Do you commercial fish for striped bass?

[Notaro]

try other states because sometimes their size and creel limits may hurt striper's survuval rates. and promote them that circle hooks are a must and no more jack-ass hooks.

[schoolie monster]

Can I address this rec take vs. comm take?

The rec take "SHOULD" be higher since recs make up well over 90% of the fishermen.

Why shouldn't it be that way???????

If striped bass our a resource to be shared, why should one individual be entitled to more than another? Lets not act like the two groups should be considered equal.

Let's say you have 10 fishermen. 9 recs, 1 comm. In Mass, on a given day during the season, the recreation "group" gets 9 fish, while the commercial "individual" gets 40 fish. On a given day out of season, the rec "group" gets 9 fish, the commercial individual gets 1. Can we paint this picture as unfair for the comms?

I am not against commercial fishing via rod & reel for striped bass.

But can we not defend commercial fishing interests by saying that recreational fishing is a bigger threat. Recs are the biggest group so obviously their take will be larger. Should a recreational angler be allowed to keep fewer fish so the comms can continue to harvest. There's only one number below 1 and that's zip. Is that fair?

When somone says that the rec take is higher, they are implying that the two groups should be even, despite the fact that the recreational group is overwhelmingly larger. When conservation measures come down, and a commercial fisherman points fingers at the rec side, they are implying that they personally are entitled to more of that resource than the next person.

This is my biggest point in the whole conservation vs. commercial fishing issue across any and all species. Why should a small group have the biggest affect on a public resource? If the fish are a "public" resource, than we should all have equal access to them.

You want to make things "FAIR" to everyone. One fish per person, per day. You wanna go sell your fish, fine. You wanna eat your fish, fine. You wanna release your fish, fine. That is fair. That is equitable for all parties.

I don't mind the comm vs. rec debate. I personally think that they can coexist. Let's reduce bycatch, stop obliterating the menhaden population, and improve the water quality, especially the Hudson River and the Chesapeake, where these fish spawn. Nobody benefits from these things. A company saves money by dumping toxic sludge into the river? 90% of the bunker population gets ground up into chicken feed or fertilizer? And lets stop harvesting spawners, preventing billions of eggs from being spawned.

[schoolie monster]

Sandman, I definitely see what you are saying, but I can't do it. I just don't want to kill the fish.

I would love to see the bass get gamefish status. If you look at what florida did with redfish and seatrout and the millions and millions the recreational fishing brings to their economy. Those fish are everywhere and they realize the benefit those fish have recreationally far exceeds their commercial value.

Personally, I could care less if it became a catch and release fishery for everyone. I just love to fish and that would serve my interests 'cause there would be that many more to catch.

I just see so many other fights that might be more important overall. If we took care of the other things on the front end, the fish population would be so much healthier, it could support both interests.

[Mr. Sandman]

Originally posted by schoolie monster
Lets not act like the two groups should be considered equal.

AMEN! (When I saw them break it into two groups...I said LOOKOUT...divide and concor

There is a article by Al Ristori (you may like him you may not) in the 1/30 fisherman in the Conservtion watch column called "Striped Bass Game Fish Push Begins"
In summary, the deck is stacked the against the recs and they will be exploited for the commercial interests, there is little you can do about.

The commercial fishing quota is back up to 100% of the base period in the 1970's when stripers were even more abundant then they are now. Can you imagine if the recs were allowed to take fish to 16" ....as many as you want?

I think the bass is too important to keep as a commerical fish and should be made a game fish.

He says there is a new move afoot with significant support to make striped bass a game fish status. (contact bigbass@maine.rr.com)
better yet, read your fisherman.

[Mr. Sandman]

Schoolie...
I hear ya..but they are gonna take the fish ANYWAY, the fish are going to die no matter WHAT. Morally your right, I feel the same way but we have to be pragmatic. So lets at least take some money from their pockets...I know fisherman...I know they will feel and moan about that!

Also, lets get one thing straight...most of these guys going out there with rod and reel are no commercial fisherman. This is a bunch of part timers looking to scam a few bucks and everyone know it. Real commercial fish and fish hard...not just for 6 weeks in the summer. This licence is nothing more then ploy to take more bass.

[Notaro]

so are you guys going to let them commericalize the striped bass? man, i don't like the ideas of it...

[Spare Spool]

I think that the recs and comms (in this post refers to commercial striper fishermen) should stop all of the finger pointing. In my opinion the striper fishery will support both recs and comms. The comm quota is regulated and shut down once the quota is met. Yes I know that obtaining a comm license in MA is a joke, but what difference does it make if 100 or a 1000 comms kill 600,000 lbs of stripers. It's still the same number in the end. As far as cheating with comms freezing fish for the next day etc., the same principle applies. It is still a hard number that once it is reached the fishery is shut down. The biggest concern as far as harvest should be the act of hi-grading whether by comms or recs.

The biggest challenges faced by the striper fishery IMHO are the menhaden situation:
http://www.discover.com/sept_01/gthe...=featfish.html

the mysterious disease running rampant in the Chesapekeake:
http://www.vims.edu/myco/index.html

and the gill netters and draggers that kill who knows how many millions of pounds of stripers as bycatch. This bycatch has to stop. Why is it that when numbers for harvest are thrown around by fisheries managers no one ever factors in the bycatch by commercial draggers and gill netters?
Just my $.02.

[Big Vern]

Well...I guess it's just a case of if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

I have been thinking about ponying up the sixty five bucks, but I was wondering what the normal prices for bass are, and is there always a buyer, and how accessible are they?

[bassmaster]

Comm fishing sucks. have fun turning into a zombe