[Broad Bill]

Larry that's going to be another nail in the fishery's coffin and another reason there will be a seasonal closure. When fisheries management promotes harvest of the large breeders in the stock for all these years and allows fishing during the spawn in the Hudson and Chesapeake, why should these results be a revelation. Their policy decisions caused it. Close fishing down during the spawn and give the stock a break as they get absolutely pounded year round. And for Christ sake, kick Cooke Inc. out of the Chesapeake and slash their quotas of menhaden in the ocean until the consequential impacts of their netting on other stocks and the environment are quantified and corrected. Stop being politicians and start solving problems. Stop using public resources as your personal piggy bank and start doing your job. If they didn't see both these problems coming with stripers and fluke a mile away, they're either completely incompetent or corrupt and most likely a combination of both. How many people ever worked for a company where one day your walked in and management said, "We have to cut staff by 50% because we thought we were making money but we're actually losing our shirts". These problems took years in the making and are of a scale large enough where the obvious question is why were less severe preventative measure not put on place sooner to avoid decisions which will bring with them catastrophic economic impacts and a potential moratorium on stock access for some period of time. Can you imagine NO FALL SURF FISHING next year for the two best months of the year and the impact that will have on tackle shops, small ocean community businesses and recreational anglers rights to enjoy a activity enjoyed for over a century. These regulatory agencies are destroying fisheries and people's lives and livelihoods with no recourse whatsoever. It's absolutely pathetic how this process works and the results being delivered.


When management has to revert to drastic measures it means they have no idea how to manage the stock. If they did, we wouldn't be at DEFCON 1 and we wouldn't be talking about such extreme measures as seasonal closures and in the case of fluke a 42% quota cut. That's their report card and they're failing miserably since they're management ideologies are completely flawed. Extreme levels of incompetency in both federal and state agencies with no accountability whatsoever to the general public.