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Originally Posted by B? Tackle  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. |
Now that you have told me a bit about your perspective, I see that you may not be up on the science, but your observations are acutely accurate in my opinion. Indeed, I agree the state of affairs and lack of any real world "management" of fisheries is heartwrenching, it has gotten so out of hand, to the point that it gets dramatically worse yearly, as of late.
I again appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions and points, you truely are the first guy to do so for me. I have a hard time sometimes seeing the other side because I am so passionate about these topics. It is nice to be able to hear from someone who has been on both sides of the coin, and be candid about the situation at hand.
I too am guilty of using baits and tactics that may not align with the best interests of the fish I seek. I try to be as responsible as I can with managem,ent policies I adhere to based on my own take on things, but realize that while I may be well versed and involved on a daily basis with the marine ecosystem, I am often wrong in life, in my opinions, and always should be willing to accept that. I try to give others the same courtesy.
Yes, I also agree that public opinion will win out, but in my experience, the just or right thing is usually not factored in to political decisions like this one....one side wins out with improper tactics or propaganda....its a fact of life that just is, but sucks if you ask me.
I just want to hear why they want to shut this boat down with some good logical, practical science to back it up. I would be the first stop using them. I have said that all along, if we really want to help the fisheries, we need to make drastic changes, and now. We are one in that thought, B2.
I would have no problem being a charter guide who took recreational, hobby fisherman out for an enjoyable day of C&R, while maybe having smart management and allowing the take of some species, like say bergalls for instance, if they are in abundance at that time. The problem is, an awful lot of rec anglers want to eat there catch, and I can't blame them, but it is a bigf reason alot of guys do charters....
I firmly believe that we could learn from the Chinese, who have been raising farmed fish for over a millenium now, and the new aqua culture procedures available elsewhere as well..... We stopped being foragers long ago, when we realized harvesting indigenous plants and berries wasn't gonna sustain us. We stopped the commercial harvest of wild game in large scales, because we realized it wouldn't cut it....we also decimated entire stocks of many other tasty critters on land, but we are curbing that better and better here, although bush meat abroad is still rampant.... My point being I agree we need to stop harvesting the ocean like its a undepleteable resource.....
But this fish grab by the rec sector is that and nothing more.....
B2, at least your following your heart, as opposed to being spoon fed your ideals by a trumped up media or special interest group.
