frugalfisherman asked my question. I read over this whole long thread and all of your lengthy responses and just thought...
Quote:
Originally Posted by frugalfisherman
OK. I don't get it. You say you want to change the regulations. To what?
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and you gave him another long-winded response that doesn't really answer anything. Are you suggesting changing the size minimums to 13", 14" for recreational? The mortality rate of these fish when caught and released is one thing. It depends on a lot of factors including health of the fish, time out of water, length of fight, handling, etc. But the mortality rate of these fish increases to 100% when they are in someone's cooler!
It's a good thought and a worthy cause, but recreational is NOT the problem. Commercial is a big problem. Actual enforcement of laws against recreational and commercial are big problems. Human population growth is a big problem...you have more people fishing now than in the 90's, taking more fish than in the 90's, and you have more demand for the commercial fisheries.
I don't mean to offend, but I read a lot of this wondering what you are actually trying to change the regulations to and why. I hope you are successful because I mainly fish the bay and would like to keep the smaller fish that I currently don't because I follow the rules. But, that means I hope you are successful for my own selfish reasons and not anything to do with conservation.
Good Luck
