Even many of the commercial guys do not like what happens sometimes when gill nets are employed. I was at the wholesalers selling my fifty pounds of scup, when two unknown fishermen came in with over 1300 pounds of tailor blues last summer. They set their net in hopes of nailing some menhaden but did not count on the small blues being around. There were pieces of gill netting all over the floor as the choppers probably destroyed the usability of the net after that massive haul. As required by federal law, they had to fill out a log sheet as to when the fish were caught, when did they die, when did cooling begin, and if ice or a slush/ice mixture was used. What a sham that federal log is. How in the world is any one going know when the fish died when you have hundreds in a gill net or for that matter when they were caught. I doubt that it would have even be possible for these guys to have provided cooling for so many fish. It must have taken hours just to get all the fish out of the net. Even worse, the next time I was at the wholesalers, I found out that the entire catch ended up as lobster pot bait. The wholesalers are required to measure the internal temperature of blues landed and these fish could not be sold to the public. Another problem about bleeding fish is the wholesalers will not accept them. It sounds totally stupid, especially for blues, but the Asians will not purchase a blue that has been bleed or gutted as they should be. I am really upset that I cannot catch weakfish anymore, and now you have probably explained the reason why. Eleven truckloads of weaks, unbelievable. I did not know NY still sanctions netting of bass off Long Island. If some commercial guy has 200 tags, what happens if the net comes in with 450 fish. Please do not tell me that 250 bass are wasted away. |