purse seining

[riverrat2]

The bigger problem is the amount of rec guys fishing for the small fish and not reporting them to the quota. The big fish that the seiners targer have already spawned multiple times and are pretty much guranteed to be reported due to the size of the operation and amount of money involved. 200 boats a day out at the corner killing 2-3 small fish a day is much more of a problem.

[goosefish]

I don't think that the purse seiner quota nor the general category quota will be met this year. I may be wrong on that. Many of the purse seiners have been tied to the dock for most of the year. They cannot make a set around a school, unless the school is composed of fish larger than 81 inches (?) I think that's about a 320-pound fish. The schools that have been sighted in the Gulf of Maine have been running smaller than that. There are a lot of small fish around but the giants have been scarce. Scarce and the ones that are caught tend to be lean, the oil and fat content much lower than what it should be for this time of the year. A bad year on the giant grounds. Few fish and if a giant is landed chances are real good the fish is going to stay domestic and fetch jack for a price. The whole situation is tricky--the stocks, the forage, the Gulf of Maine. Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island are not much better. Who knows what is really going on in the Mediterranean--other than a complete fiasco of multi-national mismanagement.

[Raider Ronnie]

The problem with the tuna fishery is a bait problem!
When was the last time there was whiting or herring on stellwagen bank ???
They will never fatten up eating sand eels!
Mid water trawlers are the problem far more than the seiners!

[fishonnelsons]

Every fishery has it's own set of variables and factors, as well as different people fishing for them - recreational, small commercial (solo tuna boats) and large commercial (seiners).

Each one of these groups also get something out of fishing for the tuna - recreational get fun and some food, "small" get some money to supplement either a tradesman wage or the measely dollars they squeeze out of a few other fisheries, "large" get money money and support people working in their operation, job's, business, etc. That being said, all the groups have their own reasons and maybe "right" to fish their style.

Yet, as somewhat of an outsider, I look at the seiners making three sets, well over 100 large total, and I wonder what the impact of that is, and question whether it's almost as bad as what is going on over in the Mediteraean (spelling?). I know for sure that it is basically killing the "small" boats out of all the Mass Harbors - Green Harbor, Marshfield, Provincetown etc. for this fishery. Slowly these guys are getting their profession chipped away and each year more and more are dropping out.

On the recreational side fish are being taken every day, but I'm not sure it's two to three hundred a day (based upon what I've seen at the docks and on the radio, as most of the recreationals can't help but broadcast their success!).

I don't know the right answer, as Ronnie rightly points out it really goes back to the bait. But until that is solved maybe we try to slow-up the take of so many fish - large and small?

Learn from the striped bass fishery - step back and take a look. What would all the bassmasters say if a large commercial operation was permitted to go out and seine up about 1000 30 to 40 pounders in the deep water? Would we protest then?

[RedHerring]

Originally Posted by Raider Ronnie

The problem with the tuna fishery is a bait problem!
When was the last time there was whiting or herring on stellwagen bank ???
They will never fatten up eating sand eels!
Mid water trawlers are the problem far more than the seiners!

No the big problem is the price of tuna. There should be a no sale for a few years; look what it did to the striper fishery.

The price is so high, and marine regulators, seemingly, are so cheap to buy, that bluefin tuna will go extinct unless it is taken off the market here and in Europe. I just do not see how tuna can survive.

[Raider Ronnie]

Originally Posted by RedHerring

No the big problem is the price of tuna. There should be a no sale for a few years; look what it did to the striper fishery.

The price is so high, and marine regulators, seemingly, are so cheap to buy, that bluefin tuna will go extinct unless it is taken off the market here and in Europe. I just do not see how tuna can survive.

No offense, but you are mistaken!
Today's price per pound is peanuts compared to the past!
-Average today is $6 - $12 per lb
Back in the late 80s- early 90s, 3-4 times that!
Also,
Asia is the major buyer for tuna, not Europe !
Our 85 inch fish this year was estimated to be about 5 years old, so I would say they can rejenerate stocks fairly quickly, compared to SLOW growing cod who in my opinion, are in much more trouble than the tuna !
-Get rid of the mid water trawlers
-fix the bait
-get rid of dog fish (who are eating all the bait)
- better regs on taking WAY TOO many small tuna (27 & 47 in fish)

[likwid]

Originally Posted by Raider Ronnie

-fix the bait

shut down the seiners.

-get rid of dog fish (who are eating all the bait)

they're eating all the bait?
and GREAT IDEA! kill something else to fix the problem!
as if the ecosystem isn't EFFED UP ENOUGH?

[RedHerring]

Originally Posted by likwid

they're eating all the bait?
and GREAT IDEA! kill something else to fix the problem!
as if the ecosystem isn't EFFED UP ENOUGH?

The dogfish issue is one of perception; they are palatable. They are used for Fish & Chips in England; why couldn't they be used for, say, MacDonalds fish fillet sandwich (maybe they are!).