Reason I respect your posts and you seem like an intelligent person which makes your comments more confusing. Recruitment numbers (BASED ON NMFS"S OWN DATA) show a steady and sharp decline over the last 25 years to the magnitude of an 80% decrease in strength. These are the facts presented by NMFS, not mine or third party. What accounts are you referring to that would lead anyone to believe the stock is fecund and resistant to sex ratio imbalances because the raw data we're all being regulated by says the complete opposite. If you take the time to trend recruitment statistics against size limit increases it shows a clear and continuous inverse relationship throughout the last 25 years. EVERY year size limit increases are legislated higher, recruitment in the absolute and in a relative sense to SSB has declined.....EVERY YEAR. We're all expected to believe this is a result of gradual climate change over 25 years. There's no basis or logic for believing that.

Look at it from a different perspective, between 1989 and 2002 as I've posted numerous times, SSB increased by 600%. Is that possible if climate change was at play and the biomass was migrating further north and or east. I'm sure some of that is going on but trawl studies in areas revealing a 600% increase in spawning stock biomass also reported a continuous and significant decline in reproduction. So based on your theory, you'd have us believe the stock was expanding exponentially, a six-fold increase, but climate change was causing reproduction numbers to tank. I fail to see the logic in that argument.

You ever been down to the Point Pleasant Coop off Channel Drive when the commercials return from these off shore trips. I'd invite everyone to check it out, in particular the size of the fluke off loaded. Would bet 95% or more of their catch are females. The fluke brought in from those offshore trips are some of the biggest fluke you'll ever see. You think their nets catch only large fluke. How many smaller fish and even larger fish were caught and killed in the process and what percentage are we to believe was reported on the FVTR's (Fishing Vessel Trip Reports). I think the reported average for commercial operators is somewhere in the 7 - 10% range, wouldn't surprise me if dead discard on these off shore trips is over 100% of allowed harvest. Would be surprised actually if it was that low.

NMFS knows too many female fluke are being harvested which is why they're considering the sex study in peer review. It's there only way out of this without admitting they've mismanaged the fishery for the last fifteen to twenty years. In my opinion, they'll come out in a few years and say the results of their scientific findings based on models incorporating size and sex consideration have shown the need to introduce a slot limit and my guess is it will happen for the '19 season, not next year. By then the fishery will be irreparably damaged if it's not already. Then we'll see just how "steep" or "fecund" the stock really is when it becomes the next whiting and ling fishery. As I've said, the facts are there for anyone taking the time to interpret what it's telling us. Doesn't take a genius, just someone with an objective perspective as opposed to a politically motivated agenda.