Capt., first off, no animosity and I am appreciative of your response and you're keeping a level head over my knee jerk response. As that is in fact what it is....
I've no science behind my comments, just 1st hand observations from 35 years of fishing the bay, the Cape and the Islands.
I honestly believe we are overfishing everything. The draggers have ruined the sea floor. I saw this 1st hand scuba diving, once flourishing ell grass beds off the Cape are now under water deserts since the draggers hit them for skates and lobster. They never recovered.
Cod once so abundant in large sizes are all but a memory. We used to get 35 to 50 pounders all the time, I rarely see keeper fish now.
I'm all for making a living and I know too well that given the opportunity to make money, it will come before thoughts of conversation. Our seas are being depleted and a wholesale closure of commercial fishing would not cause me to shed a tear.
People lose jobs all the time. Quite often in very large numbers. I clearly recall GM closing the Framingham plant and the impact it had on the employees, their families and the community. Framingham survived and it's prospering, the families survived, moved on as life goes on.
The same will hold true as the fishing fleets close up. It will happen at some point. We (people) cannot do what must be done to replenish the fisheries as concession and compromises are always in the way. The stocks continue to fall. GBT, swordfish, cod, flounder, lobster, etc... as examples.
Humans have one thing going for them above all else. We adapt..... The commercial sector will have to adapt to a new world. It's sad... I'll grant you that but inevitable.
BTW.... I haven't fished a pogie in better than 25 years. They got too hard to find at some point and I switched to lures and yes eels. I'm no better than anyone else. They are available for sale and I use them. Just as the commercial sector has the availability of the fish stocks, they take what is available to them for profit even though they know they are taking too much.... There's no middle ground. The stocks are depleted and we need to shut it down. Cutting back is not the answer. Too little too late.
Again, I know full well I am talking from my heart with nothing to back it up. Just observations and opinion. In the end, it is the opinion of the public that will win out.
Edit to add: Yes, I quahogged the bay in the 70's and 80's, speared eels through that same period (hundreds of pounds nightly) and fished cod, fluke, striped bass and whatever else I could sell through the late 80's to supplement my income. Injuries forced me to stop.
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