Where are all the ling!

[Reelron]

Let me throw my two sense in the hat! While I do believe that fishing pressure does play a big part in some species getting fished out i also believe that every species has cycles. Cycles of abundance and cycles of scarcity. In some case a species gets scarce and boom here comes all the doom & gloomers! Then up jumps NMF and we all take up golf!

Originally Posted by Reelron

Let me throw my two sense in the hat! While I do believe that fishing pressure does play a big part in some species getting fished out i also believe that every species has cycles. Cycles of abundance and cycles of scarcity. In some case a species gets scarce and boom here comes all the doom & gloomers! Then up jumps NMF and we all take up golf!

If your theory holds water then we must be in a 40 year cycle for ling and whiting because that's about how long it's been since it crashed.

[Inishmore3]

The Ling are gone. The Fluke and Sea Bass regulations ended Ling fishing as we used to know it.

It's very sad. If this industry was a stock, your broker would urge you to sell.

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Inishmore3

The Ling are gone. The Fluke and Sea Bass regulations ended Ling fishing as we used to know it.

It's very sad. If this industry was a stock, your broker would urge you to sell.

Please elaborate.. You think its because of the restrictions imposed, and then boats targeted ling all summer??/.. Just wondering.. Thats kind of the way I am thinking... bob

[Blind Archer]

I' ve enjoyed the era of the LB pier, magic hour boats and right off the jettys. Like Dakota said, I've witnessed miles and miles of juvenile fish floating behind our trawlers, not the russians. Multiply that by the # of boats x the number of trawls x the # of days and you have wiped out a fishery. THe number of floaters is difficult to even describe.

[Ryelof]

I agree with most people here, however I have had some very good ling/flounder trips this past summer. On the Mimi and a ns boat out of Leonardo. It is a shame that this part of the season has been so poor, however I am not into doom and gloom yet.

[tautog]

Ever since the heavy trawling, the population of ling has been very cyclical. You get a few bad years and then a few good ones. Right now this is the second bad one so we will see if it bounces back again. We actually had one stretch in the late 90s when I went a year without catching one even though I was on a NS bottom boat 1 to 2 times per week and then it bounced back so who knows.