Striped Bass Slot

[mikdel]

Originally Posted by Duffman

Such BS with whatever regs they decide to come up with. If you really want to save the stock, make a real effort to put an end to the rampant poaching going on. Burlap sacks full of dead bass getting into truck beds and car trunks and no enforcement in sight.

Instead of enforcing that they’d rather the fore hire guys to take it on the chin. Such a joke.

Talking with a friend today about things you mention. There are not nearly enough fish wardens in nj to enforce all the different rules and regs. He mentioned a saltwater fishing licence for nj would probably help to hire more enforcement people. I know some would bitch about this. I agree with the idea.
I think it would be worth it at a reasonable cost for a license. Uh oh incoming duck

[togzilla]

So when do these regulations actually go into effect in NJ? The original post said that States have up until July 2nd to implement the new slot limit.

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by mikdel

I would think tt\he fish mortality release rate for fluke would go down quite a bit with the 17" size introduction.

I can't prove it with data but it's always been my belief the narrower a slot, the higher the discard level as you have to cull through more fish to harvest one in that narrow slot range. Wider range, different story.

A slot is used to protect targeted age classes and protect breeders. 28"-31" for bass, in my opinion, will result in more bass being killed. It will protect fish that make it through to 31" while it's in place but I believe a lot more fish will be killed in the process. That's one concern but more so I don't think the true problem plaguing the Chesapeake stock is being addressed. Remove Omega Protein for three years from all netting in the bay and assess the impact on water quality, menhaden populations and in the case of bass the impact on young of the year indexes after those three years and set course accordingly. Problem is, like everything else, there's too much money changing hands for that to happen so everyone else suffers.

To my earlier point about fluke, if NJ went to a 15"-17.99 slot last year, I'd agree with you discard mortality would decline. 17"-17.99", not so sure. And the way this entire process works is at a 15"-17.99" slot, the season would have been reduced, possession limit possibly reduced and NJ with how MRIP works would've paid the price this year. It's just the way the models work unfortunately. Instead of protecting breeders and bolstering recruitment, fisheries management does the exact opposite.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by mikdel

Talking with a friend today about things you mention. There are not nearly enough fish wardens in nj to enforce all the different rules and regs. He mentioned a saltwater fishing licence for nj would probably help to hire more enforcement people. I know some would bitch about this. I agree with the idea.
I think it would be worth it at a reasonable cost for a license. Uh oh incoming duck

Hmmm. Not sure about you but I happen to think a state that taxes its people to the extent NJ does has money to do whatever they think is priority. Enforcing regulations is simply not one of their priorities and throwing money at it is not going to change that mentality. This is not about money, it’s about desire.

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by mikdel

Talking with a friend today about things you mention. There are not nearly enough fish wardens in nj to enforce all the different rules and regs. He mentioned a saltwater fishing licence for nj would probably help to hire more enforcement people. I know some would bitch about this. I agree with the idea.
I think it would be worth it at a reasonable cost for a license. Uh oh incoming duck

I think everyone on the site agrees we need greater enforcement. Problem with a salt water license is making sure those funds were used for that purpose. Right now the recreational sector contributes an insane amount of money to the economy, taxes from that spending should be sufficient to increase enforcement as is. And the bigger problem with the judicial system, not just with fisheries management but in general, is when someone is caught violating the regulations they get off with a slap on the wrist. Confiscate equipment, increase the fines and you can increase enforcement a hundred fold and have it fund itself. The American public is already taxed out and many can't afford cost of living, especially in this area of the country. Remember sales tax years ago, casinos and the lottery were ALL going to subsidize the absorbitant cost of education. How did that work out and where has all that money gone? A salt water license will kill small businesses already struggling to survive and hurt the sport. With the money spent by recreational anglers for tackle, transportation, gas, food, boats, bait, lodging etc., there should easily be sufficient money available to fund increased enforcement efforts as is.

And if I'm not mistaken, recreational spending in large part funds the ASMFC who have repeatedly treated the recreational angling community as the red headed stepchild.

[NJ219bands]

Originally Posted by mikdel

Talking with a friend today about things you mention. There are not nearly enough fish wardens in nj to enforce all the different rules and regs. He mentioned a saltwater fishing licence for nj would probably help to hire more enforcement people. I know some would bitch about this. I agree with the idea.
I think it would be worth it at a reasonable cost for a license. Uh oh incoming duck

I saw law enforcement officers in my spots 7 times this year. That is way too much law enforcement. Law enforcement should be defunded.

[Duffman]

Originally Posted by mikdel

Talking with a friend today about things you mention. There are not nearly enough fish wardens in nj to enforce all the different rules and regs. He mentioned a saltwater fishing licence for nj would probably help to hire more enforcement people. I know some would bitch about this. I agree with the idea.
I think it would be worth it at a reasonable cost for a license. Uh oh incoming duck

If you ABSOLUTELY GUARANTEE all the money collected from a license would go back the fishing community, I’d be all for it

But this is NJ and that license fee would only go to line someone’s pockets.

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by NJ219bands

I saw law enforcement officers in my spots 7 times this year. That is way too much law enforcement. Law enforcement should be defunded.

Wow! Have you ever considered maybe the areas you fish warrant law enforcement presence? Defund law enforcement, tell that to the folks in California, Detroit, Chicago, New York, Newark, Trenton and just about any other urban area in this country.

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by Duffman

If you ABSOLUTELY GUARANTEE all the money collected from a license would go back the fishing community, I’d be all for it

But this is NJ and that license fee would only go to line someone’s pockets.

That's not going to happen. Read the attached article.

https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2023...here-to-spend/

Thousands of New Jersey claimants have been screwed out of Pandemic benefits because of a completely ineffective and incompetent Department of Labor. And our esteemed Governor wants to take $1 billion dollars of unused Covid money funded by the federal government (our tax dollars) and move it into the state's coffers to use for various non Covid related projects at his discretion. We don't need additional taxes on recreational anglers, we need accountability of where all the money we currently pay the state is currently going and that will never happen. This is just another money grab by Murphy trying to beat the deadline and appropriate left over federal Covid funds before the new debt ceiling legislation is passed which includes a current provision in the Rebublican version (which Biden refuses to address) that would claw back left over funding to the federal government which is where it belongs. Either send it back or use it to pay the enormous amount of Pandemic Unemployment claims held up in an antiquated and broken DOL system or help small businesses that were clobbered during the Pandemic.

[Capt Sal]

Originally Posted by mikdel

Talking with a friend today about things you mention. There are not nearly enough fish wardens in nj to enforce all the different rules and regs. He mentioned a saltwater fishing licence for nj would probably help to hire more enforcement people. I know some would bitch about this. I agree with the idea.
I think it would be worth it at a reasonable cost for a license. Uh oh incoming duck

Where would the money go? In NY when we pay for the Charter Boat Permit 250$ it goes into the general fund? In NJ the last time the talked about a Salt Water Lic. they were going to give the money to the Agriculture Dept. By the way NJ charter and Party Boats have to have a NY permit to fish NY waters but the other way around. We charge nothing for NY boats to fish NJ waters. So would every one from NY or any state be required to have a Salt Water NJ Lic.? If the money is used for a good purpose it would benefit NJ.