MD still netting with closed season

[finchaser]

more smoke and mirrors they are still at it even with an emergency closed gill net season

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/dnrnews/pressrelease2011/021211.asp

[surfstix1963]

I used to give some merit to the comms thats what their families did and now they are doing it they need to make a living but now they have a total disrespect for the enviroment totally destroying what they depend on for a living when the rockfish,striped bass are gone,then what off to another species wipe them out so on and so forth instead of getting rid of dec or dep workers they need to hire them.I think its time to shut down the commercial fishery with nets and trawls rod and reel only any boat caught with the equiptment should be impounded take the boat you take their money their families will have to find other employment while they pay a real fine, if the boat is owned by someone else they should be fined to I'm quite sure they know what their boat is doing some may disagree with me but you know what Tough Love works.Its not only about wiping out a fish stock doing this also endangers the whole nitrogen cycle of the ocean between pollution,dumping,acid rain runoff,fertilizers and fish stocks declining causes more water pollution I don't want to sound like a tree hugger here but having many saltwater and freshwater fish tanks their is a delicate balance that needs to be kept you need the feces,urine & uneaten foods to break down into ammonia(bad for fish by the way) which turns into nitrites(also bad) which then turns into nitrates which is the end product of the nitrogen cycle(also dangerous in high levels) providing those levels can be maintained properly it is a little more complicated but that is the basis of life and I also know I'm comparing a fish tank to a ocean but it's the principle I'm trying to get across,did you ever wonder walking down the beach what that scuzzy brown foam is its the oceans built in protein skimmer from wave action the foam caused by the waves catches the proteins that need to be broken down to aid in the cycle.Sorry this is so long but these are the things that are overlooked.

[seamonkey]

It seems like this stuff will never stop. How many gill netters are they in that area? They should just check them all to see which ones have missing nets. I don't think they are trying too hard to find the guilty ones.



Natural Resources Police located additional illegal nets

Reward for Information Now Up to $20,000

Annapolis, Maryland (February 12, 2011) – The Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) located additional illegal anchored gill nets on Friday evening, February 11. Two 900 yard strings of illegal anchored gill nets were located in Eastern Bay. One net was found about a mile south of Bloody Point Light and the second net was found about 2 ½ miles NE of Bloody Point Light in Eastern Bay.

A total of 3,879 pounds of rockfish were removed from the anchored gill nets. Those fish will be sold and the money will be used for natural resources law enforcement . NRP patrol boat GPS track lines indicated that the area where the nets were found had been previously searched the week before. At that time, there were no indications of nets in the area.

Discovery of the illegal gill nets comes less than two weeks after NRP confiscated more than 10 tons of illegally caught striped bass from four illegally anchored gill nets near Bloody Point Light, south of Kent Island in the Chesapeake Bay. After the initial find, DNR was forced to shut down the striped bass gill net season.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is now offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of poachers involved in illegally catching the first 10 tons of rockfish DNR, its partners and private citizens are putting forward $10,000 and the Chesapeake Bay Savers is matching that money with another $10,000.

“I want to thank the Chesapeake Bay Savers and all of our partners who have donated money,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “This money is not only a reward, but represents the commitment of all Marylanders to invest in restoring the native populations in the Bay and protecting that investment.”

"Poachers are criminals who destroy the Chesapeake Bay for their personal profit and take the food off the table of honest, hard-working watermen who take pride in working Maryland’s waters,” said Evan Thalenberg, Chesapeake Bay Savers founder.

Maryland’s commercial striped bass fishery is managed on a quota system, in cooperation with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission; the commercial gill net quota for February is 354,318 pounds. When the illegally harvested striped bass confiscated by the NRP were deducted from the quota, DNR was forced to immediately shut down the fishery. The fishery will remain closed until DNR can determine the extent of illegal nets out on the Bay and the amount of striped bass caught in those nets. Before reopening the season, DNR will make sure the current system for accounting for harvest is sufficient and that reopening does not increase the risk for further poaching.

DNR stakeholders immediately stepped up to donate money for a reward. A private citizen also pledged $500 toward catching the poacher or poachers responsible. The Chesapeake Bay Savers then pledged to match the total reward.

[surferman]

I don't think they are trying too hard to find the guilty ones.
DNR stakeholders immediately stepped up to donate money for a reward. A private citizen also pledged $500 toward catching the poacher or poachers responsible. The Chesapeake Bay Savers then pledged to match the total reward.

I read the reward money is now up to $20,000?
With that kind of money it offers a big incentive to catch the scum that did this. Hope they are successful.