Rockhopper and others, I know how ya's feel, it's easy to direct anger at these guys. But let's try to use that anger for a more positive result, which is raising and maintianing awareness of which commercial methods are the worst for the future of fishing. As I understand it, trawling (like they did here) and bottom roller dragging (like they do for fluke and flounder) are 2 of the most destructive forms that exist today.

In a conversation this morning, Finchaser filled me in on some of the points that a lot may not be aware of. I owe him a deep debt of gratitude for his "rants" and ramblings that I'm sometimes privy to. He has a perspective that should be shared with many. In many of my postings you may see his influence, albeit toned down a bit. I have to give him a great deal of credit here, although he's a grouchy old basstard.


Let me try to summarize some of those points as he explained them:

1. The new regulations are mostly moving forward in a good way.

2. What they prevent-
a. Before, the limit was 50/trip. The incentive was to high grade, because in the fish markets down there, more fish weight equals more dollars. There is no preferential commercial striped bass size, as large bass are filleted and sold to restaurants, some of who market the bass as "grouper", which has more commercial appeal to diners. That's why it made sense to make sure each one of your 50 were as large as possible.

50 bass a day (at 10lbs each) vs 50 bass a day (at 40lbs each) is a difference of 1500lbs.
To simplify this example, if the commercial value of these striped bass wholesale was $3/lb, that would equate to a $1500/day greater paycheck if a comm culled the fish to keep only the largest.

b. Before, that 50/trip limit meant that comm Capts could go out as many times as they wanted. Each trip out of the inlet and back counts as a trip. This is the sneaky distinction that a lot of comms don't want you to know about. So it's conceivable that one comm boat could catch 200 bass/day (4 trips)

c. Now, that limit is changed to 2000 lbs/DAY. They go and throw the set, and as soon as they have 2000lbs on board (must meet legal minimum size) they're done for the day.

d. They are actually allowed to catch more at one time NOW than they were previously. People need to be aware of that distinction. However, at least with things this way, there will be less high-grading or culling. This type of regulation is more geared toward long term sustainibility because it produces less dead discards.

e. Although people are cheering about this, there is also the possibility of corruption. There have always been Capts who will disregard the law, and sometimes improper relationships between a small % of fishermen and those who are charged with enforcing the law. Hopefully, with this new regulation, those minor numbers of incidents will happen less frequently.