some of the guys make more dough instead of slaving to the wholesaler's whim but how would you account for quotas?


Does anyone have any real hard data that the "Sea" herring boats are not catching loads of river/bluebacks as bycatch?

The boat owners would have to self police themselves I guess All I am saying is that if you take that privilige away from them, most will cheat the system anyway and sell direct.

as for herring i am under the impresion that river/bluebacks hang out and party with atlantic sea herring.. how is a trawler going to know what fish is what on the 'blippah' and not scoop up the wrong species....

i hate to say it but i would not be suprised to see 'no fishing zones' like they have in california happen out here. if you cant regulate, simply shut it down until you have a good enough recovery.

[basswipe]

Originally Posted by Eben

i hate to say it but i would not be suprised to see 'no fishing zones' like they have in california happen out here. if you cant regulate, simply shut it down until you have a good enough recovery.

That is a very frightening but not so unrealistic prospect.

[Nebe]

sandy point will be first

[basswipe]

Originally Posted by Eben

sandy point will be first

That would be a bummer.I'd hate to have to move.

Chuck wouldn't be to happy with that either.

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Eben

The boat owners would have to self police themselves I guess All I am saying is that if you take that privilige away from them, most will cheat the system anyway and sell direct.

I don't see cheating getting less if dockside sales are not touched.

as for herring i am under the impresion that river/bluebacks hang out and party with atlantic sea herring.. how is a trawler going to know what fish is what on the 'blippah' and not scoop up the wrong species....

That's my impression too but I was hoping for some real concrete (or semi-concrete) information if possible...

i hate to say it but i would not be suprised to see 'no fishing zones' like they have in california happen out here. if you cant regulate, simply shut it down until you have a good enough recovery.

I don't want to see no fishing zones. If you get a no fishing zone its likely to stay no fishing. What I would support is closing areas to specific gear types with predefined steps to reopen a particular area. So if scup was hammered in Buzzards Bay (yeh right) and it was determined the prime spawning area, you could close the area to say comm and rec suppin' but still rod & reel for bass. Say that it was determined that every year the herring move from the ocean inshore in January thru March, you close off the area to pair trawls. Or you have a prime cod spawning ground during a three month window, it gets closed too so that the more extreme pressure is not applied at the most critical time for the species. I dunno, seems simple to me, I don't see why it can't be applied (other than the occasional and tradition fox guarding henhouse fisheries managment councils)...

[MakoMike]

John,
I hope to get writen comments in on the dockside sales thing by the meeting, but I'm leaving for Geroge's bank tomorrow, so it might not be possible. As far as dockside sale goes, I have no problme with the guys selling crabs and lobsters, but I have a big problem with finfish. It is illegal (under Federal law)for any federally permitteed vessel to commercialize fish caught on a recreational trip. This means that, unless they did special commercial trips, any party boat would be unable to legally sell fish. Same goes for charter boats. I am concerned that the finfish provisions, as currently written would facilitate this iollegal activity.

As far as the herring goes I think the rules should be strictly enforced. Twelve fish is the possession limit, so twelve should be the max allowable in any pen. Frankly I'd like to see them shut the entire herring fishery for a couple of years to give the fish time to recover. I hear from DEM that almost all of the fish in the runs this year are first time spawners.

[fishaholic18]

Originally Posted by MakoMike

I'd like to see them shut the entire herring fishery for a couple of years to give the fish time to recover..

This may be the only solution...Sadly.
I'm all for it if it will help the fishery.

[zacs]

Originally Posted by JohnR

...Or you have a prime cod spawning ground during a three month window, it gets closed too so that the more extreme pressure is not applied at the most critical time for the species. I dunno, seems simple to me, I don't see why it can't be applied (other than the occasional and tradition fox guarding henhouse fisheries managment councils)...

Don't they do this already?

[Mr. Sandman]

"Keeping mind that this has been a long time practice in RI."

My feeling is that just because it has been a long time practice does not make it right! IMO this is in large part a fundemental problem with the comm fishery...it has many rules that are the way they are because we did it that way before. It is wrong, technically against current law and should be disallowed.



Re: herring pens. The take limit should be firmly enforced (whether 0 or 100 per day...whatever the number) if someone keeps them alive in a pen, it does not change the take limit. IMO there is a still lot of late night raids and people taking 100's when the limit is 12. Frankly I have no problem giving up herring (I don't want to, but I gladly would for the benfit of the species BUT I want to see the comm guys give them up as well...not just a modest cut...a give up. ) The last few years have been banner herring hauls for many, combine this with the lack of other forage fish during a bass rebound and here is the problem. Shut it all down (comm and rec for 5 years...fine by me) and make forage fish restoration a top priority.

[MakoMike]

Guys,
FWIW, I just heard today that the NEFMC sent Diodati a letter severely reprimanding the State of MA for allowing the commercial harvest of cod last winter to exceed their own (MA set) limit by a factor of about 4 times. Probably all dur to the gill netters setting on that inshore run of spawning fish in March.