Jack Ciattarelli Stance on NJ Outdoors

[Broad Bill]

It goes beyond just the NC commercial fleet which I agree is a huge problem. The entire commercial fleet from every state fishing year round and killing females during the offshore fall migration and spawn kills trillions of eggs every year and recreational shorts tossed back overboard to retain higher priced larger fish of both sexes but primarily females. Commercial dead discard levels are enormous and as I've been saying for almost 10 years will eventually be the death of the stock. North Carolina and Virginia I believe make up about 50% of the entire commercial quota so North Carolina's practice harvesting their quota primarily during the fall and winter months is a huge problem but the entire commercial practice is absolutely f****** out of control.

And yes I agree recreational fishing doesn't put a dent in the fishery and isn't the problem. The fluke fishery has been dedicated to the commercial sector and the regulations are absolutely ludicrous targeting exclusively the harvest of the spawning biomass while killing millions of juvenile fish.

[NoLimit]

So why keep the minimum size and ruin the day for the kids that go home after tossing back all their fish?

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by NoLimit

So why keep the minimum size and ruin the day for the kids that go home after tossing back all their fish?

The recreational minimum size was adopted to insure a much greater percentage of the overall stock became the exclusive harvest of the commercial sector as their minimum starts at 14". They still harvest the larger fish to promote higher catch values and kill God only knows how many smaller fish in the process. The recreational sector makes the sacrifices, the commercial sector receives the financial benefits and an extremely high percentage of the stock becomes collateral damage in the commercial sector process of selectively harvesting the more valuable older age classes. Meaning smaller less valuable younger age classes brought up in their nets get shoveled back overboard dead with the rest of the non targeted catch. There's more waste in commercial fishing alone than the entirety of all recreational harvest but fisheries management bases commercial catch numbers for dead discard mortality on bogus data that commercial operators routinely under report on their vessel trip reports which is completely based on the honor system and whatever percentage they arbitrarily want to report which you know is low balled.

Recreational catch statistics, as we know, are based on MRIP numbers which NMFS has already admitted are more than 40% overstated while commercial discard mortality statistics are left up to the discretion of commercial operators. It's a completely rigged system that favors the commercial sector at the expense of the recreational sector and the stock as a whole.

[NoLimit]

Maybe our only hope is to invest in artificial fish, just like artificial meat. . Most of what is in the supermarket is half way there like sea legs.. The supermarket will squirt out 50 different flavors of fish sticks. The trawlers will quit tearing up the seabed, stop by catching the juveniles to death, and processing fillets that taste like cardboard. This way, we can get back to the days when there was no limit and plenty of quality fish for the table.

[Broad Bill]

[QUOTE=NoLimit;590900]

Originally Posted by Broad Bill

Salt water quotas are set through a collaborative process between the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC), NMFS (NOAA Fisheries) and ASMFC. ASMFC and MAFMC develops and recommends fishery management plans (FMPs) and quota specifications based on scientific advice provided by North East Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), while NMFS approves and implements these regulations to ensure they prevent overfishing if you can believe that”

How can this be believed? In the case of fluke, they are killing the breeders and letting all the males die of old age. But we are being told not to believe our lying eyes. The whole system is tainted and needs to be fixed.

NoLimit, I'm sure this wasn't your intention but when you bifurcated my post and replied to it, you made it appear your reply was part of my initial post because you removed the QUOTE at the end.

So there's no confusion "How can this be believed? In the case of fluke, they are killing the breeders and letting all the males die of old age. But we are being told not to believe our lying eyes. The whole system is tainted and needs to be fixed.", that statement is yours not mine.

Smaller males aren't dying of old age, the older larger class fish that make it through are being harvested but the younger classes, both males and females, are being killed in the process of harvesting larger more valuable fish by the commercials. It's all SIZE and WEIGHT driven when it comes to commercial harvest which translates to maximum catch values, selective harvest and massive amounts of waste in the form of dead discard.

These are literally the most idiotic regulations of any fishery I've ever researched. Kill the juvenile fish, harvest the breeders, allow the commercial sector to slaughter the stock during the spawn, allow netting year round and allow out of state commercial operators who already destroyed the southern stock to do the same to the only remaining Gulf of Maine and Mid-Atlantic stocks on the eastern seaboard.

[NoLimit]

I'm all about getting back to when we had a sustainable fishery and no need for seasons of limits. We do that by getting the commercial guys under control, especially with the HUGE by catch slaughter which is pure waste. The Feds will have to fix this...maybe Trumps son will get the word out.

But now we have this absurd Striper shutdown looming...its more stupid than the Speed Limit which would have had everyone shut down. However NJ does not have a commercial fishery for Stripers and Trenton should be able to put an end to it...we have had enough stupid shut downs.