ASMFC Annual Meeting This Week

Roccus7

Roccus7

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Staff member
It's all "happening" down (up) in Portsmouth this week. Calendar is here: ASMFC Annual Meeting

The Striped Bass Cluster will be Wednesday afternoon from 2:45 - 5:45. I'll try to listen in Wednesday to the meeting. Been through 505 pages of the 1233 pages of letters and so far 2 very interesting trends emerged from the For Hire groups.

  1. They are strongly in favor for either Status Quo (Keep the 28" limit) or the 28 - 35" slot. In support of these limits they declare impending financial ruin of a 35" limit.
  2. They want to "secede" from being included in the Recreational Classification and either be considered a separate entity or be included in the Commercial Group.
A quick scan of the October 16 minutes from the Advisory Panel clearly demonstrated that there is NO agreement from Panel Members among the management options. They feel Conservation Equivalencies is the way to go. Of course the Law Enforcement Committee felt it to be important for consistency across the board to help with enforcement.

OY!!! Strap in for some real excitement on Wednesday!!
 
Roccus7 said:
  1. They are strongly in favor for either Status Quo (Keep the 28" limit) or the 28 - 35" slot. In support of these limits they declare impending financial ruin of a 35" limit.
  2. They want to "secede" from being included in the Recreational Classification and either be considered a separate entity or be included in the Commercial Group.
Click to expand...

These guys are going to fish themselves out of business.
 
So I guess NY recreational anglers and the for hire fleet are actually on the same page. There is zero chance for status quo. I seriously doubt that NY for hire boats want their own category.

Keep us updated. I'll be blackfishing Wed.
 
Another interesting theme in the letters, the NJ Surf boys are singing the blues en masse. They haven't had a good sandeel fall run in years, something they purport to be due to the damage by Sandy and the resulting beach replacement by the Army Corps. They're bemoaning the fact that boat fishermen are catching and are suggesting things like surf vs boat regs (they have it for fluke at Long Beach State Park), but this schism only further breaks up the Recreational Angler group. Until you can get 5 recreational bass fishermen together and have them agree on even 3 ways to help bass, we're going to continue chase our tails, and not a striper's tail.
 
Every NJ surf guy I know is in support of 1@35"...many are in favor of game fish status/catch release only. These are not guys who fish for food.

Charter/party boats (with maybe the exception of Montauk's fleet?) are united for status quo or slot. As you pointed out, they're willing to secede to form their own category...it's as if an industry that profits off a public, natural resource feels they don't need to be burdened with tougher regs when the resource falls off a cliff.
 
this lure only surfcaster and only occasional clam belly guy is definitely in favor of a slot, and one more like 26 to 32. I like to eat my catch or harvest !
 
Oh, I forgot, equal reductions by both Recs and Coms (Option 2)

Chesapeake Bay 1 fish @ 18", MD NOT happy.

Circle hooks for bait.
 
Thanks for the update.

Now comes conservation equivalency. And then there's the rest of the coast bitchin while New Jersey uses it's 250,000 pounds in its trophy program.
 
george said:
Thanks for the update.

Now comes conservation equivalency. And then there's the rest of the coast bitchin while New Jersey uses it's 250,000 pounds in its trophy program.
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205,000 if that's last year's quota; they have to reduce that too by 18%.

Seems that all the big dogs will be floating CEs. Audio kept dropping out so I didn't get the final tally, but the vast majority approved the spot.

Kind of ironic as most folks deluded themselves into thinking the public comments were a binding vote, not the info gathering that it was meant to be.
 
Roccus7 said:
205,000 if that's last year's quota; they have to reduce that too by 18%.

Seems that all the big dogs will be floating CEs. Audio kept dropping out so I didn't get the final tally, but the vast majority approved the spot.

Kind of ironic as most folks deluded themselves into thinking the public comments were a binding vote, not the info gathering that it was meant to be.
Click to expand...

It was easy for ASMFC this time because aside from the dream of status quo, all user groups favored a slot.

As for Jersey, they have averaged taking less than 5% of their ex com quota so they have plenty of room for a second fish.

There is going to be a lot of noise from both recs and the for-hire fleet when NJ boats are mohawking big fish in the spring and fall while we releasing them.
 
Bigger than 35" are definitely not as tasty as smaller. For me its all about the meal ! I just hope all those "photographers" out there release the mommy bass QUICKLY.
 
pequa1 said:
Ahhh, so we in NY might still cave to the trophy hunters (mommy bass killers)...
Click to expand...

It'll be interesting. I read through all the letters and most of the NY For Hire Captains wanted that slot, as they felt the 35" limit was too much to make sure their fares got something to take home. You'll have to see if they put in some sort of CE.

What happens int the Hudson has me more concerned. The NY rep kept saying that it was an "insignificant fishery", yet of the 4 tagged fish I've caught over the past 3 years, 2 were from the Hudson. If NY wants to demonstrate that they are a dedicated steward, they WILL shut down all fishing on the spawning grounds during the spawn, but the comment above already shows some posturing to the contrary...
 
Roccus7 said:
It'll be interesting. I read through all the letters and most of the NY For Hire Captains wanted that slot, as they felt the 35" limit was too much to make sure their fares got something to take home. You'll have to see if they put in some sort of CE.

What happens int the Hudson has me more concerned. The NY rep kept saying that it was an "insignificant fishery", yet of the 4 tagged fish I've caught over the past 3 years, 2 were from the Hudson. If NY wants to demonstrate that they are a dedicated steward, they WILL shut down all fishing on the spawning grounds during the spawn, but the comment above already shows some posturing to the contrary...
Click to expand...
I'm not the slightest bit concerned with the Hudson Fishery. We have shown time and again, in striped bass and just about every other species - we don't sell elvers for example :) - that we are resource first anglers.

It truly is nonsequential. I've fished there about a dozen times and I can tell you first hand that participation is very low in that river. Don't worry, there will be plenty of Hudson fish for you to kill :) Or in your case 1 in every 100.
 
george said:
I'm not the slightest bit concerned with the Hudson Fishery. We have shown time and again, in striped bass and just about every other species - we don't sell elvers for example :) - that we are resource first anglers.

It truly is nonsequential. I've fished there about a dozen times and I can tell you first hand that participation is very low in that river. Don't worry, there will be plenty of Hudson fish for you to kill :) Or in your case 1 in every 100.
Click to expand...

Com'on George you're giving me too much credit. This year's ratio was 1:390!!

Fishing on a spawning ground during the spawn just seems so wrong from a basic fisheries management point of view. I'm glad that you think it's insignificant...
 
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