Fishing Regulations

[Gerry Zagorski]

There's been a lot of talk here recently about the regulations for Fluke and Sea Bass specifically but I thought it might be interesting to discuss regulations in general....

I think we can all agree that regulations are necessary to assure a balance between the health of the stocks and the interests of commercial and recreational fisherman.

I know I'll take a few harpoons from some of you when I say the commercials need to be allotted some quotas as well. People who don't fish want to eat fish and they provide those fish. Having said that, commercial fishing regulations should not be at detriment to the fishery or the recreational sector, there needs to be a balance there as well.

There are people in our recreational ranks who are somewhat divided here about our recreational regulations, but I think we can all agree we need to protect the stocks for ourselves and future generations.. We can't however continue down the path we are on now. It's not working. What we need are the right regulations.

Take a read here and you'll see that there are some in the scientific community arguing the very regulations and methods we use to manage the stocks is causing the very situation we are in now https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...-exploitation/


You can apply some of these conclusions to our local fishery....

- Fluke where we're forced to target and harvest larger fish which are all large females. Dakota did a great job here providing the analysis to argue that point.

- Dogfish which were protected for the longest time and now our waters are practically polluted with them and they prey on other species.

- You could say the same thing about Black Sea Bass, which by all accounts are totally rebuilt yet we have such restrictive regulations. You know how aggressive and prolific they are and it wouldn't be a stretch to think at a the detriment to other species.

There is however some progress being made.... The work the SSFFF has done funding the Fluke study on age and sex is vitally important. It's my understanding they've been invited to provide input with their new model into the 2018 Fluke Stock Assessment. Great news here and once again, it's not about more favorable regulations, it's about the right regulations.

Much more work to be done here but these are strategic initiatives that don't happen over night. They have to be fought for and face a bureaucratic system which is currently not working for the fish or the fishermen. We need sweeping changes on how these fisheries are managed or we're going to be in the same position we are every year. Fighting over the scraps we are tossed when they set the quotas and regulations that hurt, don't help the fisheries.

OK now that I've created a lightening rod here, feel free to comment and state your opinions but please do it respectfully.