I'm a bit surprised that no one has any info on the meeting. I guess I have to make a few calls. I know that the chartert/partyboat sector is supporting status quo.
Sorry for the late reply but I had been fishing the last 2 days. I did listen in on the NY meeting via the Webinar format this past Wednesday evening. Before I go into more detail, I will quickly say that based upon Hartattack’s report, the NY meetings discussions and outcome were essentially the same.
I hate to sound like a broken record but sadly these exercises in futility seem to change very little over the years. The data being collected and used to make huge decisions on a critical shared resource always seems to be very thin, surject to tremendous amounts of sheer speculation, and often way out of date. It is my understanding that many members of both the commercial and recreational fishing communities have offered to help the “fisheries managers” collect more accurate data and yet they are intent on using very flawed methods that don’t even approach the common-sense level of reasoning. Dragging the same areas year after year when we all know that fish and their food sources swim plus not knowing (as close as possible) what the actual size/age range is for the most fertile Striped Bass are just 2 prime examples. Merely believing that the largest fish are the most successful breeders is sheer nonsense and doesn’t apply to virtually any fish, animal, or human being on earth. But, despite direct commentary to this effect, you walk away from these meetings realizing the bureaucrats are far more interested in protecting their own jobs than the fisheries, which are in fact the financial and emotional component of healthy, concerned citizens.
So, IMHO what will happen is what usually occurs. Changes will be implemented that the managers feel will distribute the pain most equitably among all those participating in this fishery. As far as the public input goes, I did a quick tally of those who offered comments and, like NJ the majority were in favor of “Status Quo”. As Hartattack pointed out what exactly does that mean? Although it was not clearly specified by those making public statements, I interpreted it to mean same slot size for next year and no closures at all. Clearly that is not going to happen.
The discussion on No Harvest vs. No Targeting was pretty much one sided and virtually no one believes that No-Targeting can be effectively enforced. As a last resort, if all we are allowed at certain times of the year are No Harvest (C&R) periods then that’s better than nothing.
Now it comes down to what Waves will be hit the hardest in terms of number of days to be closed. Based upon prior meetings I have attended this one was pretty large as different parts of the region are more directly impacted by certain seasonal closures than others. It’s no secret that the fall Striped Bass run on the South Shore of LI has been far superior to that on the North Fork or even other North Shore areas for many years now. So, there was a very large contingent from the South shore ports that all want to minimize if not eliminate any closures during the fall run. Obviously, those folks will suffer great economic hardship if long term closers are put in place. Due to recent patterns in Striped Bass availability almost the opposite is true for the North Fork and most of the north shore participants. If we lose a good part of the season say from mid-May and any part of June, the results to our businesses will be just as traumatic. So, as I mentioned earlier what is likely to happen is we will all suffer somewhat with closures implemented on both sides of the season but the slot limit essentially remaining in place.
These are just the opinions and observations of one North Fork charter captain who both loves to catch and eat Striped Bass and whose customers feel the same way.
Capt. Mike Bady
