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AFAIK this initial assessment was based on preliminary data- the full report isn't due until the end of January. While the final report may end up being the same, this should be considered. Mr. Gaines loves to stir the pot any chance he can get.
I don't work in stock assessment, but from what I've seen first hand, there's no shortage of GoM cod- Numbers are extremely high. I can't speak for GB/SNE. And since the shift to sector management, the days of "thousands of dead ones" being tossed over the side are long gone. Comms know where the small ones are, and they don't fish in those areas. It quite simply doesn't happen anymore. With the high monitoring levels, there's no incentive to discard marketable catch.
The old DAS system was a travesty- 800 lb daily limit, basically encouraging high grading and excessive (not to mention wasteful) discarding of catch. And now vocal minorities in the fleet are petitioning our senators to go back to the DAS system- which IMO would be a catastrophe.
I think MakoMike is correct- the truth is somewhere in between. I think the data for the current assessment needs to be reexamined.
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