Blackfish

Not exactly a fish report but wanted to share this with the board. Gerry hope that's ok or move it if it's not. During the fluke season, we like fishing salmon belly strips which can be hard to come by. There's a few Asian markets I go to that stock them from time to time. As with most Asian markets, they also have live tanks for a number of species including black fish. Every time I went to one particular store they had black fish and most didn't appear to be close to the 15" size limit. Wasn't sure what the regulation were for retail but two days ago I was at the store and they had a tankful of black fish, again most appeared to be well under 15". I called NJDEP Hotline (877) WARNDEP or (877) 927-6337. Explained the situation and the women I spoke with immediately assigned a case number and took my personal information, address and phone number.

Received a call today (Saturday) from a Lieutenant who visited the store today and issued a violation for 37 undersized fish. Spoke to the gentlemen for over an hour about enforcement in general and how much his follow up meant. These guys need our help, his territory alone is over 500 square miles but he took time on a Saturday to follow up within a day of my complaint, issue a citation to the store, advise me what happened and thank me for the heads up. Pretty impressive all things considered with staffing issues.

Reason I post this is for a few reasons. Black market for live tog is OUT OF CONTROL. Fish were selling for 18.99 a lb. The fine unfortunately which is a problem is $57 per fish so the upside profits being made clearly outweigh the risk. But the response time and follow up with me was incredible. These guys need as much help as we can give them. I know there's others who see this and wanted to share with you who you can call to report such an incident if you witness it. It's not a huge step but it's a step in the right direction.