Same old story

[jmac]

But as said before, its a commercial endeavor. You're being paid to put people on fish. They should not be included in the rec category.

....the fish are being caught by RECREATIONAL fishermen...they DO NOT have commercial licenses; hence, charter boat catches are tallied as recreational...what so hard about that logic??

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by jmac

....the fish are being caught by RECREATIONAL fishermen...they DO NOT have commercial licenses; hence, charter boat catches are tallied as recreational...what so hard about that logic??

Chartering is a for-profit *commercial endeavor*. I think that is the point some people are trying to get across. Sure, a charter is a glorified boat ride, but money is involved and they are given special exception in some areas of the regulations that aren't given to your typical recreational fisherman.

Your average recreational fisherman that owns a boat isn't taking a group of buddies out every morning, limiting out on fish, returning to the dock to pick up a different set of buddies and limiting out again... and then repeating that 3-6 days/week.

Yes, the regulations currently have grouped charters with recreational fisherman, but any reasonable person that states a charter boat is no different than your run-of-the-mill recreational fisherman is completely out of their mind. They are given special exception with the regs, make money because of the fish and, as such, should be in a regulatory category of their own.

If ASMFC allows another collapse of the fish stocks, no one is going to be paying for "6-hour boat trips around Cape Cod Bay" and charters will be out of business. Their business depends on killing fish for their customers and they should be regulated as such.