Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

If you do nothing else in the next few days, the one thing you need to do is read and sign this. I will just take a minute and could make a huge difference in our future Striper regulations. Let's all get behind this and share this link with as many people as you can.. DO IT NOW!

https://www.votervoice.net/mobile/KA...129953/Respond

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Done

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Thanks, pretty simple to do, right?

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Done: Thats 2 :mad: Plus Capt Ron =3
Get off your A and make a difference!

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Done

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

It's NEVER going to end. They DON"T want you fishing, bottom line.

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Done with the following reply.

When's the last time there was a closure to a fishery with a significant commercial presence? Addressing the blue cat fish population in the Chesapeake and driving Cooke Inc. out of the Bay to give bunker a chance to clean up the cesspool needs to be done but Virginia lobbies not to because of the money they receive in kickbacks from Cooke Inc. and Omega Protein. Don't punish the recreational industry for the mistakes of Virginia. Increase enforcement with the hundreds of millions of dollars generated by recreational fishing to enforce the laws on the books and stop unabated poaching of stripers and give the fishery time to rebuild the biomass. Don't drive another nail into the coffin of this fishery which will have permanent and irreversible impacts on the stock and small businesses up and down the coast. You have a fiduciary responsibility to protect the resource without destroying the economy, there's ways of doing that without the need for a closure. Don't destroy legacy fisheries and businesses dependent on them because it's the easy thing to do and don't make decisions under a different set of standards for the commercial sector versus the recreational sector which contributes as much if not more to the economies of the Mid-Atlantic States.

I'll plead on behalf of all of us to take 5 minutes to make sure your voice, your opinion and your pent up frustrations are heard. The time it takes to make a cup of coffee is all you need to submit a reply which could have long term ramification and save a fishery and people's livelihoods who have utilized that fishery for generations as a means of survival. We've been shit on forever, these are the times when you need to push back and realize you have a chance to make a difference and tell these bureaucrats were done having their bullshit regulations forced down our throats causing the potential loss of another recreational activity. You can contribute to how stocks are being managed or you can be screwed by the *******s making those decisions. WE NEED TO SPEAK UP AND VOICE OUR OPINIONS AND CONCERNS WHILE THERE'S A FISHERY LEFT TO SAVE. IMAGINE WHAT HAPPENS WITH RECREATIONAL FISHING IF THERE'S NO PARTY BOATS OR CHARTER BOATS LEFT BECAUSE THEY WERE REGULATED OUT OF BUSINESS. Maybe that'll light the fire needed to invest 5 minutes replying to this link, I pray it does.

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Done, thx Gerry for posting...

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Done

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

DONE & forwarded to multiple fishing friends.

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

:)Done

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

I'm going to get shit for this post but at this stage I don't care. Just counted and between party and charter boat sponsors on this site, there's 30. Why hasn't every one posted they replied to the email request Gerry posted. If people whose livelihoods depend on these resources won't take the time, how can we expect members to. 9 members have replied! Captain Ron is the only sponsor as far as I can tell that submitted a response. WTF!

Gerry how many active Members are on NJF? 5 minutes to have your voice heard, maybe not acted on, but at least your voice heard and maybe matter. What's the problem? If people aren't going to stand up for themselves, no one's standing up for us. We've been losing and will continue to lose until attitudes change. No one is going to do the work for us, it needs to be done in any way possible but millions of recreational anglers appear to be wiling to let government, politicians and bureaucrats dictate your life's choices. Is that how people here want to live their lives as corrupt politician and federal agencies puppets? Personally I don't. We complain but at the same time accept losing every day by allowing these *******s to peel our God given rights away from us. What's it going to take to get people off their asses and take a stance. You can sum up the state of fisheries management and the reduction in access the recreational angler is faced with today based on the poor response to this thread.

We're &*%^&%# losers if all we do is complain while sitting on our ass waiting for someone else other than ourselves to protect our rights to a public resources. And everyone who doesn't try is depriving future generations from enjoying the same sport the generations before us, our generation and our children have. Truthfully, it's an embarrassment. If we don't start helping ourselves its sadly time to throw in the towel.

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Done !!!!!!!!

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Done

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Done.

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Thanks for getting this done guys let keep it going and share with as many as we can...

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Done

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

DONE...thank you Gerry for making it easy

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Just because you don't see it here doesn't mean it's not getting done. I talked to several of them personally and they have submitted comments and I know of several that are going to the meeting on the 16th.

There are however some other for hires that have thrown in the towel and I've seen a few posts on their social accounts saying things like "They've already made up their minds why bother"

I have only one thing to say to them... If you're not willing to do anything because you don't think it will make a difference, why would you discourage others who are trying to help you?? :confused::mad:

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Done

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

What if your in favor of the closure? As unpopular as it may be?

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

The more relevant question is why is there a need for a closure of a fishery where one fish per angler per day between 28-31 inches can be kept. The fishery should be thriving. Years ago when there were no limits, the fishery was robust. If there is in fact a decline, what's caused it and how about we address the core problem as opposed to jumping to a moratorium. For starters, clean up the Chesapeake and kick Omega Protein / Cooke Inc out and stop the money grab by Virginia. If they do end up closing the fishery down, they had better close bunker netting in the bay down as well. Why pass legislations which will negatively impact all Mid-Atlantic states and so many small businesses when one state's greed and polluted spawning grounds is materially causing the problem. The young of the year indexes of both Maryland and Virginia are down alarmingly from historical numbers. A season closure won't improve the health of the stock if the big girls aren't spawning or the eggs not surviving in the stock's largest spawning ground due to pollution. All it'll do is push small businesses to the brink and place undue pressure on other stocks.

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

You could go to the meetings or write in comments or just hang out and hope the wind might push it your way...

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

FYI….I did fill out the post and submitted my personal opinion.
Do I need to tell the world that I did? No, I don’t.
I also appreciate everything you do, and Im sure many others do as well.
Enjoy your day.

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Done, thanks Gerry!

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Reelfitter, I wasn't singling any one person out. Appreciate you taking the time to submit a reply and voice your opinion. I'm frustrated on what's taken place in fisheries management overall over the last 20-25 years and the shit the recreational sector has had forced down our throats and the damage done to stocks by focusing regulations on what favors the commercial sector and not what favors the health of stocks. It's the 900 lb. gorilla in the room no one wants to talk about. We're going to somehow succeed or fail as a sector and need everyone's best efforts to move the needle in our favor if that's ever to be a reality. How we do that is the million dollar question but it needs to be done because we're all losing a god given resource all because politicians and the federal government are corrupt and don't recognize our rights to a shared resource. It was never that way years ago and there's no legitimate reason it needs to be that way today other than greed and corruption from top to bottom within the agencies which oversee fisheries management. Thanks again for your input.

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Broad Bill, Stop it!! You make way too much sense. I'm not a scientist, don't have a PHD but I have eyes and half a brain. Anyone in this business who has at least those two things should know about everything you mention.

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

I’m all for no harvest and trying to make a better future for this fishery. No targeting will be a huge gut punch. I’d support some additional restrictions like prohibiting bait fishing, or putting a no target on bass let’s say until 4/15 in breeding waters.

Hope they do something to firm things up, there are a good amount of bass today, no doubt, but there aren’t a lot of fish existing to support future generations of equal fishing per the reproduction data.

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Wow! I guess it won't effect you.It might suck in the Chessy area but from what i see it looks like a healthy fishery here in N J.I been chasing strippers for over 60 years and what we have today is fabulous compared to the sixties and seventies.We never had fall runs like we have now. We all want a future for this fishery but at what price? Respecfully.

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

As unpopular as it sounds I agree. Although I’d like to see the for hire industry to still be able to fish for stripers.

What goes on in the Sandy Hook/Raritan area during the spring run is disgusting to say the least. Close it during the spawn can only help.

Here’s the question tho…..who will enforce it?

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

No one is going to enforce it, just more scare tactics like circle hooks. They will patrol the densely populated fishing areas like Sandy Hook bay and that will be about it. Fish at night, do what ever you want to do.

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Death by a thousand cuts. Slowly but surely, we are giving up our rights to a resource we are entitled to. We do it in the call for saving a fishery!!! They tell us it's for the good of everyone...well it's not. It's for the good of the commercial interest. I watched 60 years of fishery management. What I've learned is they take it away claiming to do it to restore the fishery. What I've also learned is they never give it back. Look at todays; regs....are you happy with 3 fluke for a few months, one to two stripers, one blackfish here and there. How about seabass..(a fully recovered fishery plus). Ok ten for a month over the spring, then one fish over the peak summer season. Then you get to chase them offshore for a few months. Go look at the commercial regs. They fish for seabass 12 months a year....no big decreases month to month. They even get to pick the number of days QOUTA they will fish for. Can we claim we're fishing today for our 5 day quota?
Sadly, over time regulations will put charter and party boat operations out of business. Where do we go then.... their answer is the fish store.
I'm not for breaking laws to keep something we are entitled too, but I get the frustration.. I'm tired of bad science...but what do we do. I appreciate Gerry making it easy to voice our opinions.

Re: Striper Season Closures - Immediate Action Needed
 

Exactly and it’s time the public took back what is a public resource!