Quote:
Originally Posted by Broad Bill
I remember a winter party boat cod trip 20 or more years ago. Leif, for those of you on the site for a while, was on board and the first time I'd met him. Great guy. First stop I remember him saying we're way too deep for cod. He was right, no cod but all the 3-4 lb. sea bass you wanted. Drop and reel, as soon as your rig hit the bottom it was double triple header sea bass with almost everyone tossed back belly up.
Captain stayed there for more than an hour so probably 500 or more beautiful sea bass floated back to the gulls. You had three choices, keep them and risk being fined back at the dock, toss them overboard for the gulls or stop fishing. I chose to stop fishing as not one cod, the target species, was caught and I couldn't continue killing absolutely beautiful sea bass. A complete waste. No venting equipment on board and certainly not the devices Dan posted. In the absence of a mandate, a sensible mandate in this case, people won't buy a $25 venting tool to protect fisheries because they're lazy or not informed. They should absolutely be a requirement on party and charter boats who do this for a living. But as always, this is someone else's problem, not theirs.
Gerry, I fail to understand the logic in your comment. I understand and agree no one likes mandates but when those mandates help preserve stocks what you're saying is you'd rather risk anglers killing hundreds of fish out of season or below the size limit as opposed to making a one time purchase for a $25 venting tool on a trip you'll spend $300 dollars alone for in gas to get to the grounds. Those same people will be the first to complain when possession limits are reduced and seasons closed. If you're political views are against regulatory mandates, don't target the species.
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A lot of questions to be answered which might make me think otherwise because often times the devil is in the details and what seems to be logical in theory is not in practice.
- Who is responsible for purchasing the device...The boat owner, private or for hire or the individual angler or does there just have to be one on the boat?
- Same question above except for who's responsible for making sure the device is used and is it mandatory to use on every fish and any species that's released or only the ones showing signs of decompression?
- Who makes the final decision to implement this? Some committee in the sky who can make a unilateral decision or will this be discussed and decided by the public in a state or region.
