I never said anything about striped bass not being a recreational issue. I'm saying that hook and line recreational fishing alone has never put a species, stripers included, on the endangered species list. I don't want to talk about flounder anymore. This thread is about bass.
Indeed the recreational landings now exceed the commercial ones, by a lot. Here is where I think we need to shift priorities in managing the resource. The 7 million pounds of bass landed by the commercial sector on an average year coastwide, NONE OF WHICH COMES FROM NEW JERSEY, could be allocated to the recreational sector. Or it could be left alone if alll the other Atlantic states followed New Jersey's lead and made bass a gamefish.
The economic value of the stock to the recreational sector far outweighs the value to the commercial one. It's not even close.
I agree that there are greedy people who want personal glory more than a sustainable fishery. But if we had a 7 million pound cushion we could all have a sustainable 2 fish recreational limit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hammer4reel
The striped bass issue is DEFINETLY a recreational issue , as WE are theo ones killing the bass, since their isnt a commercial interest in most states.
the amount of fish killed in excess in Virginia, NC and NJ alone has put a severe blow to the stocks.
The amount of roe laden fish that had been being taken each winter in VA was insane.
and I def disagree that recs didnt put a hurting on the winter flounder fishery.
when there were no limits on them the fish were way over fished.
Problem was we always want to blame it on someone else.
Whole reason I stopped running charters was I couldnt stand being part of the problem when it came to stripers.
Got tired of the greed of it becoming more about a dock shot than fishing and having a great day on the water.
and to be honest if you compare the amount of Bonus tag harvests to the amount draggers took I would bet even that portion is over fished.
guys buy a 2$ tag and dont fill it out unless it looks like they are going to get checked.
im sure some are used more than a few times over .
I wouldnt let anyone put a fish in the cooler until that tag was filled out in pen.
I will say there also has to be more limits imposed on ALL the types of fishing, both RECS and Commercial, so that both industries can sustain.
Just ten years ago there used to be about a dozen boats fishing for bass during the week oceanside. now its not uncommon to see 200 boats or more, and three times that on a weekend.
more fisherman means more fish getting pressure,
its in that the numbers go way up on the fish being taken daily
|
