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Originally Posted by dakota560
Bob I couldn't agree more. State and local priorities and agendas will always be different than those of the Federal government. Freshwater fisheries have probably never been stronger and more diverse while salt water fisheries are in a state of chaos. There's no commercial pressure for the most part on freshwater species to speak of, different situation all together then salt water fisheries which completely changes the dynamics.
All you need to follow is the history of the American Shad and the impact commercial fishing had on it's decline over the years until commercial fishing was banned in many coastal states because of the collapse of the fishery. Other factors, pollution, dams etc. contributed but look at commercial landings by year in the below chart and it's not hard to correlate the improvement in this fishery as a direct result of significant reductions in commercial harvest. The tremendous runs we're enjoying today in the Delaware are a direct result of such efforts.
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Tom,, thanks for taking the time to send those fluke studies to me...
I would like to tell you I enjoyed them, but that would be inaccurate.. Instead, they actually scared me, and make me worry about the future of the fishery.. I knew, as did most of us ,that the majority of 18+ inch "keeper" fluke were females, but 95%???... Don't the egg heads at NOAA read this stuff ??...the way the great unwashed masses of fishermen do?... A slot limit of some has to be enacted, unless they want fluke to simply go away the way so many other species seem to be doing... bob
