Read about some fish and game violations !!

[june181901]

Dear conservation officers:
Check out the crabbers come July and August at Marine Park in Red Bank! You can save lots of gas and write citations to your hearts' content.

[Capt Sal]

Reading this post is as boring as watching paint dry!

[flyersnfluke]

Years back (2006 or 07) I had an interesting discussion with a woman who was somehow involved with noaa fisheries (she knew some of the research ships out of woods hole, and some people who worked up there, so I believed she was legit...I've sailed on those boats several times) and I asked her about methodologies for population estimates on sea bass; her answer baffled me. She started to discuss how fisheries scientists conduct "random samples" to trap sea bass (I assumed pots, not nets) and get an idea of abundance and demography (age classes, sex, etc...). As soon as she said "random" it threw up a red flag. I started to ask her how they chose particular bottom to sample at random and she looked confused...so I asked her if they were targeting particular reefs or wrecks and she said "no, that wouldn't be random", an even bigger red flag. The discussion stopped there although I really wanted to probe some more. If she really did know some of the sampling protocols for sea bass, I take it that they are taking random samples of bottom to drop pots on, with some of these pots, if not many/most, being placed on bottom that does not hold sea bass at all. This, of course, would result in an under-estimation of abundance and skewed demographic data.

[NoLimit]

Reason

There is not one case of recreational saltwater fishing causing depletion of any stock
The real killer is by catch killing of juveniles

[reason162]

Originally Posted by flyersnfluke

This, of course, would result in an under-estimation of abundance and skewed demographic data.

If that is how they're counting fish, then absolutely the data would be skewed. My question is more philosophical, ie let's assume that for a given species of fish they are conducting proper scientific surveys on population. The methodology is legit, the process transparent. Let's say that the data shows the population to be stressed, and that more stringent regulations must be imposed to stave off collapse.

Would anglers and captains of party boats then be on board with the findings, or would they say Listen, I'm out there 300 days a year and there are more ___ fish than ever!

I think it's important to keep in mind what constitutes evidence for and against interest, and how interested parties react to fisheries data. I'm not saying that the science is objective and proper, I'm simply entertaining the idea that even if the science is good, interested parties might not change their minds. I find it a very common tendency when it comes to public attitude towards inconvenient scientific facts.

[njdiver]

If you would like to read about some major and minor citations try this site:

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/cnclminutes.htm

Scroll down to the Marine Fisheries Council Minutes.