Gulf of Maine fishermen face 6-month cod ban

[shresearchdude]

surprised the newsman didn't find this one...

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/11/10/federal-fishing-officials-ban-cod-fishing-gulf-maine-for-six-months/iD5F3K4AMJFWmwxuO3acKI/story.html?event=event25

I just ended a 17 day trip on a NOAA survey boat.

Good news? BIG Whiting! Many smaller sizes too.
Numerous big and medium sized Haddock
Cod-not so much.

The statistics indicate that yes fisherman are catching lots of Cod-but the area that they are fishing for them in is shrinking. That isn't great news at all.

[shresearchdude]

I can list all the species that we saw and the sheer #'s but that would take an awful long time D. Plenty of herring. :)

[Capt. Lou]

What areas did u net ? Local or North ?

[shresearchdude]

Hey Capt Lou. I was on the Gulf of Maine leg.

If you want to check out where all the "legs" went go to this site.

http://shiptracker.noaa.gov/Home/Map

On the left under "filters" choose Henry Bigelow, then choose Autumn Bottom trawl. You can see where the boat went during the whole survey. Starts by going down off Hatteras, NY Bight, Georges and wanders all the way to Gulf of Maine.

[Dino]

Increase the quota's on dogfish let them hunt Whales & Seals those gigantic eating machines. No herring I wonder why? with no herring around what do you think those eating machines are eating? My guess it's the juvenile Cod. The Whale & Seal stocks are larger then they ever were & growing in massive numbers. The truth hurts but the tree huggers are protecting the wrong species. There is no balance on nature Giant Tuna as well can be increased. Big fish eat the small small fish plain & simple.

your absolutely right, the answer is to kill whales and giant tuna. that will save the cod. good call. how could we be missing it all these years. so simple.

[JBird]

Hook and line fishing is not what wiped out the cod. Period.

[Capt. Lou]

Hook and line fishing is not what wiped out the cod. Period.

Got that right & never will !!! Just have to watch one of those Nat Geo shows & find out very quickly that RnR is no match for those floating process ships that work various oceans! Thoua=sands of lbs in one set ! Hell wonder anythings left ! Whales & Seals I dont think so, even they couldnt eat one those drags in several years !!! :mad::confused:

[shresearchdude]

Originally Posted by JBird View Post
"Hook and line fishing is not what wiped out the cod. Period."

No dispute from me on that statement.

Dogfish/Whales/Tuna/Seals probably aren't the answer though I'm not saying that they don't consume fish.
Bigger nets, better electronics, faster boats and more fisherman probably really show as the main culprit. Just so this is clear I'm not against commercial fisherman.

Oh and after we work on the Fluke we have here in tanks the next species will be everyone's favorite spiny Elasmobranchii.

[tautog]

The problem with seals is parasites. Those worms can inhibit growth and quite likely reproduction.

[stevelikes2fish]

I would assume the pair trawling taking place each winter 1/2 mile from the beached scooping up all the herring coming out of the rivers plays a major role here. No Bait, No Food, Fish eat something else or move somewheres else......:mad:

[BigChalupa]

Increase the quota's on dogfish let them hunt Whales & Seals those gigantic eating machines. No herring I wonder why? with no herring around what do you think those eating machines are eating? My guess it's the juvenile Cod. The Whale & Seal stocks are larger then they ever were & growing in massive numbers. The truth hurts but the tree huggers are protecting the wrong species. There is no balance on nature Giant Tuna as well can be increased. Big fish eat the small small fish plain & simple.

Quite possibly the most arrogant statement I've ever heard....

[Gerry Zagorski]

Easy guys..... We might have different opinions but are all on the same team here. Keep it civil please.

[skinnydog]

I have lurked on this site for years now, but feel the need to add my 2 cents to this topic. I am sure there are a few members here that can recall the codfishing up until the early 90s, in both quality and quantity. And how far the fishery has fallen from those times. I think people need to remember that the NE ground fishery has been heavily fished, from the foreign factory boats of the late 60's and 70's, through the build up of the domestic fleet in the 80's- to the present sad state of affairs now.
I am almost certain that dogfish never would have gained their spot in the ecosystem to the degree they have-without the absence of codfish in their traditional role. And while rod/reel fishing will never compare with comm fishing in terms of fish removed- it can most certainly have an effect on fish that "bunch up" at times, as cod do. I remember when the fish showed south of Block in 07/08- and the amount that was removed daily by 6 or 8 party boats alone. This closure is too little too late- why not close everything (all areas of Georges', south of Vineyard, etc). That stock is only marginally better than GOM. I really hope cod fishing will return to what I remember of it in late 80's, and early 90's. Iceland, and Norway both rebuilt their stocks, but Canada hasn't, even with complete closures, so who knows? Maybe temps, forage, and other factors are hampering a degraded stock from recovery- but overfishing definitely the catalyst for current state of affairs. Sorry for rambling, but I remember what was very fondly. So today's fishery is really disheartening for me

[Leif]

I have lurked on this site for years now, but feel the need to add my 2 cents to this topic. I am sure there are a few members here that can recall the codfishing up until the early 90s, in both quality and quantity. And how far the fishery has fallen from those times. I think people need to remember that the NE ground fishery has been heavily fished, from the foreign factory boats of the late 60's and 70's, through the build up of the domestic fleet in the 80's- to the present sad state of affairs now.
I am almost certain that dogfish never would have gained their spot in the ecosystem to the degree they have-without the absence of codfish in their traditional role. And while rod/reel fishing will never compare with comm fishing in terms of fish removed- it can most certainly have an effect on fish that "bunch up" at times, as cod do. I remember when the fish showed south of Block in 07/08- and the amount that was removed daily by 6 or 8 party boats alone. This closure is too little too late- why not close everything (all areas of Georges', south of Vineyard, etc). That stock is only marginally better than GOM. I really hope cod fishing will return to what I remember of it in late 80's, and early 90's. Iceland, and Norway both rebuilt their stocks, but Canada hasn't, even with complete closures, so who knows? Maybe temps, forage, and other factors are hampering a degraded stock from recovery- but overfishing definitely the catalyst for current state of affairs. Sorry for rambling, but I remember what was very fondly. So today's fishery is really disheartening for me

I usually don't get involved with these type of comment anymore but I believe your rambling's are correct and I agree with what you said. I remember and I see what has happened. Good perspective.

Leif

[skinnydog]

Oh yea-the whales and seals forage overwhelmingly on herring, macks, sandeels, etc- several studies done, they most definitely do not forage on groundfish- IF they did to any noticeable degree, pollock would be the stock affected. Thanks Leif for seeing what I do-my first trip on the big boat out of Montauk in 1991, when I was lucky to know which end of the rod went in water, and I came home with 6 fish better than 30 lbs, and 3 totes of larges & markets, which filled cooler with at least 100 lbs of fillet. I only took second pool with a 54 lb fish. And this is at a time when govt AND industry should have seen writing on the wall. People in the know were just starting to figure out things were falling apart. yeah, it was that good!

[Capt. Lou]

Anyone who fished the BI run of cod certainly noticed 90% of those fish were smaller cod not many over 20#'s ! Years back as was mentioned u seldom had pool fish under 40#'s !
When that PB out of Mass that I fished on in the eighties & early nineties many cod over 30# taken regularly .
I'm still of the opinion that RNR could not dent a healthy population of fish , only commercials & wide open regs r guilty!
Remember r open bottom cod @ Red Square , did RNR decimate those don't think do the. 200 mile limit did it in & before tha foreign ships .
Always points to one thing when species r in trouble , overfishing by trawlers .
Hell going way back my first cod trip was in the fifties , guess where we caught & fished for cod , Shrewsbury Rocks !
Those days good cod fishing was also available on the Cholera& any inshore wreck u could locate !

[stevelikes2fish]

Hell going way back my first cod trip was in the fifties , guess where we caught & fished for cod , Shrewsbury Rocks !
Those days good cod fishing was also available on the Cholera& any inshore wreck u could locate !

I remember my uncle talking to me, telling me fishing stories back in the 60's. He always mentioned Cholera Bank as the "cod" spot. Hell, I remember going out for 1/2 day mackerel back in the early 70's. Just straight out to the Klondike. If you dropped your diamond jig down to the bottom, you would get a nice cod.