Re: Fluke Season is Open
The 14" commercial size has been the same for more than 10 years. Why?
Because the filets are just the correct size for the food service industry. When the feds calculate the allowable catch for the recreational sector, they factor in an estimate for the mortality of the released fish which, again, lowers the quota. If they did that for the commercial sector, their quota would be zero! By catch is a big problem, but why not use the same criteria for both? If any of you have been surveyed, you know what a joke it is. A five year old could put together a better survey.
The feds love this infighting because it takes the spotlight off of them and puts it on us. People hate when I claim that the commercial and recreational fishermen have the same goals. They make a living from fishing, we do it as a sport but we want to bring something home. We have something in common.
Perfect example. The feds calculated that the recreational fishery is a 58 billion dollar industry and the commercial is a 50 billion dollar industry. But if you read the second page of that report, the feds added in 30 billion dollars which is the value of all the seafood imported, thus the commercial impact is only 20 billion dollars. That's the government for you, treating everyone fair and equally,and it will only get worse.
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