2024 and 2025 Fluke Options Poll

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by hammer4reel

Since your so analytical think you would have caught the THEY part as to who we were talking about .

I have said the same in reference to commercials hammering this stock at times they shouldn’t be .
But imo it’s the NC fleet doing the damage to these stocks . The smaller guys aren’t allowed those huge landings .

Problem is currently there are no regulations to where the netters can go in federal waters .
Example would be NJ boats allowed to harvest 3000 pounds a week , and just make quota .
But a NC boat takes 30000 from the same area .
Our fishery suffers while they drive that load south .
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Why or how can NJ landing limits help the fishery when all the rest of this is going on .
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And as far as me not understanding your analytics , you can cherry pick anything you want . But you also can’t back it up with actual science because there really isnt any accurate information available to make an ACCURATE finding .

You only want to believe numbers that fit your narrative .
All these findings used for all the graph and chart are based on anecdotal info .

If I was to believe the fishery was just on my actual observations, I would think 20” fish are in abundance .
Reading other guys findings it’s 16” fish. Which possibly is accurate where they are fishing .

First, word choice isn't analytics. I thought someone of your intelligence would understand that. I thought your reference to "they" meant commercials, not NMFS.

Second, I completely agree with your points about NC and always have. They destroyed the southern stock and will do the same without blinking to the remaining northern stock and should be removed from our waters. Plus the favorable weight assignments they receive are about 30 years outdated and a huge problem to every other state and major benefit to NC. That completely flies under everyone's radar screen and never receives any mention. Their allowable landings, which already represents a third of the commercial quota, is doubled because their weight assignments for fish are substantially lower than all other commercial states and the recreational sector.

Third, I'm not cherry picking a thing, my analysis is as comprehensive and objective as any done on NMFS data. Again it's their data, like it or not, decisions based on MSA are supposed to be based on and it's flawed in more ways than you can imagine. Just as much as I'm sure the data you receive from commercials is not verified by anyone but the commercial operators providing it who have a vested interest to have it support their best interests and their narrative. If anyone's data is cherry picked, it's theirs. Ask any of your buddies exactly what their average discard mortality rates to landings or catch are and compare it to the below chart which is data provided by independent federal observers. Compare the black lines, observer percentages of discards to the blue lines, %'s reported by operators on Vessel Trip Reports. Then compare to the red lines, actual landings. Objective and verifiable. The disparities are enormous.

I believe commercial mesh sizes were increased in the late 90's / early 2000, look at the spike in discard percentages. These statistics were from the 57th Stock Assessment and I'm sure infuriated the commercial sector and embarrassed NMFS so they simply removed the chart from subsequent assessments. Don't address the problem, just make the data disappear and sweep ,the problem under the rug. And if it was that bad back then, think about what it is today based on your own comments and the pursuit of fish over 4 lbs. It's a huge problem in this fishery which NMFS has turned a blind eye on.

My conclusions are based on 20 years of historical data, relationships and trends, something well beyond your paygrade. If you can't grasp it, that's understandable, but don't insult me by saying it's my narrative. Or we can use your extensive on water experience and believe what your commercial buddies are telling you which you apparently accept face value as empirical data while the fishery continues it's declines. LMFAO.