Quote:
Originally Posted by pectoralfin
Is that the final rule? Two fish between 17 and 18 inches and one over 18?
I guess it will increase the mortality that everyone is worried about.
It's going from a bad is situation to a worse one. They're slowly forcing us out.
As a aside, why is it we never hear about the mortality rate for the commercial sector? I would guess it would be near 90 percent.
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I don't agree we went from bad to worse... We did get more days of fishing than last year and at the same time, we made a step in the right direction by lowering the size limits which I think most agree is the right direction for the stocks. Do I like the option that was chosen, no I have my own preference based on when, where and how I fish...
As far as the commercial, not within the states control but I would bet you a dollar that it's taken into consideration. People complain about them taking 14 inch fish which is way lower than our regs but if you put it at say 18 or 19, they'd be discarding dead 14 -18 or 19 inch fish to fill their quota and wasting the resource by discarding them. The other things is they are way more closely monitored than us and when their quota is met they get shut down. In contrast we rely on MRIP to calculate our assumed landings, which as we all know is a total crap shoot...
Having said all this I do think we need to get the commercial season changed to protect the fish offshore while they are spawning but that's another conversation.
