Menhaden-According to Brandon Muffley NJ div.Of Fish & Game

[Capt Sal]

Just talked to head biologist Brandon Muffley and here are the changes. Purse sieners will be allowed to land 6000lbs of menhaden daily and are allowed to sell them for bait. The small boats throwing a cast net will also be allowed to sell to tackle shops if they purchased a ''landing permit'' along with there bait permit.All the other netters are in the same category and that is irrelevant. We as recreational fisherman can cast net bunker for our own purpose.
So there it is in a nut shell! This might help menhaden in some ways but the Omega boats are doing the most damage. The Belford bunker boats will be in Raritan Bay again this year but will be restricted to 6000 lbs. a day. I hope this clarifies things.

[Fishfish]

Originally Posted by Capt Sal Cathy Sea Charters

Just talked to head biologist Brandon Muffley and here are the changes. Purse sieners will be allowed to land 6000lbs of menhaden daily and are allowed to sell them for bait. The small boats throwing a cast net will also be allowed to sell to tackle shops if they purchased a ''landing permit'' along with there bait permit.All the other netters are in the same category and that is irrelevant. We as recreational fisherman can cast net bunker for our own purpose.
So there it is in a nut shell! This might help menhaden in some ways but the Omega boats are doing the most damage. The Belford bunker boats will be in Raritan Bay again this year but will be restricted to 6000 lbs. a day. I hope this clarifies things.

Question is, are the Omega reduction boats bound by our quota and need a NJ permit, or their home port state? Is "landing" as possession on the boat bound by state waters they fish or by landing at the boats home port State? I understand how it works for recreational, but I am sure this is different. I recall some of our quota recently went south? So we will be more restricted while Omegs protein can pillage. Eat chicken not fish says Frank Perdue.

[Capt Sal]

Originally Posted by Fishfish

Question is, are the Omega reduction boats bound by our quota and need a NJ permit, or their home port state? Is "landing" as possession on the boat bound by state waters they fish or by landing at the boats home port State? I understand how it works for recreational, but I am sure this is different. I recall some of our quota recently went south? So we will be more restricted while Omegs protein can pillage. Eat chicken not fish says Frank Perdue.

Omega boats can not operate in state waters. These are the people with real money. There quota is set by the Federal Government. Lobbyists make big money representing them.

[Capt Jimmy Elliott]

Originally Posted by Capt Sal Cathy Sea Charters

Just talked to head biologist Brandon Muffley and here are the changes. Purse sieners will be allowed to land 6000lbs of menhaden daily and are allowed to sell them for bait. The small boats throwing a cast net will also be allowed to sell to tackle shops if they purchased a ''landing permit'' along with there bait permit.All the other netters are in the same category and that is irrelevant. We as recreational fisherman can cast net bunker for our own purpose.
So there it is in a nut shell! This might help menhaden in some ways but the Omega boats are doing the most damage. The Belford bunker boats will be in Raritan Bay again this year but will be restricted to 6000 lbs. a day. I hope this clarifies things.

I know you talked to the head biologist but I would double check. As I interpreted n have talked to some people involved in the fishery about the new laws on this. Purse seine has its own category and quota . Pound net , gillnet , trap n otter trawl have only a piece . Lunds had been sending trawlers out daily south bound to well let's say corner the market n ensure that quota was fulfilled

[Fishfish]

Originally Posted by Capt Sal Cathy Sea Charters

Omega boats can not operate in state waters. These are the people with real money. There quota is set by the Federal Government. Lobbyists make big money representing them.

Yup! Thanks, not thinking on that one. 2 1/2 miles, right? So "we" / commercial / NJ cant exceed 6000 lbs as a conservation effort until those, our fish cross that mile mark. Makes sense! ?*^%#$&*&%$. Other than the few Raritan Bay pound netters (are they still there?), are there any seiners left that work the bay or our coastal waters? I remember a size limit on the vessel. I don't see this as restrictive to the permitted cast net bait guys.

[Capt Sal]

Originally Posted by Fishfish

Yup! Thanks, not thinking on that one. 2 1/2 miles, right? So "we" / commercial / NJ cant exceed 6000 lbs as a conservation effort until those, our fish cross that mile mark. Makes sense! ?*^%#$&*&%$. Other than the few Raritan Bay pound netters (are they still there?), are there any seiners left that work the bay or our coastal waters? I remember a size limit on the vessel. I don't see this as restrictive to the permitted cast net bait guys.

Does not effect the cast netters that supply the local tackle shops and that is a good thing.There catch is a drop in the bucket compared to the ''reduction fleet''!

[howarda780]

I used to work on a 140' seiner out of Gloucester, MA. Our goal daily was 600,000lbs.

6,000lbs is very little. The price/pound will go through the roof.

The picture is the 225' Tiny Tim. It was one of the Smith boats that sailed out of Port Monmouth in the 80's. At that time the fish all went for rendering and fish meal. At that point Frank Perdue was the largest buyer. The Tiny Tim could max out at 1.2 million lbs.

They would leave NJ on Monday and the entire fleet would be off of Maine by Tuesday. Load up and head back to NJ. Using 2-3 spotter planes.

[Capt Sal]

Originally Posted by howarda780

I used to work on a 140' seiner out of Gloucester, MA. Our goal daily was 600,000lbs.

6,000lbs is very little. The price/pound will go through the roof.

The picture is the 225' Tiny Tim. It was one of the Smith boats that sailed out of Port Monmouth in the 80's. At that time the fish all went for rendering and fish meal. At that point Frank Perdue was the largest buyer. The Tiny Tim could max out at 1.2 million lbs.

They would leave NJ on Monday and the entire fleet would be off of Maine by Tuesday. Load up and head back to NJ. Using 2-3 spotter planes.

Total killing machine and for what! Feed chickens. If a boat that size can hold 1.2 million pounds what can a reduction boat hold. Some people think the cast netters are the reason for the decline in the bunker population lol

[howarda780]

I'm pretty sure that nothing is done on the water. Omega has huge plants to do the processing.

[sternline]

Originally Posted by Capt Sal Cathy Sea Charters

Omega boats can not operate in state waters. These are the people with real money. There quota is set by the Federal Government. Lobbyists make big money representing them.

The federal government sets no limit whatsoever on Omega's catch of menhaden. Menhaden are entirely unprotected in federal waters, that is beyond three miles (except for Texas, whose waters extend further). With a stroke of a pen--or really a few clicks on a keyboard--NOAA could solve the menhaden problem and stop the ecological catastrophe being caused by Omega.
The ASMFC decision made in Baltimore in December 2012 is the first time that the reduction catch in federal waters (known as the EEZ) has been restricted, and that is rather indirect. The ASMFC can restrict that catch only by restricting landings on the Atlantic coast[/I]. And who is really going to enforce that?
We all need to wake up and stop the massacre of the most important fish in the sea.