Whiting @ Wegmans= disgrace...

[bulletbob]

I walked through the Wegmans seafood dept here in Ithaca NY this morning .. Just to see what they had.. Find weird stuff there at times like skate, monk, Hake in varieties I am not accustomed to seeing, they even had Lane Snappers today.. You know, Wegmans.. Home of the $15 a pound Black Sea Bass, which is in the round, not fillets... Live lobster today was $10.99 a pound..
I came up to a display of 6 to 7 inch fish.. about the size of the smelt we would use for fluke or bluefish bait.. Display read thusly
* FRESH WHITING $4.99 a pound...
To my disgust i found they were indeed "our" Whiting, aka Silver Hake,aka
Merluccius Bilinearis... Easily the smallest thinnest, juvenile , most pathetic whiting I had EVER seen.. I had in the past seen 9-11 inch "spikes", but never tiny bait size fish that would barely interest a good size fluke.. No exaggeration at all.. They were all smelt sized.. TINY!.. I walked out annoyed, disgusted, and to be honest a bit frightened.. Is THIS really what boats are netting these days to sell?.. Have the draggers decimated these fish so badly that yearlings or younger are the "catch of the day"?.... I dunno, nothing anyone can do I suppose, but I was just shell shocked.. Are we that hungry for "fresh fish" that we will really buy Whiting that go 6 -7 inches, and will require a dozen to make up a one pound package???.. Sorry for the rant, I am just really pissed off... bob

[frugalfisherman]

I've seen them smaller in the Asian markets.

This is exactly why every regulation they put on the books will be ignored. Wegman's, Whole Foods, King's all the high end retailers who charge outlandish amount for their products. We suffer the seasonal and daily indignities of keeping an honest day's catch and throw back fish so commercial and corporate concerns can pilfer the ocean and profit from our quota reductions. As far as I'm concerned, I'll regulate what is acceptable and not acceptable aboard my boat which I pay like many probably $13k to $15k a year to operate. Will certainly not keep small juvenile fish but quality fish for the table whether they meet the bureaucrats criteria of legal or not will be filleted and enjoyed as diner at my home as opposed to being thrown back to subsidize the stock so the aforementioned commercial and corporate concerns can charge outrageous prices to consumers for fish at our collective expense. As always this is about profits. OUR resource is being taken away from us so government, large private commercial and Corporate interests can take more of that resource for themselves and make massive amounts of money in the process. Recreational anglers carry the economy on their shoulders yet we get the short end of the stick year in and year out. As long as atrocities like 4 or 5 inch whiting being sold at retail continue, in my opinion there are no justifiable regulations to be observed. When the powers to be start fairly representing recreational concerns and take our interests into consideration then I'll be more than happy to be governed by their legislation. Until then I'll take my chances back at the dock.

Dakota

[Capt. Lou]

May not be ethical but it's seems to be perfectly legal! Oddly enough last year in GOM big whiting catches @ times , like here 40 years ago to some degree!
The way it's trending up there might be one of the few fish you 'll be allowed to catch this coming season !!

Originally Posted by Capt. Lou

May not be ethical but it's seems to be perfectly legal! Oddly enough last year in GOM big whiting catches @ times , like here 40 years ago to some degree!
The way it's trending up there might be one of the few fish you 'll be allowed to catch this coming season !!

Not if they keep selling 4 or 5 inch fish in the markets!

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by dakota560

Not if they keep selling 4 or 5 inch fish in the markets!

agreed.. Look, I am 60 and have seen a lot of fish on ice over the decades. Usually whiting are a foot each at least..What the hell can you possibly do with a Whiting the size of a big spearing??..
Do they just fry them up in the "whitebait" style, and eat them head fins, ass, gills etc??.. It doesn't make sense.. hell, My $250 FF can distinguish a school of fish that are 5 inches each from one thats a foot each.. I assure you these commericials KNOW damn well whats down there, and have NO compunction about sucking it off the bottom or encircling it.. Its all poundage to them I guess...
I am really disgusted.. bob

[Capt Sal]

The Belford boys net spike whiting because they can. They depleted the whiting to almost extinction and now they net the babies. Very hard to have any respect for these guys.

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Capt Sal Cathy Sea Charters

The Belford boys net spike whiting because they can. They depleted the whiting to almost extinction and now they net the babies. Very hard to have any respect for these guys.

Spikes are one thing Capt Sal.. The fish I saw were a lot smaller than spikes.. They were the size of your average fluke bait...
They net these babies because there is a market I guess.. somewhere..... WHO the hell actually buys stuff like this??? You need 5 of them to put between 2 slices of white bread, but only if you leave the head, fins and tail on... bob

[Joey Dah Fish]

I for one could give 2 Sh*ts what any regs says. I will do my thing as I like. I have a much better plan in my head than any government reg. it's only a matter of time before they ban all commercial fishing or the industry kills itself. Greed will do that

[shrimpman steve]

Put me on a commercial boat. They'll never catch another fish.