Sea bass bust !

[AndyS]

CPO Raker and Detective Harp apprehended a Cape May based fish pot fisherman that landed approximately 1200 pounds of black sea bass during the commercial closed season. Officers made the apprehension immediately after the vessel landed and the fish were quickly being loaded into a refrigerated truck destined for New York City markets. The fisherman failed to notify the Department prior to offloading the sea bass as required. In addition, 177 undersize black sea bass, undersized lobster, mutilated lobster, filleted marine finfish and closed season tautog were found landed by the vessel. CPOs determined that the fisherman, who is also a licensed state dealer, was also in violation for accepting black sea bass as a dealer during the closed season. The officers seized the illegal catch and processed the case. The same fisherman was apprehended in the past for closed season black sea bass and tautog violations. The seized fish were sold to a NJ permitted dealer for fair market value and twenty summonses were issued for the violations. Penalties for the violations include mandated black sea bass permit suspensions for both fisherman and his dealership.

[dakota560]

Andy I would venture to say the scale of illicit commercial activity is at epic levels with wholesale and retail prices today, the slap on the wrist penalties these guys get when caught and lack of available enforcement resources. Second time around, guy should have his boat and all his equipment confiscated and there should be jail time for stealing a public resource. The black market for fish in NY alone has to be enormous and recreational anglers get penalized based on guesstimate MRIP data for prior year landings while commercial guys received a 40% increase in this years fluke quota which translated amounts to over $10,000,000 more in catch value! It's a rigged game and the recreational community is getting screwed every year.

[AndyS]

Despite all the illegal activity I think as long as you sign up for the Saltwater Registry everything should be fine.

[courbeco]

Despite all the illegal activity I think as long as you sign up for the Saltwater Registry everything should be fine.

Exactly what is the purpose of the "Saltwater Registry":confused:

[AndyS]

Purpose:
The registry is an important tool that will help fishermen and policy makers work together to better account for the contributions and impacts of saltwater anglers on ocean ecosystems and coastal economies. It is part of a national overhaul of the way NOAA collects and reports recreational fishing data. The goal of the initiative - known as the Marine Recreational Information Program, or MRIP - is to provide the most accurate information possible that can be used to determine the health of fish stocks. Reliable, universally trusted data will in turn aid anglers, fisheries managers and other stakeholders in their combined efforts to effectively and fairly set the rules that will ensure the long-term sustainability of recreational fishing. For more information, visit www.CountMyFish.noaa.gov.

[dakota560]

Exactly what is the purpose of the "Saltwater Registry":confused:

Stated reason is as follows:

In 2006 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was charged with the creation of a universal phonebook – or registry – of all current saltwater anglers in the United States. The registry was developed to allow NOAA to quickly and easily contact current saltwater anglers in an effort to gain more accurate and timely information on recreational fisheries.

Operative words here are "more accurate and timely"! Very relative terminology and in my opinion at best still an educated guess. Data from the various state registries are a key component used by NOAA / NMFS in MRIP (Marine Recreational Information Program) which is a means of trying to quantify annual recreational catch levels by fisheries management. Changes in how they collect the data and ultimately calculate recreational catch for past years is what led to the disparity in 2019 of recreational anglers being handed status quo while the commercial quota received a 40% increase. Commmercial landings, for the most part, are arrived at by trip reports. MRIP is used for the recreational sector. How the entire process works from data collection to arriving at a final landings / discard number I couldn't answer. It would be interesting to understand that since it's arguably one of the main drivers regarding how quota levels are determined.