Mass. weighs tougher protections for striped bass

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by BasicPatrick

Another reason to oppose the bill is that in the eyes of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Striped Bass Management Board and their scientists this bill will not conserve any Striped Bass. The current managment plan wuld redistribute the commercial quota unless MA chose to harvest these fish in another manner (ie, the NJ third trophy fish) and that is unlikely.

Very true, but this new legislation is just a trojan horse. Down the road I can't believe with the impending sw registry/license the rec fishers take a greater position of power, thus influencing the outcome of our fisheries regs to a much greater degree...not saying this is necessarily good, but its iminent.

[CowHunter]

I cant understand why on earth anybody would want a slot limit and think that it is a good thing. They did it here in NJ for a few years and wiped out a generation of resident fish. Didnt work, its gone but the damage is done. Anybody was able to go out in the early spring and clam up a 100 or so Slot fish. it was amazing how much that changed in a year and then two. You had headboats from NY and NJ with 60-80 people on em pounding on these fish, then charter boats, and rec guys. Every boat in the bay was anchoring up and clamming and then chunking when the bunker arrived. Slot fish dont promote catch and realease, people catching slots are killing and eating em. Means alot more people killing...Raritan bay is now like the dead sea All those resident fish are wiped out. People up in New england cant imagine what pressure there is here. Makes mass commercial look like me surfcasting block...... Here we have the most densly populated area and you cant imagine the pressure on fish. Thats OK though, because now that the bay is dead we saved the bunker and the bunker made a huge comeback... They are up and down the NJ coast for miles. An easy bait supply is a good thing for our striped bass, I think much of the opposite. When everybody has easy access to bunker anybody could could go out and snag and drop. Pretty funny when you have Hundreds of boats and hundreds of "Surffishermen" snagging and dropping every single day. Headboats from Staten Island, Brooklyn, NY and NJ targeting the transitory fish moving up the coast. These are the Big fish. Well the fishery really has been getting worse and worse every year. Funny to see miles and miles of bunker schools with nothing on em. Things change alot in a year or two. I dont care what anybody says, numbers are down, way down and thats up the coast from North carolina to Maine. I know because I fish up and down the coast, areas that used to hold fish dont. No matter how you cut it there are fewer and fewer fish every season. I know how much harder and smarter I have to fish.... Mass Can be like NJ, put in a slot limit, Sell the commercial fishery out for a single dollar a fish and call it a bonus tag program with an endless supply of tags.Everyone I know gets bonus tags.... Guys going out 4 to a boat and keeping 16 fish a trip. Hell I know, I have clients come on my boat and do it all the time. In fact I kill way more fish a season here in NJ on my charters than I do in Mass. Commercial 2008 / 11,500lbs 18 days, 2009 / 8,600lbs 14 days.... I wont even write whats killed on my charters. In fact, I dont get any just catch and release trips. I know so many people that reuse those tags and so the reporting season is all BS, at least in Mass the commercial fishery is regulated. These people who say they are trying to save the striped bass fishery really have no clue, they are idiots. They Point the finger at Mass commercial, rhode island commercial. I bet more fish are killed in NJ April, May, June, October, November just poundage wise recreationally then Mass and Rhode Island combined Commercial and recreational. Who keeps tally on what is getting killed here. I dont have any catch reports to fill out here Charter wise or recreational. It all BS. Gotta love now how the shut the Fluke down, all the boats that were targeting fluke are now targeting stripers. Striped Bass donta stand a chance in the next few years. Guys should see the Damage is done in VA / NC in the winter when the whole Biomass is Concentrated. How that fishery fell of a cliff. Hey, Maybe we can get the eez opened up to 12 miles like VA is pushing since the inside fish are wiped... Its gonna be ugly in the next few years. Should just have a 1 fish limit at 36" OR Better like they did in the mratorioum. Mass commercial stayed open and look at the comeback the fish made.Get used to it being like buzzards bay in the summer, or the rhode Island Surf in October / November. How things have changed in short time. Sorry for the rambling... from our government down, people in charge who dont have a clue....

[Mr. Sandman]

Originally Posted by CowHunter

Should just have a 1 fish limit at 36" ....

K.I.S.S.

[CowHunter]

And you have absolutley not a CLUE as to what the Rec take is state to state, NO CLUE whatsoever. Just blame it on the Mass com's....

[CowHunter]

Probably the same people that encouraged Bonus Tags... NJ the only State that has it. 3 Fish per man, day to day, every day! The hell with people that dont fish, only the people that fish for striped bass should be allowed to eat striped bass, (ELITEST). Would do lovely things for the black market of striped bass, just like tog down here in NJ / NY! And Bass!

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by CowHunter

And you have absolutley not a CLUE as to what the Rec take is state to state, NO CLUE whatsoever. Just blame it on the Mass com's....

Ken,

You make many valid points, but the Mass commercial is still a joke/free for all, IMO. Stopping commercial harvest in Mass is only one of the facets of this plan. Added benefits are the plethora of poachers who ply the RI and CT waters and sell their fish in Mass will have one less place to dump their catches. I regularly watch a couple divers from CT bring their gigantic "commercial" catches up to Mass every summer. Every one of their fish has a harpoon hole just behind the gill plate from where the fish were shot with a spear gun. I'm sure plenty of this stuff goes on but doesn't get on the public radar.

Like you pointed out, the "game fish" status in Jersey is a joke too as the powers that be simply pulled the rug out from under the commercial guys and handed the quota to the rec guys, which accomplished absolutley nothing but the continued slaughter of large fish. Should the same thing happen in Mass it will be a travesty.

I'm thinking better things are going to happen going forward simply because the gamefish status and one fish per day limit does make sense provided we get everyone on board.
Provided there's an abundance of slot sized fish available that would be protected, the slot makes sense too provided everyone gets on board with it.

If the plan does work out, it will result in every user group taking less, not just the comms.