Quote:
Originally Posted by Angler Paul
Most people keep the sea bass to eat and there are tons of them out there. I don't see how a tournament would hurt. Unfortunately, the quota is far too low for the entire east coast. The population of sea bass continues to grow and as it does so their range increases as well. Now all the states to our north catch a lot of them that causes us to go over the quota and again it results in tighter restrictions for us. JCAA believes it is time to rebel against the ASMFC for setting these ridiculously low quotas.
Paul Haertel
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Indeed there are a lot of them out there.. for now...
However, there were once a lot of Whiting, Flounder, Mackerel,Weakfish, etc.. Hell, even eels are under pressure, and from what I have seen past few years, Ling are even starting to become scarcer. Fishing pressure is fishing pressure, regardless of the form it takes.
Tournaments are short lived, but for the time they are active, they put intense pressure on localized fish populations.. You may disagree, but in my area I am surrounded by tournaments, and I have seen the damage first hand.. As I said, personally I am not a fan.. I know my opinion is the minority one, and I accept that.
Actually I agree that some restrictions on Sea Bass should be lifted.. I think the size should be 12 inches actually, which on any given trip would give a fisherman plenty to take home. However tournaments just cause too much concentrated fishing pressure in small areas.. This wasn't a problem years ago, but today there are too many great fishermen with too much great equipment that can take an awful lot of fish out of a small area in a short time... bob
