NJ EEZ fishing, Enforcement of the regulations

[seamonkey]

There are a lot of boats catching big cow bass right now outside the 3 mile limit. My friend went on a charter out of Cape May this week. The captain wouldn't go past the 3 mile limit and was very professional about it. However, there was radio chatter on all day from boats and charter captains of guys who were scoring bass to 40lbs by fishing 6 miles out. Some of these guys were putting the bass in the box and then scooting back inside the 3 mile limit to make the catches look legitimate.

Aren't these guys poachers?
Why isn't the DFG or the Coast Guard doing something about it?
What do you guys think of this?

[voyager35]

It's sleazy, pure and simple. Folks were talking about it at the marina yesterday. Kudos to your Captain for playing by the rules. I see this every fall when a large body of bass pass by offshore. Sometimes we see them when fishing the inshore wrecks. I try to be careful about where I fish, and feel the laws should apply equally to everyone. I feel any charter captain guilty of this should have his license suspended for a year. There is no kinder gentler way to stop it.

The guys doing this say they are "targeting" bluefish, and can't help it if they catch bass "by accident". They have a great scam going and are no better than the gillnetters targeting smaller fish and killing bass as bycatch.

Call some numbers next time and demand action be taken.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=45

[baitstealer]

Absolutely wrong. It's a lame excuse to say you are fishing for bluefish when the whole charter paid to fish for bass. Throw the book at them.

[paco33]

Aren't these guys poachers?
Why isn't the DFG or the Coast Guard doing something about it?
What do you guys think of this?

1. sure they are
2. not enough manpower?
3. the rules should go for everyone, these guys doing this suck.

[crosseyedbass]

Can the local town police hand out tickets for eez fishing regulation violations in LI or jersey?

[Frankiesurf]

That is a very good question. I have yet to see it happen but you never know. I will see what i can find out.

[finchaser]

No they can't, only marine police in state waters or coast guard in federal and state waters

Another problem is all state offenders are tried in a regular court where judges don't have a clue about marine law. There are no courts or judges assigned to these marine issues.
If you are summonsed in federal waters you are tried in a federal court where judges have a vague idea as to whats going on.

[DarkSkies]

There was a big deal this winter about the guys from VA and NC fishing in the EEZ.

The bass had moved offshore up to 30 miles out where the water was warmer. Water inshore of the EEZ was in the high 30's, too cold for large numbers of bass and bait. Guys were going day after day with no catches, and some decided to "cheat" by fishing in the EEZ.

All sorts of excuses were thrown out to justify fishing in the EEZ. Lots of people said there was nothing that coukl be done and had been going on for years. I didn't believe that, wouldn't accept it.

I spent about 2 weeks doing some investigative reporting and developed the following thread as a comprehensive resource for concerned anglers.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ead.php?t=5801

I learned a lot doing that research. I also learned that it's not fair to only slam those guys down there when there are people up here guilty of the same.

[DarkSkies]

The guys down there said it so many times it became a mantra. Although that doesn't justify what they were doing, they did get prosecuted. There were many undercover investigations, and undercover intelligence was developed.

Boats were boarded, summonses were regularly issued.

Yes, there was an offshoot of rogue captains who decided to flout the law and thumb their noses at the Coast Guard by dumping dead fish when the CG came poking around.

Yes, there were countless recreational anglers who justified what they were doing by saying "Aw everyone does it, why not leave us alone because you can't enforce the law!"

Still, despite all the guys that got away with it, many were summonsed, and had to pay the fines. Although enforcement wasn't consistent, there was enough of a movement against this fishing that I believe it will be stronger next year.

The impossible goal was to stop it completely. The realistic goal was to raise awareness. I and others succeeded in reaching that goal.

[DarkSkies]

This bothered me the most.

Guys were violating a law and openly encouraging others to do it because they said it was unjust. My feeling is this: If you're not happy with a law, then at least try to get it changed. If you do that, and still get nowhere, then you can do whatever your conscience guides you to.

Without ranting, that's one of my beefs about society today, that there is no shame when people do something wtong. They justify the means as validating the end. This IMO encourages that behavior because it allows others to think it's OK and do the same.

[DarkSkies]

Like I said, if we want to point our fingers at the VA and NC guys, we have to be willing to shine the spotlight on our own behavior.

There were a few reports that came in here and on other sites of guys getting bass in deeper water. Well, some of the bass moved beyond there to federal waters. I can report at this time that yesterday, Sat April 17, a bunch of guys were boarded and summonsed for allegedly striped bass fishing in the EEZ.

Some of these boaters saw the CG coming in the CG modified raft and allegedly decided to outrun them. Bad choice.

The first rule I learned when I was a kid getting in lots of trouble was that when you get busted for something, caught red handed, you never fun from the cops. It just makes them mad and want to throw you down the stairs.

So in addition to summonses for (allegedly ) fishing in the EEZ, some of the boats out there got summonses for (allegedly) evading LE. You can plea down the EEZ violations, but judges are less likely to accept a plea to the "evading" charges.

Lesson learned, maybe.

The guys who got busted first were private boats. When they asked why the charters and party boats weren't being summonsed as well, they were told they were captured on video cam and would receive summonses back at the docks.

I'll try to report on this more as the facts come in. In the meantime, anyone who has anything to add, or corrections to be made, feel free.

I for one am glad to see these guys doing their job. While the guys who got popped might be angry, the law doesn't work when people think there is no enforcement. The apathy that develops when that happens leads to greater non-compliance.

I'll be updating this thread as people get summonsed for fishing in NJ's EEZ and posting the LE reports, which are a matter of public record. Anyone else who wants to post factual reports of people getting caught poaching there, feel free.

[hookedonbass]

I for one am glad to see these guys doing their job. While the guys who got popped might be angry, the law doesn't work when people think there is no enforcement. The apathy that develops when that happens leads to greater non-compliance.

You said it! I'm glad they busted them. Throw the book at the aholes.

[wish4fish]

thats bs their poachers they should take the boats

[cardoc765]

OMG, yet another way for aholes to poach, for what bragging rights????? I know a lot of you feel the same, but jeeze. It's bad enough that we deal with poachers on the shore lines taking more than they are supposed to and shorts. Yet these guys know they are not supposed to go out there and still do. Then get upset cause they got caught???? W_F. It's no wonder NOAA wants to impose more restrictions on fishing. The more they hear aobut this kinda stuff, the more they will be apt to saying "oh the catch this year was 2.4 million" as a guess and who is gonna say different. Party boat captains should be forced to a penalty of not being able to fish for a certain time if they are caught out there. Same goes for commercial fisherman. If they violate, they should get more than a slap on the hand. Couple years ago, there were 2 boats out of NY that were busted dragging the RB and because it was their livelyhood, the fines were not what law states it should have been.

Seems like, the more we see the fish not moving in at the time WE think they should, the more we see this kind of stuff happening. Let nature take its course. If the fish are not in close enough for you to catch, then EFFIN wait like the rest of us do.

There have been plenty of times, where we didn't get a good fluke season or bass, or whatever. It's life and that's fishing. WE can't change the weather to what we want, nor can we force the fish to feed. With these kinda aholes out there, there would be no fish population if we could control nature that way.

Anyway, sorry I had to vent. I'll leave it at that.

[gjb1969]

well seid hang them high i wont miss them take the boats from them and make reefs out of them

[finchaser]

just the start of the circus

[bababooey]

Caught with their hands in the cookie jar, oops! Hope the fines are big enough to hurt some of them. If I can't fish there why should they be able to?

[fishinmission78]

If I can't fish there why should they be able to?

tackle shop heroes.

[surferman]

Hey I don't know if it's ok to post this dark, but on the bassbarn there is a thread where they go back and forth about fishing in the EEZ off of Jersey. I can't believe some of the rationalizations a few guys are using to get out there and fish. For the most part, people want to do the right thing. But there are others who rationalize EEZ poaching as no worse than a traffic ticket! That's total BS!
If you cant catch a fish within 3 miles, then save your gas and stay home! I'm sick of the cheaters out there whojustify their behavior, OH I get it they are jigging for bluefish and "accidentally" caught 27 stripers!??
. Dark you can delete if it's not ok. I think we should put it out there that who are we to get angry at the southern guys if we are doing the same thing, and justifying it as no big deal! Here are some of the posts--


"Talked to some guy today on the beach,who tells me he chartered a boat last Sunday and they fished about 8 miles off.He said there were a few dozen boats out there too,private and chartered.I asked him the name of the boat but he wouldn't tell me.I would have dimed them out in a minute.It's pretty sad when professional charter captains run out 8 miles to find fish.If you cant find fish within the legal 3 mile limit your a pretty shotty capt......."


"Fishing and targeting Striped Bass beyond three miles is against the law. Speeding is against the law; but ride on the Parkway and show me who is doing 65MPH or less. Every person speeds and they are breaking the law. When you live in a glass house do not throw stones. "

"
I heard about this from a neighbor. Very large fish -- Majority of fish were in the 35-40# class with a couple pushing 50#. Odd thing was almost all fish were cookie cutter--almost the same size. A guy who has been fishing a long time from montauk to Virginia said he had never seen anything like it. Seems like a small group are keyed into it as the same small fleet of boats were hitting the same area over the course of the past 2 weeks as there is an enormous amount of bait holding the fish. "


"I think more people fish the eez than don't haha! they all use the "Im going after bluefish arguement" At the end of the day it doesn't really matter because if the state or Govt were really worried about it they would be enforcing it more! "


"Why is everyone so worried about the Stripers? They are by far the best fishery we have available to us and I'm talking about inshore and offshore. This is the only time of year where you really see some serious life in the damn ocean and can catch a good number of fish. What about the weakfish? Maybe instead of beating the EEZ topic to death every year people should starting banging on their keyboards writing something about what we can do about the weakfish stock."

[plugginpete]

I think that sucks if guys are doing that in NJ. I know for a fact people do it out of Montauk every year. I have a few friends in the charter industry, and there's not a lot of enforcement when you are out off Block fishing 5-10 miles out. It is what it is. I do think that everyone should obey the law, whether you think it's fair or not. Otherwise we will have anarchy.