ASMFC Striped bass board winter meeting minutes

[sokinwet]

"Cut out the 'recreational commercials' by limiting entry to the FEW who do rely on bass for a significant portion of their income"

This is my "favorite". I asked this before when one of the "anti commercial fisherman" crowd posted a similar line of "logic" and got no answer.....So WoodyCT...I'll ask you this time since you brought it up. How many fish in a million lb. quota if it's caught by 100 guys as opposed to 1,000 guys? Open book...and you're allowed to get the other "select few" who deem themselves worthy of making economic decisions for everyone else to help.

[WoodyCT]

If your family has historically been involved in commercial fishing and can demonstrate, through financial records, that the sale of striped bass has provided $X to your family over the last X years then you are considered to be dependent on the fishery and grandfathered a license.

Who is not a true commercial fisherman? All the weekend warriors out there with a $65 license to kill who are using the fish to pay for their expensive hobby are most certainly not.

As for the quota, let the true commercials who depend on bass for a significant % of their income catch as much of that 1 million pounds, or whatever is eventually determined to be a sustainable quota, as they can based on whatever bag limit and minimum-maximum size limits the managers determine best protects the spawning stock biomass. Once it is reached they are done on bass for the year.