76SeaCraft18

In 1995 you could hardly even find a catfish in Florida waters. In 1996 an amendment was passed banning the use of commercial and recreational gill nets. Today the fishing is better than I have ever seen it. In my opinion, instead of buying the fishing equipment from the commercial fisherman, the State should have subsidized an aquaculture program for these people that lost their way of life. It is successfully being done in foreign countries and with our technology, there is no reason it could not happen in the U.S. Today, eventhough they lost their livelyhood, you would be hard pressed to find a fisherman that wouldn't agree with the above statements. Are there any aquaculture projects for the cod or any other threatoned species in your region? I did a search on WGOM and couldn't find any. I definintly don't want to strike a nerve with any one, I just want you to know that if it works out for you like it did for us, your fish stocks could be better than ever. I'd like to hear both sides of the argument, so I will not be offended by any critisizum from any commercial fisherman. Being a native Floridian , I have some good friends the were and still are in the commercial trade. Now they just use castnets or other less harmful means to get their quarry.

Possum

I hear ya. WGOM = Western Gulf Of Maine, stretching from MA to ME.

The real sore topic on this isn't necessarily purely the closure, it is everything around it and the NEFMC approach. Combine that with the BRUTAL Spiny Dogfish Problem up here (and their damned protected species status), and you have a mess.

I agree, proper management and closures can truly benefit the fisheries. That was the case for the Haddock population in the WGOM, which has recovered well, as have the Pollock. It is the Atlantic Cod that is under restriction now. The others are open, but you target them all the same, so it is dicey at best. The WGOM closures span from 11/01 through 03/31 each year, which in all honesty is prime fishing time. Granted, there is spawning times in there, but the gall-durn Dogfish eat everything, including all the juvenile fish.

It will get better, we just have to see out the challenges the comms have put on the Cod fishery.

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76SeaCraft18

I'll read up on that other agency. The BIG commercial outfits down here still have lobbiests fighting the ban in all possible ways. It would be interesting to find out where their money comes from. Human smuggleing? Our battle here now is with South Florida Water Management and Big Sugar. Wer'e trying to stop the discharge from Lake Okechobee into Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers and make them return the natural sheet flow into the Everglades. Lake O. is at it's lowest level ever and there were no discharges this year. There was also no red tide outbreaks and theres also a little grass starting to grow where it hasn't been for decades. Wonder why? Maybe SFWM will finally get the message.

Possum

One can hope there, but with the BIG commercial interests being embedded in the legislative and decision making processes, the progress will be slow and likely painful, with wins and losses for all.

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Relentless

Brad,

The WGOM closure and the restrictions we have from retaining codfish Nov - Mar are two different things. First of all the WGOM was closed starting May 1998 to all commercial groundfishing, here is a link to a study on the reuslts from UNH http://extension.unh.edu/Marine/Docs/WGOMCA.pdf

Recreational fisherman can go in any time and charter and head boats using hand gear can go in as long as they receive and exemption letter from NMFS for the fishing year.

Part of the Amendment 13 plan to rebuild groundfish stocks changed the no bag limit on cod for charter/party boats to a 10 fish bag limit with a year round season. This was something that many operators and anglers had a hard time accepting. The fact is that this was a fair bag limit and intended to help the stocks rebuild in the GOM. At the same time though, there still was no bag limit south of the GOM or let's say on the Georges Bank Stock.

During the 1996 fishing season a new rule was published to prohibit the possesion of cod fish by recreational anglers in the EEZ in the WGOM from Nov 1st - March 31st. Needless to say as Brad mentioned this was the best time of year to go cod fishing. The fish move into shallower water and are closer to the shore 2-20 nautical miles and provided a fishery when other stocks such as Striped Bass and Tuna headed south.

Currently it is now closed with the exception in state waters with such a small limit, it is not even worth the effort to go. Yesterday the commercial fishery opened up in these same waters with a quota of 800 LBS daily by the commercial fleet. It is good for them due to reduced days at sea and high prices during the holiday season, this is when they can at least make a few dollars. It is hard to make it on 24 days of alloted fishing time.

Now back to management, first of all, I would love to see Nov and March reopened for recreational fishing, even if we had a reduced bag limit of 8 cod per person and the haddock and pollock limits remained the same.

It is going to be very hard to rebuild a cod fishery until something is done to eliminate the millions of dofish that are from Maine to North Carolina. The juvenille fish don't stand a chance with packs of dogs eating anything that moves in their paths. Fish farming is a great way to bring fish to a market but I never get the same enjoyment out of bringing farm raised salmon home compared to fighting a nice cod and having very fresh fish for dinner.

I believe this issue is very complex and if you really want to hear what is going on grab a cup of coffee and go the the taped meetings of the NEFMC especially the groundfish section. NEFMC

Open up the most recent meeting and click on the groundfish section. I am going to make another post later about and upcoming meeting which is going to be important regarding future recreational limits, etc for the cod fisherman.

Have a great day,

Dave

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Capt Dave Waldrip
www.relentlesscharters.com

old mud

Thanks for that Dave, I have that saved somewhere but can't find it !! Another one from the UNH is there Offshore Aquaculture cages just off the Isles Of Sholes. A Cod and Haddock program that's going Good.

W. Huntting Howell

Don

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"I was so poor growing up that if I wasn't a BOY I'd have had nothing to play with"
Piker Ancient Mariner

Possum

OK, I forgot about the 1996 ruling, as the Ammendment 13 actions are still fresh in my Codfishing loving mind. It will be a decade or more until anything really changes, unless some kind of meaningful harvest can be reinstituted for the Spiny Dogfish.

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old mud

DAM !!! You had to bring up the dam D word.!! I like the C word but Not the D !!!
Don

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"I was so poor growing up that if I wasn't a BOY I'd have had nothing to play with"
Piker Ancient Mariner

76SeaCraft18

Sound like the dog fish are the main problem here. How do they count them? Are they not doing surveys in areas with the greatest population?

74Formula233

Count them? Calculate the square footage of all of the exposed sea bottom, and multiply that by, I'd say at least 2 or 3 dogfish per square foot.........average

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