So....

[big jay]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

Since I'm so far off base... then how do you explain why the US is repeatedly below their quota for BFT?

It's a bait issue - midwater pair trawlers have decimated all the inshore bait (macs and herring) to the point where most off the giants that normally summer in the gulf of maine keep moving north to canada (where they outlawed mid-water trawling and have ass-loads of bait).

Over the last several years the Canadians have had so many fish that they are filling their quotas in days (PEI lasted less than a week last year) - they are also getting smaller (presumably U.S. fish) earlier than they ever had. Canada was always huge fish late in the year (700 was small and it was all OCT/Nov).
Now they have 500lb fish in July.

If we fix our bait situation, we will fix our Giant fishery.

The overall #'s of fish haven't really changed, its the geographic distribution. Giants don't care about border lines, they just want something to eat.

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by big jay

It's a bait issue - midwater pair trawlers have decimated all the inshore bait (macs and herring) to the point where most off the giants that normally summer in the gulf of maine keep moving north to canada (where they outlawed mid-water trawling and have ass-loads of bait).

Over the last several years the Canadians have had so many fish that they are filling their quotas in days (PEI lasted less than a week last year) - they are also getting smaller (presumably U.S. fish) earlier than they ever had. Canada was always huge fish late in the year (700 was small and it was all OCT/Nov).
Now they have 500lb fish in July.

If we fix our bait situation, we will fix our Giant fishery.

The overall #'s of fish haven't really changed, its the geographic distribution. Giants don't care about border lines, they just want something to eat.

Absolutely makes sense, but all of the above seems to fall into my second point: "the regulatory body has unacceptably high expectations with regards to the health of the tuna population" - in this case, it just happens to be a regional issue.

To get back to the core of RIROCKHOUND's initial post regarding the best interest of the fish...
Isn't the unfortunate reality of the situation that the Canadian quota (where the bigger fish intended to be caught for the US quota are) should be increased and the US quota (where the quota isn't being filled due to smaller fish) should be decreased?

[Islander77]

RRH, Fishsmith... Dogfish are endangered too... The fact is there are some people here who dont fully get it and blame ONE EFFIN SIDE... Yes business is business.... But dont PUT ALL the blame on one side... I mean most companies that have 3 ceos resign to avoid a big issue ( destroying documents to cover their arse) and another one bagged on it so 4 heads destroying documents... ENOUGH SAID

[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by Islander77

RRH, Fishsmith... Dogfish are endangered too...

Not by any definition of the word. Even NMFS/NOAA admits that there are more dogfish around than every before. They have been wiped out on the European side of the Atlantic but there are plenty of them on this side.

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by MakoMike

Not by any definition of the word. Even NMFS/NOAA admits that there are more dogfish around than every before. They have been wiped out on the European side of the Atlantic but there are plenty of them on this side.

Anyone ever try dogfish? My understanding is that the Brits used to use them (or maybe still do) for fish and chips. We run into them so often when jigging, yet I've never seen or even heard of someone keeping them.

[nightfighter]

Spiny Dogfish Shark