Pacemaker Boats

[leokow]

John, just got an e mail from a friend of mine with the new interim fluke regs. for 2008.
I didn't miss by much, the new regs. are 4 fish at 18 1/2 inches, but no closed season. These regs will stand until the full commission gets together in Jan. 08.
Also , our good friend Dr. Hogarth announced his retirement as of the end of this year. I know I diasgreed with him on a lot of things but at least I always new where he stood. God only knows what his replacement will be like. I really didn't mind the tighter regs, what bothered me tremendously was the the commercials could catch thousands of pounds without any type of hard restrictions but we were only to allowed 8 fish----that's ridiculous.
Also the by catch rule for them was just criminal. They would catch anywhere from 2 to 3 thousand pounds of fluke bycatch but they were only permitted to keep 100 lbs. so they would pick out the largest ones to get their 100 lbs. and the rest would get shoveled over the side dead and they didn't count, as if those fish never even existed, also their limit of keepers began at 14 inches !! How's that for equitable distribution !!

[rebait]

Lets hope for the best.

John

[merwin10]

I to never understood the by catch rules - seems one sided to me. However, the commercial fishiers are trying to make a living at it! I was over in MV one weekend a year or so ago and one of the commercial boats went out and dragged the bottom. When he came back about 3 hours later and I saw the catch it amounted to four fish. You looked at the boat and 5 crew then the catch you just had to feel bad for them. How they do this day in and day out is beyond me! It just does not add up!

Someone has to come up with a better way! Of course, as you say, what about all the by-catch that was destroyed for four fish!

What is the answer?

Mike -
_________________
"Best part of Boating -- is the people you meet"

[leokow]

I'm not aginst the commercial guys at all, as a matter of fact I wish I could have been one. It's the way the rules are being applied that has my dander up.
When I lived in Florida I used to watch the shrimp boats go out , if you want to get sick you should see that operation, There is a trail of juvenile fish of every type floating dead behind the boat that's at least 100 yards wide and a mile or so long. I talked to one of the Captains one day and he told me that for every pound of shrimp they caught they dumped 100 lbs. of dead fish.
There was an article in the Fisherman magazine a few months ago that highlited a couple of the drag boats as they did their handiwork. One boat had 3 drags that resulted in almost 4000 lbs. of fluke of all sizes being shoveled over the side, all of this waste in the pursuit of scallops.
I'm for letting them keep the fluke and let it all count against their quota, and when they've reached it , then they have to stop fishing , just like us.
Dumping thousands of pounds of fluke over the side and pretending they didn't exist leaves a lot to be desired in the management of a fisheries stock that's supposed to be in trouble !!

[changeofpace]

I agree with you Leo, keep the fish, you can make money off them just as easily as with scallops or shrimp. maybe not as much, but if you have killed them might as well save and sell them and use the other money to support fish management areas

[rebait]

I am not against the commercial guys either. The problem is the rules and the waste. There has to be a better way for the commercial fisherman to harvest their catch. Maybe let them keep all the by catch instead of shoveling the dead fish overboard and count it toward their overall catch. Let each boat have an overall quota. The problem is enforcement.

John

[rebait]

Lets get this subject of fishing regulations, views and solutions under a new topic.

John

[merwin10]

John Said -