Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Blue Planet
Posts: 1,086
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I do not agree with many comments made here in this post obviously. I have seen the catches, and talked with many of the comm draggers you guys want to blame so quickly....the stocks of fluke are not in the horrible state some would have you believe, especially the NMFS. I catch tons of these animals of all sizes, more than i ever used to of late. Its the regs that are screwed up, and the data collection they use which is the real problem. Human nature dictates we look for a scapegoat when we are personally restricted in any way...hell this country was founded on freedoms, and it touches everyone of us to our core when we get mandated what we must do....I am guilty of this as are all, but I think there is a broad gap in the understanding of the fisheries management processes by the general recreational sector. Just as I feel the recreational sector has no real efforts from the masses to correct this. The voice of the rec is a tiny little whisper in terms of presence and actions at the various levels of management and public comment portals.
It is this same reason I feel a saltwater license would benefit the recreational sector more than they could ever realize, in that it would put real dollar figures into the mix to show the impact and need for better representation at every level, and a bigger slice of the pie. It is all too easy to ignore a non vocal, non counted, non represented user group at the political and governmental agencies which decide these issues that affect us all.......
A prime example of the ignorance of most recs(*no offense meant*) is the predominant push to make the striper a gamefish. The recs are almost solelyresponsible for the new troubles facing the striper. If they shut off commercial effort on this fish, the 73% plus mortality yearly caused by the recreational sector will hurt the stocks even further, especially when you factor in all the recs poaching these fish and therefore not part of the count.
No user group should ever be given 100% access to a resource, period. It is a resource everyone should get a fair share of, as it is a coastwide fish, just like most of the "game" species we target as recreational anglers.
Sorry to hijack it a bit there, but felt the need to correlate some thoughts as to the beliefs commonly held by most recs these days.
The numbers might actually scare the chit out of you guys if you saw the TAC percentages,and the actual reported deaths caused by the recreational guys in many fisheries....
In regards to the almighty fluke, this is the single most effort yearly of any other fishery recreationally in the Atlantic states regions. It is a highly pursued creature, and yet it is no way shape or form near collapse, quite the contrary. However, those of you withe the sentiment, I only kill a few daily, times that by the number of others recreationally targetting them on the same day, and that catch daily number increases astronomically, doesn't it?
I think we as recreationals need to stop blaming everything and everyone else, and clean up our own house, before launching these campaigns to stop commercial efforts. They are also feeling the pinch, and are monitored much more closely and accurately than you could ever imagine. The penalties are vastly different as well, the comm has much more to lose. They also are not as dumb as one might think, they realize that if they catch all of a species, they will be unemployed quite quickly. I do disagree with many commercial methods, like seining and especially midwater trawlers. Sure dragging has its problems, however there is ground gear being developed in many fisheries which will cut bycatch even further than the mesh sizes alone. I would like to see a reduction of the number of comm boats working, but feel we should also heavily be curtailed in the rec sector right along with them to insure the future of our fish stocks. Dragging is necessary to keep our fishing industry alive, rod and reel efforts would not even come close to getting what we need, and would increase our reliance on yet another imported product. People other than recreational fisherman do not care where their fish came from, they want it pre packaged at a cheap price, or on their plate in a timely and cheap fashion...
We all ned to shoulder the burden of rebuilding our stocks, as we will continue to be curtailed right alongside the comms. We should be banding together to get better science and management programs for all our benfits, not fighting each other, pointing fingers, and even infighting amongst ourselves, with the splitting of many recreational groups monies and efforts so obvious today....Our fisheries are in trouble from other problems, man made and natural as well, without furthering the void in the two major players relationships with the uninformed and ill thought out agendas of so many people today..... |