Re: Purse Seine Boats in Raritan Bay
 

Captain Sal,
You probably are aware of this...there is supposed to be a marine conservation officer monitoring these guys. If you have any pics you could report them although I guess they have a permit to net the bunker. Just disturbing, obviously

Re: Purse Seine Boats in Raritan Bay
 

FYI-I started this Thread.
While I saw watching these boats, I called the USCG Offices in Bayonne, Staten Island and The Battery. No one was able to give me info about legality etc. Another call to the NJ State Police Marine Unit was no help either. They suggested I contact NOAA Enforcement. I was disappointed because I figured...."they can check for short fluke but not a few boats wiping out tons of bunker in a few hours".

When I got home I called the NJDEP Fish & Game Enforcement Unit in Nacote Creek, Port Republic, NJ regarding bunker purse seining boats. I was told it is legal for purse seiners to operate from 0.6 to 3.0 miles from shore in NJ. The woman told me that the purse seiners were required to report to the Nacote Creek Office the locations where they plan to fish each day. She informed me that they had an Enforcement Officer who was expected to be in that area to observe this activity.

I told her it made me sick to watch these guys take all the bait that just arrived in the Bay. She said she understood but it's legal.

Re: Purse Seine Boats in Raritan Bay
 

Here is what I tracked down on the ASMFC website,6.45% increase in 2017 http://www.asmfc.org/species/atlantic-menhaden

In response to concerns that the 6,000 pound per vessel bycatch allowance in Amendment 2 does not support cooperative fishing, the Board approved Addendum I in August 2016. The Addendum modifies the bycatch provision by allowing two permitted fishermen working on the same vessel using stationary multispecies gears to land up to 12,000 pounds of menhaden per trip per day. The practice of two permitted individuals working together on the same vessel allows fishermen to pool resources of fuel and crew, and primarily occurs in the Chesapeake Bay pound net fishery.

In October 2016, the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board approved a 2017 TAC of 200,000 mt, a 6.45% increase from the 2016 TAC. According to Technical Committee analysis this increase has a zero percent probability of resulting in overfishing. The TAC will be made available to the states/jurisdictions based on the state-by-state allocation established by Amendment 2.

Re: Purse Seine Boats in Raritan Bay
 

I just came across this article about Omega Protein and menhaden:

http://www.mondovacilando.com/someth...-reedville-va/

Re: Purse Seine Boats in Raritan Bay
 

No more phone calls - we have a winner!

Re: Purse Seine Boats in Raritan Bay
 

Vote em out every last swinging d#$%.

Re: Purse Seine Boats in Raritan Bay
 

By law if there are stripers in the net they can not lift them from the small boat pulling the net to the big boat.If they lift them and drop them like the bunker you have a bunch of dead stripers and big breeder weakfish. I have watched them do it and it made me sick.If they come in to the bay in April and May and take all the bunker from the NJ side the NY side still has bunker.The bass are on the NY side following the bait.It can ruin the striper run!It is ridiculous that the same body of water has different laws.Tell me the NJ politicians give a rats ass about bunker!As far as how close they can go to shore was changed years ago and you can thank the HI-Mar club for that!!!

Re: Purse Seine Boats in Raritan Bay
 

Many years back in late 50's Belford creek housed a good size fleet of these bunker boats like pictured in the photo in your story about Omega !
If memory serves there were about 20 or more operating out of this facility , folks that worked on boats were housed in cottages adjacent to fish plant .
They have been decimating these important bait fish for years with all complaints falling on deal ears for most part !
It seems with this new administration it may allow us the opportunity to limit this bunker devastation , after all they were after change at all levels .
It seems that publicity on the Tyson front thru media reports might grab some newsworthy issues & lay out this bunker dilemma ,NY got it done .
It's really commitment on all our parts to attack this issue now & head on , social media , sites like these etc all good places to start . NJ congressman we should all ask them why this is allowed, but we already know the answer to this ? , money , however it seems to do little for the NJ economy it all goes into another states treasury ,WTF ! Wake up people time to rearm against this issue not when it may be too late !