Quote:
Originally Posted by loligo  I thought ARK was out of biz as of last year- no?
I catch pogies here on Cape Cod for bait shops and other boats and last year was the best year I've seen in a long time and then somebody told me ARK wasn't fishing, so it made sense.
I'm not sure what to make of this proposal on the one hand I feel like we need more pogies and on the other hand I wouldn't be to happy if a rec (or other) group tried to put me out of a job.
Mixed feelings
-JR |
JR, Arks been going strong for what will be their 27th year if they can fish again in 07. Otherwise they will prolly move the outfit down south till the pogies are back fully in a few years.(hopefully)
The indicator I see as why the menhaden stocks are rebounding here in New England is that we are at the far northern range of their habitat. The edges of a fish stocks range always lose the fish first, then it works inwards towards their central habitat, like a shrinking circle effect....
I know that the Merrimack had pogies last year for the first time in a long while......
Its just like I feel with the swordfishery, in that they haven't shown up inshore yet. That would indicate to me they are back strong..... The longlines have been out a while , and the swordies are coming back. I don't like the move to increase the limits so soon, and I would like a bit of length added to the minimum size to echo the science(47" lower fork) which suggests a much higher limit to achieve stock rebuild. I still believe ICCAT est. is 58% or so, based on 1996 study?? The quota has not been filled for a while now, and fears are that we could lose a big percentage to other nations which could catch them....but thats another thread....hmmm, good idea....
I just want good science behind the conservation measures....I'm not against conservation obviously, just the current methodology....