striped bass opened to commercials? Good or Bad?

[Pebbles]

Will striped bass ever be opened to commercials. Why do you think this is good or bad?

[finchaser]

:(Bad ,bass are already in serious trouble. Netters will be allowed x amount of pounds by catch per trip. The bad part it will be like fluke where a trip constitutes breaking the inlet not per day. They will also cull fish as they get paid more for smaller fish because they eat better, no one really likes big bass or blues . Saw all of this at the last crash. Between the tackle store heros killing big fish and the netters killing small fish there are no more good year classes to replenish what took over 20 years to rebuild, the end is near probably this time forever.:( Then what will all that expensive wood be worth???????????????

The National Marine Fisheries Service, through the Marine Recreational Information Program, also keeps statistics on the number of striped bass caught. The preliminary numbers for 2009 show a continuing decline that has occurred every year since 2006, with a precipitous drop between 2008 and 2009. In 2006, there were 28.6 million striped bass caught by recreational anglers. For 2009, that number was 6.9 million. In 2007, the drop from the previous year was 33 percent. In 2008, it was 27 percent. In 2009, it was 50 percent.

Examples:
Commercials can net 14" fluke most large fish are thrown back dead
Down south they can net 18"bass
Blues are always targeted in 2 to 4 pound range


NY 7/21/10 Marine Resource center East Setauket,NY 7PM
631-444-0436

NJ meeting 7/22/10 Toms River Clerks office Toms River,NJ 7 PM
609-748-2020

PA time and place to be announced they get a vote even though they are not a coastal state. (this is the state that usually sends it to the commercials) who knows when and where it will be announced.

Delaware 6/16/10 Richardson and Robbins building Dover,DE
302-739-9914

[buckethead]

If striped bass was opended up to commercials then the numbers would drop drastically. As it is there are too many people who keep the bass and could not give a **** as to the future.

We need to keep it recreational and change the limits. People should be more aware otherwise down the road they will be cryin asking what happened to all the bass?

[surfstix1963]

I think Fin summed it up no spawning class fish left w/ all the different regs. spells disaster they cannot recover that fast we need coastal regs to keep at least one class of fish spawning to replenish the stocks.

[surfwalker]

The above posts explain it the best. We do not need to have anymore disruptions in the normal life span of the Bass. Do they have to put a monetary value on everything till it's wiped out completely? I don't care what laws they would enact for quotas, they would be broken. It's just plain bad and I see no positive results from it, only the greed. The young of the year indices will dictate the future of the Bass.

New faces of this addiction should read about the history and past of the Striped Bass, not only ways to catch them. If people think the Bass will remain in quantities forever, then let the comms have their way. I"ll make book that history will repeat, and if you just enjoy walking beaches and casting to a Stiperless ocean, your wish will be granted.

[DarkSkies]

I don't want to sound like chicken little here, folks.
I try to speak in measured sentences about this, and not to make it sound too dramatic.

Finchaser, Surfwalker, and some of the other long-time anglers here, those are the guys you should be really listening to, because they've lived through to moratorium, and seen the devastating drop in catches right before.

On message board after message board out there, this is a topic that gets relatively few views, for the importance it has to our future.

Many don't seem to give a crap about this stuff, no matter how colorful we try to make these threads, pulling charts and graphs to support the statements. :learn:

These are the facts, without the drama:

1. YOY index is down and trending downward every year.
2. Mycobacteriosis is becoming a greater problem, though IMO not enough to shut the fishery down.
3. A direct relation to #2 above is that many striped bass spawning areas are deteriorating in quality because of the
"people pollutions" - fertilizer runoff, sewage, etc.
4. There are more people fishing for striped bass now than ever before, perhaps attributable to some of the restrictions on other species.
5. An increase in commercial fishing quota is only the beginning of a very long list of increased demands by commercials. They will use any increase as a precedent to push for increases Coastwide, and to open fishing in areas that are now closed to them.

6. For the most part, many people seem to care more about where their next 40 or 50# bass is coming from, than any of the above facts. :huh:

I tried to put these down without all my usual long winded paragraphs. I hope each time I, or we, post info like this it will cause at least one other person to want to learn.

Otherwise, like Finchaser, I have become very cynical about the participation level and interest of many anglers in these issues. The only response I can give to that is if you wait till Striped Bass fishing is shut down or restricted, you as an angler will bear some of the shame for not having acted when it was possible to do something. Thanks for reading.

[DarkSkies]

This was a quote by one of the members of www.tidalfish.com (http://www.tidalfish.com).

There is a strong commercial fishing bias by some members there, and also a good number of anglers who have been fishing before the moratorium. Hence, some very emotionally charged discussions and insults. However, I'm compelled to report on some of the statements I admire that show sound logic and reasoning:



An overview of the 2010 Striped Bass season from a Cheaspeake area angler:

" They will most likely use a commerial increase as an effeort to create jobs which will gain support from desperate out of work folks.

The outlook for 2010 as I see it. The Susquehanna C&R Striper season was worst than last year if thats possible. The trophy season this year has been less than last year. Mycobacteriosis continues to be a unsolvable issue. The YOY index has been low for the last two years.

The CBBt fishing was below par last year as was the Patapsco, 301 Bridge, and Roanoke Rapids in NC. The area from Breezy to Solomons will continue to be the best of the bay for Marylander's for a little bit longer, I hope! The Bay Bridge has lost its luster. Comparing commercial catching in numbers to fishing with bait or lures, it's not an even playing field as appetite is involved. One of the symptoms of mycobacterosis is the loss of appetite. Conservation groups seem to have weakened. CBF BLINKED and droped Law Suit when EPA made promises to
improve. The so called facts on the health and numbers of the stripers are highly suspect as the millions of gallons of oil spilled in the Gulf.

I'm not a scientist but I'm smart enough to realize that the fishery is in big trouble and now ain't the time to have the public decide wether we should increase the harvest of stripers."

Norm

[DarkSkies]

This one was Feb 22, 2010.

I scanned it for the benefit of others here, and it's boring as hell, watching paint dry. :eek: The discussions and implications of adding to the commercial quota begin on page 107.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/recreational/sfac/mtgs/022210/SFACVerbatimTranscript_022210.pdf

[storminsteve]

5. An increase in commercial fishing quota is only the beginning of a very long list of increased demands by commercials. They will use any increase as a precedent to push for increases Coastwide, and to open fishing in areas that are now closed to them.

The only response I can give to that is if you wait till Striped Bass fishing is shut down or restricted, you as an angler will bear some of the shame for not having acted when it was possible to do something. Thanks for reading.


:thumbsup:Well-put, Fin, Dark, and others.It seems if people would wrap their heads around #5above, we might have a fighting chance. Of course, people would then have to go to meetings, write letters, contact congressmen, etc, that's the follow-up part that a lot of folks are too lazy to do.

[nitestrikes]

Will striped bass ever be opened to commercials. Why do you think this is good or bad?

This is bad, I know some commercial guys, the big joke with them is some of the fines they get slapped with. And the fines are a slap in the wrist believe me. When you can get an extra $4-500 for bringing in a load of non-permitted fish, the fine of a few hundred dollars is looked at as the cost of doing business, no big deal. Letting them keep bass where it's not allowed commercially only allows them to legitimize activities that have been going on illegally, for years. No way, Joze!http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon13.gif

[gjb1969]

BADBADBAD!!!!!!AND MORE BAD!!!!!!!:devil::devil::devil::devil::burn::burn:

[rip316]

It seems as though weakfish may have already been destroyed and now bass will be next. I have not heard of any weakfish reports in the spring. I know a lot of people target them just for the sport and they have said that they have never seen it this bad. Not good at all.

[dogfish]

People don't want to see the writing on the wall. Opening more quota to commercials will allow them to legitimize the illegal selling that a lot of them are doing now anyway. Don't do it.

[finchaser]

Ok whose going to the meeting

[DarkSkies]

:(Bad ,bass are already in serious trouble. Netters will be allowed x amount of pounds by catch per trip. The bad part it will be like fluke where a trip constitutes breaking the inlet not per day. They will also cull fish as they get paid more for smaller fish because they eat better, no one really likes big bass or blues . Saw all of this at the last crash. Between the tackle store heros killing big fish and the netters killing small fish there are no more good year classes to replenish what took over 20 years to rebuild, the end is near probably this time forever.:( Then what will all that expensive wood be worth???????????????

The National Marine Fisheries Service, through the Marine Recreational Information Program, also keeps statistics on the number of striped bass caught. The preliminary numbers for 2009 show a continuing decline that has occurred every year since 2006, with a precipitous drop between 2008 and 2009. In 2006, there were 28.6 million striped bass caught by recreational anglers. For 2009, that number was 6.9 million. In 2007, the drop from the previous year was 33 percent. In 2008, it was 27 percent. In 2009, it was 50 percent.

Examples:
Commercials can net 14" fluke most large fish are thrown back dead
Down south they can net 18"bass
Blues are always targeted in 2 to 4 pound range


NY 7/21/10 Marine Resource center East Setauket,NY 7PM
631-444-0436

NJ meeting 7/22/10 Toms River Clerks office Toms River,NJ 7 PM
609-748-2020

PA time and place to be announced they get a vote even though they are not a coastal state. (this is the state that usually sends it to the commercials) who knows when and where it will be announced.

Delaware 6/16/10 Richardson and Robbins building Dover,DE
302-739-9914

I highlighted the NJ and NY meetings for the people reading this. We have enough advance notice, please try to help us all out by attending the meeting in your state. A few Recs won't cut it this time, guys and girls, we need heavy representation, or we'll lose.

It's that simple. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon3.gif

Thanks!

[rip316]

I promise to go.

[bababooey]

People don't want to see the writing on the wall. Opening more quota to commercials will allow them to legitimize the illegal selling that a lot of them are doing now anyway. Don't do it.

I agree, they already do it now by bringing bass to chinese restaurants, small fish markets or running them across state lines.

[jonthepain]

Will striped bass ever be opened to commercials. Why do you think this is good or bad?


Trick question. The commercials have been taking them all along, and their quota is about to be increased:


June 5, 2010

Striped Bass Meeting in Manteo June 29 2010

Washington, DC – Atlantic coastal states from Maine through North Carolina have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on Draft Addendum II to Amendment 6 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass.

The Draft Addendum proposes two changes to the striped bass management program: (1) an increase in the coastal commercial quota, and (2) revising the definition of recruitment failure based on Technical Committee advice.



The proposal to increase the coastal commercial quota is intended to improve equality between the commercial and recreational fishery sectors. Although Amendment 6 established management programs for both fisheries based on the same target fishing mortality rate, the implementation of state-specific quotas for coastal commercial harvest (and not for recreational harvest) has prevented the commercial and recreational fisheries from responding equally to changes in striped bass population size. Since 2003, coastal commercial harvest has decreased by 3.6 percent, while recreational harvest has increased by 13.7 percent. Under the option, the Board would select a percent increase to be applied to the coastal commercial allocations assigned in Amendment 6.

The Management Board voted to include a second issue in the Draft Addendum based on information presented at the meeting. As part of its review of the juvenile abundance indices, the Striped Bass Technical Committee recommended to the Management Board a revision to how striped bass recruitment failure is defined. Juvenile abundance indices are an important component of the striped bass monitoring program and are used to determine periods of recruitment failure which can trigger management action under Amendment 6. Adopting the proposed recommendation would result in a fixed value to determine recruitment failure in each surveyed area rather than a value that changes from year to year. Use of either the Amendment 6 definition or the Technical Committee recommendation for recruitment failure does not result in any necessary changes to the current management program.

Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum, either by attending public hearings or providing written comments. The Draft Addendum can be obtained via the Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News or by contacting the Commission at (202) 289-6400. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on October 1, 2010 and should be forwarded to Nichola Meserve, FMP Coordinator, 1444 Eye Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at nmeserve@asmfc.org (Subject line: Striped Bass Addendum II). For more information, please contact Nichola Meserve, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator at (202) 289-6400 or nmeserve@asmfc.org.

http://ahabsjournal.typepad.com/ahabs_journal/2010/06/striped-bass-meeting-in-manteo-june-29.html

[voyager35]

Jonthepain is right. There are those states that have tremendous pressure from commercials. Their lobbying groups are strong. We are fighting a battle in the halls of congress. Most folks don't realize it, and think of it as a benign threat. There are commercial forums, just like these fishing forums, where they comms discuss ways to troll on the fishing sites, and push for whatever advantage they can get. Would that the recreational fishermen would try that hard. The commercials would be outnumbered.

[buckethead]

These are the stats just from NJ alone and why it is a bad idea.
The comparisons of commercial vs recreational dollars:

http://www.nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2013/13_0025.htm
New Jersey’s commercial fishing industry ranks 7th in the nation in retail sales, and supports $327 million in salaries and wages and nearly 13,000 jobs

Recreational saltwater fishing brings in more than $640 million in retail sales and is directly responsible for nearly 10,000 jobs and more than $242 million in tax revenues, including $165million in state and local taxes.