Status of Patrick's Bass Bill ???

[Nebe]

Johnny, the fishery did crash once, but let's not forget about the tons of pcbs and mercury that were being dumped into the spawning waters...
I'm all for protecting the fish, but it is foolish to point fingers when there are several variables at play.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Nebe

Johnny, the fishery did crash once, but let's not forget about the tons of pcbs and mercury that were being dumped into the spawning waters...
I'm all for protecting the fish, but it is foolish to point fingers when there are several variables at play.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Another argument against further regulation. "The stock might be struggling, but fishing can't be directly to blame so we shouldn't limit how many fish are taken."

I'm not pointing fingers directly at commercial fisherman. A fish that doesn't reach maturity due to PCBs is no different than a fish taken by a recreational fisherman. If PCBs, mercury and algae are killing fish early in their life, then fewer fish should be allowed to be killed later in life.

[Sashamy]

Johnny
You sure know how to speak out of both sides of your mouth! You said in some other posts that commercial fishing sucks...now you turn around and say it can exist but us greedy commercial fishermen are going to ruin it????I was merely being funny because SF kept saying they weren't anti commercial yet they keep trying to shut it down like it is the pariah causing the problem! It is not the problem! It does exist now with a f@#$ing limit! Get the f@#k over it! When the limit is caught the season is over and then most people go back to recreational or charter fishing anyway and you know what the slaughter continues. Commercial bass fishing does not hurt the population as much as recreational fishing! Fly rods kill fish, bait fishermen kill fish, wire lining kills fish, pcb and toxins kill fish, catch and release practices kill fish! The only way to save them is to make them a pet, lets domesticate them and feed them herring like a dolphin trainer would ast sea world. Get off your %$%$%$%$ing high horse and stop blaming MA DMF and commercial fishing for a collapse that happened 30 years ago...it was not Massachusetts fault that epa regs were not very strict just as it was not the guy keeping the 16 inch fish's fault! Matt Patrick is a #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&, he really thinks that 2400 people are bringing numbers of uncounted bass home to eat...this whole thing is atrocious and unreasonable.

[Sashamy]

Really I am greedy because I choose to make money by fishing? chartering? Lobstering? Horseshoe crabbing? Tuna fishing? I am greedy because I work? I also work in the family business...I like money and I make in ways that I am good at it? I lost my groundfish permit due to political red tape, next someone tries to take away my bass license???? Why I report every year, last year I caught x amount of pounds worth x amount of dollars...does Matt Patrick have the right to take that away from me? Does some special interest group have the right to take that away from me or someone else? What do you guys do for work? Are you doctors? or Lawyers? What if someone went to congress and said you know what I think that people should be able to self diagnose and write their own perscriptions because doctors are too expensive????? See how ridiculous that sounds....it is it stupid just like the SF bill sponsored by Patrick. The commercial quota has a hard tac, unlike cod or haddock...when it si reached it is over done...why can't you understand that simple concept????? The recreational side, which I am also a part of, does not have a quota nor a season for that matter. We the commercial side have never fought with the rec. side, but we are always forced to fight back because we are always under fire. Sorry if you don't like me but I don't care, I speak my mind in rational ways not some fantasy land that half of you would like to live in...it really becomes a problem when you start to put fish before people...

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Sashamy

Johnny
You sure know how to speak out of both sides of your mouth! You said in some other posts that commercial fishing sucks...now you turn around and say it can exist but us greedy commercial fishermen are going to ruin it????I was merely being funny because SF kept saying they weren't anti commercial yet they keep trying to shut it down like it is the pariah causing the problem! It is not the problem! It does exist now with a f@#$ing limit! Get the f@#k over it! When the limit is caught the season is over and then most people go back to recreational or charter fishing anyway and you know what the slaughter continues. Commercial bass fishing does not hurt the population as much as recreational fishing! Fly rods kill fish, bait fishermen kill fish, wire lining kills fish, pcb and toxins kill fish, catch and release practices kill fish! The only way to save them is to make them a pet, lets domesticate them and feed them herring like a dolphin trainer would ast sea world. Get off your %$%$%$%$ing high horse and stop blaming MA DMF and commercial fishing for a collapse that happened 30 years ago...it was not Massachusetts fault that epa regs were not very strict just as it was not the guy keeping the 16 inch fish's fault! Matt Patrick is a #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&, he really thinks that 2400 people are bringing numbers of uncounted bass home to eat...this whole thing is atrocious and unreasonable.

Thank you for reaffirming my point on how people like you are the reason respectable R&R commercial guys get a bad rap. Pretty much everything I posted about, you've supported.

First off, I keep very few fish (2 last year, and both were bleeding heavily when they got to shore) nor buy fish at market. As such, a no-take fishery is most beneficial to *me*. I've been pretty consistent in stating that. Also like I said in my above post, commercial fishing is not viable given our current system and until that system changes, it will continue to not be viable. Until the system is fixed, commercial fishing should go away *along* with severely decreased limits on recs - because, yes, both are to blame. You say that we shouldn't consider a collapse that happened 30 years ago, but you've obviously never heard the saying "those who choose to ignore the past are destined to repeat it."

Second, in the second line I bolded, you're admitting that given the current state of the striped bass, they can't be saved. Which again reaffirms my point that you're one of those commercial guys that wants to exploit the seas for everything that it can give up until it is completely depleted.

I guess my analogy about if you were a logger, you'd clear cut every forest possible was dead on. The unnecessary swearing at me doesn't help your point either.

[MikeToole]

Unlike other industeries for some reason people think we need to compensate commercial fisherman when there is a lack of work for them. The two issues many had with the original bill was game fish status and the slot limit. Patrick hasn't given up on the game fish status but he is open to suggestions. Maybe it was stripers forever that got the ball rolling but here is a chance to modify the bill and remove the slot and maybe shift to a one fish limit as many suggested in post under other threads. Now is an opportunity to change it from the SF bill to the Mass recreational fisherman bill.

Some say leave regulation to ASMFC and don't get politicians involved. What a bill like this does is gives your state rep at the ASMFC an understand of what the people from the state want.

I agree that closing off beaches hurts the cape businesses but don't under estimate the effect no bass would have. I like many others, make about six trips a season to the cape, that I wouldn't be making if there were no bass.