New Bluefish Regs?

[Roccus7]

Hello All,

I have an interview coming up with regulators to get a full explanation. Does anyone have any specific questions they would like answered on the history/future of blueish regulations?

Will they continue with the For Hire/Not For Hire differential? How do they justify this beyond "It's there business" to which your retort, "Are you saying they should be considered commercial then??" Yeah, you know it's my favorite stick up my you know what...

 

[pequa1]

Why drop from 10 plus 5 all the way to a measly 3 (snappers or adults) if overfishing was not responsible ? Few are targeting them anyway,

 

[Capt13]

I have a question: Why are they wasting time and taxpayers dollars trying to micro-manage a species of fish that , historically, has been a cyclical fish. When the population is very low, as it is now, it is not a targeted fish anyway. Leave the current regs stand. Spend money and time on more important matters ...... maybe run off issues, water quality.

 

[cany]

I have a question: Why are they wasting time and taxpayers dollars trying to micro-manage a species of fish that , historically, has been a cyclical fish. When the population is very low, as it is now, it is not a targeted fish anyway. Leave the current regs stand. Spend money and time on more important matters ...... maybe run off issues, water quality.

That would make sense something they seem too lack

 

[Roccus7]

I have a question: Why are they wasting time and taxpayers dollars trying to micro-manage a species of fish that , historically, has been a cyclical fish. When the population is very low, as it is now, it is not a targeted fish anyway. Leave the current regs stand. Spend money and time on more important matters ...... maybe run off issues, water quality.

Crap regulating weakfish makes regulating bluefish a sane idea in comparison, but we all know they keep trying to regulate both...

 

[george]

In preparation for tomorrow's interview, I came across a Thesis on the history of bluefish management that I found fascinating. For example, were you aware that just 6 years after the Civil War we recognized the need that our nation's fisheries needed to be managed? The author writes:

Just six years after the conclusion of the Civil War, the federal government recognized a need to protect and investigate the nation’s coastal waters and institute the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, a decision that deepened tensions between locals and outside experts and that didn’t resolve many fundamental questions about human versus natural causes of fisheries.

I have attached a pdf of the thesis here and I urge anyone interested in fisheries management to read it. The parallels between then and now are astounding. I would argue we knew as much then as we do now. Maybe even more so.

 

[Capt13]

I liked this statements :

"Throughout the four centuries studied here, bluefish populations along the east coast of
the United States have changed cyclically."

 

[Roccus7]

Way too much time spent on trying every different way to tie native American die off on Nantucket and lack of bluefish. Obviously whatever the "distemper" was it was common English disease that everyone had antibodies to, because none of them died, and the English settlers had no problem. Granted the lack of accessible food like bluefish, probably caused some of the deaths of persons wracked from the "distemper" and were near to starving.

 

[george]

The interview revealed a few things, one -So far we have handed over 80-million pounds of bluefish since the transfer went into effect. We will have a 3/5 bag limit. There will be options for conservation equivalences but I"m not seeing it happen in NY.

It looks like recreational anglers fishing aboard a boat for hire will be allowed 5 bluefish, with rec anglers fishing from shore or their own boat will be allowed three. This includes snappers. I haven't relistened to it yet but I do believe he stated boats for hire were talking only 3.2% of the fish. You know I personally don't have a problem with that. My only issue is that it further separates the rec angler from the industry.

It's about 40-minutes long and very informative as to their thought process. I will be going live with it next week.

Tomorrow I have "NAUTIC LADY" Capt Jospeh Paradso and he is also President of The New York Sportfishing Federation. We talk fishing politics as well as the upcoming longest running fishing show in New York.

 

[Roccus7]

The interview revealed a few things, one -So far we have handed over 80-million pounds of bluefish since the transfer went into effect. We will have a 3/5 bag limit. There will be options for conservation equivalences but I"m not seeing it happen in NY.

It looks like recreational anglers fishing aboard a boat for hire will be allowed 5 bluefish, with rec anglers fishing from shore or their own boat will be allowed three. This includes snappers. I haven't relistened to it yet but I do believe he stated boats for hire were talking only 3.2% of the fish. You know I personally don't have a problem with that. My only issue is that it further separates the rec angler from the industry.

It's about 40-minutes long and very informative as to their thought process. I will be going live with it next week.

Tomorrow I have "NAUTIC LADY" Capt Jospeh Paradso and he is also President of The New York Sportfishing Federation. We talk fishing politics as well as the upcoming longest running fishing show in New York.

Dang on the bluefish, the Rec/For Hire schism is a dangerous thing. We should unite, but rules like this prevent that.

Thumbs up on the interview...

 

[pequa1]

so for the daddies and mommies and their kids for snapper derbies it will be the first kid to catch three...

 

[george]

so for the daddies and mommies and their kids for snapper derbies it will be the first kid to catch three...

Maybe it's time to change these tourneys to teach the kids catch and release. As long as we're not transferring the release to the commercial quota. I actually think we can get that done.

We also did a survey on this on our Instagram account and there were many anglers concerned about using them for bait. Then there were those that enjoy a bunch of them to eat. Basically anglers are all over the map on this. The only thing they agree on is that they're numbers are down.

 

[buddha162]

so for the daddies and mommies and their kids for snapper derbies it will be the first kid to catch three...

there were many anglers concerned about using them for bait. Then there were those that enjoy a bunch of them to eat.

About the only bait fishing I do (outside of togging) is livelining snappers for fluke. One of my favorite late season styles of fishing. I stopped doing that a couple of years ago, after someone pointed out to me that legal or not, I would never use juvenile stripers as bait...

I got over it. The kids will get over it. People who enjoy eating snappers will get over it too.

 

[pequa1]

I will continue to catch three snappers, liveline one and keep two in a killie bucket. When the wife and I tire of short fluke she will join me on the tandem for six on the barbie. They are cyclic. The whole thing is BS.

 

[Roccus7]

Rhode Island just published 2020 regs with 15 bluefish NO minimum size. They also had striped bass at 28", but there was a disclaimer saying it all could change...

 

[Chinacat]

The interview revealed a few things, one -So far we have handed over 80-million pounds of bluefish since the transfer went into effect. We will have a 3/5 bag limit. There will be options for conservation equivalences but I"m not seeing it happen in NY.

It looks like recreational anglers fishing aboard a boat for hire will be allowed 5 bluefish, with rec anglers fishing from shore or their own boat will be allowed three. This includes snappers. I haven't relistened to it yet but I do believe he stated boats for hire were talking only 3.2% of the fish. You know I personally don't have a problem with that. My only issue is that it further separates the rec angler from the industry.

It's about 40-minutes long and very informative as to their thought process. I will be going live with it next week.

Tomorrow I have "NAUTIC LADY" Capt Jospeh Paradso and he is also President of The New York Sportfishing Federation. We talk fishing politics as well as the upcoming longest running fishing show in New York.

George, thanks for your efforts and info sharing

I personally take issue with the differentiation between fishing from shore or private boat vs. for hire sector.
If there is going to be such a differentiation, the catches aboard a for hire boat need to once and for all be counted towards the commercial quota. That's my opinion. That's a separate discussion and not the real issue which in my opinion is the numbers of fish.

I don't buy the argument of don't worry, its just cyclical and its the managers screwing it up.
I'm almost mid 50's in age and was fishing with my old man since I could walk. There have always been tons of bluefish and snappers to catch until recently. I could always go out in the spring or fall and get enough bluefish to fill my smoker in half an hour. Are these so called "cycles" in excess of 50 years because until recently, its been 1 cycle of plenty.

 

[buddha162]

They are cyclic. The whole thing is BS.

Luckily for bluefish, the managers gave zero credence to "cycle" theory of abundance and decline.

 

[pequa1]

"the stock is overfished but not experiencing overfishing" Will cutting the take by private boat owners by 80 % have much of an effect ? Hardly anyone targets them, usually they are a bycatch...if kept.

 

[buddha162]

"the stock is overfished but not experiencing overfishing" Will cutting the take by private boat owners by 80 % have much of an effect ? Hardly anyone targets them, usually they are a bycatch...if kept.

That's not the brain twister people make it out to be. The stock was historically overfished...now with a slashed biomass, it's hard to overfish if you tried.

The large cut in take reflects the fact that most anglers do not keep their full limit of bluefish to begin with. Therefore, a proportional cut will have little effect. I sure hope the new regs will help rebuild the stock, it would be a crying shame if the world class fishery in our backyard collapses.

 

[pequa1]

While I will still take three to liveline, I wasn't catching hardly anything larger anyway. Hope you are right ! We just had what could be our last meal of snappers (ever?) last night. I had frozen five (ten filets) last September.