[Flukemeister1]

Anyone who has fished the Mud Hole for any period of time has come across slicks of thousands of dead ling floating on the surface. "Bycatch" of commercial fishing. One of the problems with the ling stocks being decimated is the increased pressure on scallops. Juvinile ling spend their early life living inside the safety of scallops shells and unfortunately are killed when the scallops are dragged to the surface in the dredges. When I was younger the stocks of ling and whiting were healthy and you could catch what you wanted to feed your family. There was excellant fishing at night from any pier or jetty that stuck out into the ocean. The fish were incredibly abundant. Now you see reports "ling fishing was great we had 10 per man". Pitiful what we consider to be great. The question is what do we do to improve the stocks back to where they should be? Gerry said it before good luck going up against the big money lobbies, but something has to be done. Suggestions would be great!