Help save NJ shellfish.

[Delawareriver]

https://www.change.org/p/nj-marine-f...ion-reason_msg

Bowfishing is a great way to help reduce the huge population of cownose rays that invade our inland bays every year and hammer our crabs, clams and oysters. believe it or not are pretty good fried up as well. Take 30 seconds and sign the petition to help legalize a great sport in saltwater

[NoLimit]

What do they taste like? Anything like skate?

[Delawareriver]

Never had skate but cow nose are a mild tasting fish but have a slightly different texture then you would expect from a fish many wpuld compare to scallops. We clean our rays as soon as they come in the boat, cut the wings off and in to a cooler full of ice. Once we get back to the dock you fillet each wing top and bottom giving you four fillets off each ray. We typically chunk and deep fry in bread crumbs. Cownose have darker readish meat compared to southern and Atlantic rays.

[Capt. Debbie]

Taste just like Chicken. LOL Like everything else no one has eaten or actually has made skate scallops from.

Originally Posted by NoLimit

What do they taste like? Anything like skate?

Just another resource people are looking to exploit. Why don't we instead focus our efforts on saving the sharks so nature's balance maintains itself. Instead we decimate the shark population, which has a positive impact on the cow nose ray population so we should decimate that fishery as well so that the clam population can improve and be over harvested as well. Sounds like a sound plan to me. How about we stop &*^%#$@ around with nature, give everything a chance to rebound and let natural selection run it's course. Sounds like a more prudent course of action. Was out at the Chicken Canyon a few years ago chasing blue fins and we encountered school after school of migrating cow nose rays. One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I'm not sure I have seen anywhere this past summer where clams weren't on the menu so doesn't seem like the fishery is in distress. Not looking to wipe out another species just because we can.

[dfish28]

If I didn't like my neighbor I'd just build a higher fence...

[Dino]

just what we need in the NJ saltwater .. bunch of freshwater guys with bow and arrows in the bay trying to shoot stuff

[rumster]

Before you know it, guys will be defending doggies too!!! Maybe we should allow someone to voice an opinion without responding with negative remarks that suits their views. There is obviously a problem with many species that create an in balance in the eco system and have a devastating impact.

[Capt. Debbie]

I did not think bow fishing, spearing or harpooning anything but endangered species or out-of-season fish was illegal in salt water.

Since when are rays endangered?

Originally Posted by Delawareriver

https://www.change.org/p/nj-marine-f...ion-reason_msg

Bowfishing is a great way to help reduce the huge population of cownose rays that invade our inland bays every year and hammer our crabs, clams and oysters. believe it or not are pretty good fried up as well. Take 30 seconds and sign the petition to help legalize a great sport in saltwater

Originally Posted by rumster

Before you know it, guys will be defending doggies too!!! Maybe we should allow someone to voice an opinion without responding with negative remarks that suits their views. There is obviously a problem with many species that create an in balance in the eco system and have a devastating impact.

Nature has a way of balancing itself out without assistance. The imbalance you speak of is almost always caused by human intervention. There's two sides to every argument and many more points of view. Idea of a public forum is to voice your opinion. Personally I think opening up the cow nose ray fishery to bow and arrow interests would be the beginning of opening it up to other salt water fisheries and I personally would not be for it. That's my opinion, if it offends you don't read my posts. As I said the cause more so than anything is the absolute decimation of sharks world wide. I'd rather see restrictions put in place there as opposed to wiping out another resource which has temporarily benefited from that slaughter. Is that a logical enough argument for your satisfaction or would you prefer me to blindly sign the petition and agree with everyone's posts going forward?