All of this doesnt mean shit but a waste of time and money.......you want to help the blackfish get rid of the commercial market and the fish traps around every rock pile from the throgs neck bridge to CT.....that fish 24-7 all year.....thats the problem....
I couldn't agree more. I was at the table when the current law was put in place. At the time the lobster industry requested to keep the tog they caught as bycatch. There was no directed pot fishery for tog, and they made their case so we agreed. But we were assured back then that it was a very small number.
As the lobster fishery declined we recognized the move to tog and requested that all pots set for tog be registered. Now that there is no targeted fishery for lobster, the 4 million pound a year fishery that disappeared with no explanation yet, and the fact that tog which are paying more per pound live than lobsters were, we need to know what's going on in this fishery.
Today it is still the only unregulated fishery in NY. They will argue that as the law we wrote keeps them at 25 fish a day. But to this day we have no clue how many pots there are, who owns them. This chart below shows the ever-increasing value of tautog and therefore the ever-increasing pressure.
2018 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 187,279 | 695,586 | Commercial | Public |
2017 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 195,823 | 738,708 | Commercial | Public |
2016 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 144,863 | 553,422 | Commercial | Public |
2015 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 112,575 | 405,991 | Commercial | Public |
2014 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 121,538 | 377,323 | Commercial | Public |
2013 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 110,849 | 329,112 | Commercial | Public |
2012 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 76,373 | 255,115 | Commercial | Public |
2011 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 82,761 | 262,125 | Commercial | Public |
2010 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 93,153 | 299,225 | Commercial | Public |
2009 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 87,289 | 276,237 | Commercial | Public |
2008 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 88,571 | 254,169 | Commercial | Public |
2007 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 73,797 | 214,636 | Commercial | Public |
2006 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 68,432 | 183,850 | Commercial | Public |
2005 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 52,525 | 129,865 | Commercial | Public |
2004 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 76,606 | 195,750 | Commercial | Public |
2003 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 72,264 | 140,928 | Commercial | Public |
2002 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 60,805 | 122,079 | Commercial | Public |
2001 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 62,795 | 140,054 | Commercial | Public |
2000 | NEW YORK | TAUTOG | 39,953 | 86,007 | Commercial | |
So as the commercial price and value have skyrocketed from a mere $86,000 in the year 2000 to a high of $738,708 last year, recreational anglers in New York have seen severe reductions in both bag and season.
While this was happening recreational anglers using hook and line were reduced in our quota by slowly but surely reducing our season, increasing minimum size limits, and reducing our bag limit.
In the year 2000 the regs for recreational anglers were NY were a 14” minimum size limit and a bag limit of 10 and the season was open year-round. We're now at some crazy reg where you can keep only 3 in the sound and 4 on the south shore. And we're basically limited to like a 40-day season. Somehow the traditional hook and line recreational fishery has been handed over to the unregulated pot fishery.
I have a lot more to say on this subject, but the fact is this has been a huge transfer from the rec side to the com side, as we continue to allow these pots go unregulated, and the price of tog continues to climb. In the meantime, many of the charter captains that would much prefer to take anglers fishing for tog have been forced into potting as their seasons continue to shrink.
Much more coming on this including an effort to register every pot targeting tog. We need to know how many are out there. I also think DEC should do exactly as they did in the lobster fishery with very pot tagged so they can easily be traced back to the owner.
There is some good news on a federal level implementing a tag program that would have went into effect had it not been for covid-19. ASMFC heard the cries of recreational anglers up and down the coast. You can find out more about the tagging
program here.
Tautog with tag attached to gill plate with the tag information visible
Tautog are resident fish, meaning we can't blame other states, like we're always doing to New Jersey. Connecticut has no potting for tog so we can't blame them. Check back here often as we work on getting all of the pots registered and allow DEC to charge a permit fee just as they did in the lobster fishery.