Bluefish

[basswipe]

Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND

I agree with Krispy on this one; It has long been known that Bluefish are cyclical, some decades they are lean, some decades they are plentiful...

Again...this is always what's said before they start disappearing.

More folks are keeping 10 blues(in RI)now more than ever.Why?Cuz they can.

Don't bitch 20yrs from now when you're allowed only 1 or 2 fish.Complacency on this issue really does kill.

Love'em or hate'em you gotta protect'em before its too late.

[Mr. Sandman]

I read someplace (SWS I think) that NY is RAISING the retention limit from 10 to 15 or 25 (I think) per day. Marine Fishery Depts have their head up their ass and always have.

They had a 100 or 150 limit on scup...now the scup season is limited and shuts off Aug 1. (clearly they were wrong)

They allowed the taking of SB when it was in extreme decline and refused to do anything until they were forced to (moratorium)(clearly they were wrong)

winter flounder, weakfish, codfish, herring, bunker now eels..the list is long of regulated species that have been crushed, the bottom line is that they don't do anything until they are overfished to the point where they need to take drastic measures. (clearly they were wrong)

If they ***really*** new what they were doing fish stocks and their forage whould never get to this point...but the FACT is they don't have any idea what the hell they are doing except trying to allow the maximum comm take possible for all species. It is laughable.

Why would NY want raise the limit on bluefish? Becuase there are more of them? Who needs 10 bluefish per person per day?

Any change should be kept ultra simple...like X fish per person anysize. and X should me determined and set every year based on the trend in the total biomass of the fish IMO.

[RIROCKHOUND]

I agree that NMFS/ASMFC doesnt do great or have a great track record. "More folks are keeping 10 blues(in RI)now more than ever.Why?Cuz they can"
I 100% disagree that bluefish are getting kept more now than ever... I know that during the moratorium bluefish were being killed at a much higher rate then today there were no limits and charter boats taking fish by the 100's was not uncommon; we ran a head boat in the 80's that made most of its money scup fishing and bluefishing, 50 people taking coolers FULL of bluefish, even at 10fish pp/day we collectivly arent killing as many bluefish as 20yrs ago.....
I am around the docks alot and havent seen anyone come in with a limit of bluefish yet this year, most guys are bassing and only keeping a few blues for the table, shark bait, etc...
"Again...this is always what's said before they start disappearing"
You're right thats what they have always said because I beleive that alot of the species have a natural cycle to their nature. The problem is when they are overfished during a downswing in the population...