I think that the recs and comms (in this post refers to commercial striper fishermen) should stop all of the finger pointing. In my opinion the striper fishery will support both recs and comms. The comm quota is regulated and shut down once the quota is met. Yes I know that obtaining a comm license in MA is a joke, but what difference does it make if 100 or a 1000 comms kill 600,000 lbs of stripers. It's still the same number in the end. As far as cheating with comms freezing fish for the next day etc., the same principle applies. It is still a hard number that once it is reached the fishery is shut down. The biggest concern as far as harvest should be the act of hi-grading whether by comms or recs.
The biggest challenges faced by the striper fishery IMHO are the menhaden situation:
http://www.discover.com/sept_01/gthe...=featfish.html
the mysterious disease running rampant in the Chesapekeake:
http://www.vims.edu/myco/index.html
and the gill netters and draggers that kill who knows how many millions of pounds of stripers as bycatch. This bycatch has to stop. Why is it that when numbers for harvest are thrown around by fisheries managers no one ever factors in the bycatch by commercial draggers and gill netters?
Just my $.02.
Threaded Mode