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From the ASMFC roundtable discussion on striped bass management from 1999. Some comments from Rip Cunningham......that still ring very true and are relevant to this discussion .
"4-5.From the recreational point-of-view there is distrust. ............... Public input is not taken into
account. There seems to be elitism among managers who feel they know the answers of how
to deal with the stock and they don’t need public input. When recreational fishermen don’t
agree with decisions they think they just need to call ASMFC and ask for change. In reality,
recreational fishermen can make their greatest impact at the state level. They don’t realize
that it is a coastwide effort and all states work to establish a compromise, so not all decisions
are based strictly on science. Allocation is not just science. .......
.........ASMFC needs to establish methods to better isolate science from management, and it may
also be better to have others, besides the State directors, represent States interests on the
Management Boards. "
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