3 tons of illegal bass

[finchaser]

Rockfish
May 4, 2011 11:05 AM
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http://cbsbaltimore.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/rockfish.jpg?w=320 ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Authorities say an illegal rockfish net found off Tilghman Island had more than three tons of fish.
Maryland Natural Resources Police said an 80-foot work boat outfitted with a crane worked for several hours to gather the nearly mile-long net on Tuesday.
The net was found Sunday by recreational fishermen near a buoy midway between Tilghman Island and North Beach.
The seizure is the latest in a series in the bay this year. The commercial rockfish gill net season was shut down Feb. 4 after 10 tons of rockfish were confiscated from illegal nets. The season eventually was allowed to reopen for its final two days.
Authorities have seized almost 16 tons of illegally caught rockfish this year. Illegally caught fish are deducted from the amount commercial fishermen can catch.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


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[Pebbles]

That is amazing! No wonder there are no fish around.

[jonthepain]

surprised it wasn't in NC

[surfstix1963]

They need to stop commercial netting period otherwise this crap will never stop let em go old school rod and reel.I use to have somewhat of a clear head and said the guys need to feed their families but now EFF EM ALL.

[Monty]

They need to stop commercial netting period otherwise this crap will never stop let em go old school rod and reel.I use to have somewhat of a clear head and said the guys need to feed their families but now EFF EM ALL.
:HappyWave:
Same opinion here......but I never had a clear head.

[nitestrikes]

These a-holes will never learn. They found illegal nets, after all this publicity, and after they knew enforcement would be greater. Then it stands to reason that they have been illegally netting to an even greater extent than is assumed. They should have no mercy with these tools. First offense, minimum of $50,000 fine, 2nd offense, take your boat, and you're done with commercial fishing.

[lostatsea]

Authorities have seized almost 16 tons of illegally caught rockfish this year.

16 tons. Wow that is a staggering amount. Like nitestrikes said, how about the amount of illegal bass that didn't get detected. Take illegal drugs for instance. They say that they are able to intercept something like 20% of all illegal drugs entering this country. If you are an illegal drug smuggler that means that 1 in every 5 shipments get busted, not bad odds if you are standing to make millions on each shipment. If you apply this logic to striped bass illegal netters, that would mean that they are probably geting away with netting up to 65 tons of illegal bass every year?

I don't know if those figures are true, but what nitestrikes said does make sense. This is probably just the tip of the iceberg! No wonder the big bass are getting to be less and less every year! http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon13.png http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon8.png

[BassBuddah]

They need to stop commercial netting period otherwise this crap will never stop let em go old school rod and reel.I use to have somewhat of a clear head and said the guys need to feed their families but now EFF EM ALL.


That's what they do in Mass. Some are against it but it's a lot more efficient than what is happening here. This is a travesty and will go on until the public outcry is heard by the guys who make the laws. It makes me sick to read about this, again, in the same MO of the past.