Fishery Management

[Detour66]

The only way the regulations will change in our favor is votes and money! We need to organize as one group and put our votes and money where our mouths are. If all fisherman including myself put more passion into making their voice heard it could be done. Look at so many other much bigger social issues that have been changed due to people being passionate about their cause and not giving up. Until fisherman decide to put a real effort into change. Nothing will change in our favor.

[bunker dunker]

like i said folks would say i was being negative,shocker!!!!! hypothetically what
if we all gathered at a certain marina and filled all the boats.we then all catch and keep 1 short fluke.we then call the co's and report it.we all get tickets and
tell them we want court dates.we fill the court rooms and tie up the courts or something like that.i'll bet we would be heard then,just saying

BD I'm not saying your negative, if my reply came across that way I apologize. We're all frustrated for good reason.

I'll make another suggestion to keep people from having to appear in court. There's been opinion polls on this site over the years. Not sure how it's done, think Gerry might have to do it. I'd be interested in a site survey which outlines percentage keepers on trips. Would like to capture three streams of data, number or range of fish caught, number of shorts and number of trips reported. Maybe it's arranged as percentage of shorts caught on trip in ranges that are broken by increments of 10% as in over 90%, over 80%, over 70% etc. Fish caught could be shown in increments of 25 or more, less than 25, between 25 and 50, between 50 and 75, between 75 and 100 and over 100.

My guess is we'll see huge amounts of shorts which we're being penalized for a ~35% in discard rates, a low percentage of keepers in the absolute and per trip. The recreational regulations in place right now due to the imbalance caused by increased size limits driving higher discard rates will almost guarantee we'll never see another increase in possession limits until wholesale changes are made by the Council.

Gerry is that possible?

[bunker dunker]

no worries mr dakota,all is good.i just think they will not stop or bend until we hit them were is hurts,their wallet.hypothetically if 300 peeps showed up with
summons i believe that would tie up the courts and cost them money.again i believe it what all are doing,including yourself.i just don't believe that the state
government believes or cares.

Originally Posted by bunker dunker

no worries mr dakota,all is good.i just think they will not stop or bend until we hit them were is hurts,their wallet.hypothetically if 300 peeps showed up with
summons i believe that would tie up the courts and cost them money.again i believe it what all are doing,including yourself.i just don't believe that the state
government believes or cares.

BD in general I agree with you. Believe our distinguished state Senators and Representatives for the most part have done NOTHING to help our cause. There might be exceptions to that statement but I'm not versed enough in past politics to know who they might be.

One thing I do know is if NJ elected to go out of compliance, it not only effects recreational and commercials operators regarding summer flounder, it effects all fisheries I believe outside the EEZ zone or three miles from shore. Basically it shuts every fishery down. That's not an option I believe anyone wants to consider.

As far as money is concerned, unfortunately the recreational community doesn't have it and is poorly organized. Without it, the only hope we have lies in the data and making as many people as possible aware of what the data is telling us and the impact regulations are having on the health of the fishery and disproportionate allocation of the resource. There's a 60 / 40 split in catch quota every year favoring commercials to start with, then factor in the portion of the biomass commercials have access to (14" and above) relative to recreational in NJ @18', Va @18.5 and NY, Ct and RI @ 19", the disparity in proportionate access to the resource is staggering. Don't believe Magnuson Stevens Act or subsequent re-authorizations had that intention in mind.

In my opinion, bringing those facts to the Council and Committees publicly and being relentless making this knowledge public involving arguably the most vital fishery of the Mid-Atlantic States is the course of action and path in my opinion we need to follow. I might be completely off target on this but that's the approach I'm going with using their own data to support my findings and conclusions.

[Rocky]

How many politicians have actually fought for our fishing rights? Not many. They showed up for picture oppurtunities during the rallies, did their little speeches on how they would fight for us recreational fishermen and, left. Thats it! We have so little representation in the state and D.C. it is so pathetic.

[dales529]

Tom Dakota passion and analytical skills have opened a new dialogue with both sides of the regulatory process. Hopefully this equates to some accountability on the failures of on going regulations as Tom states it's their data. This is a new path without the state or DC politicians although I suspect eventually it could end up there but if it does it will be because Tom is correct and if so they can't hide from their own data.
All I know is that I am glad he is doing this and it has renewed my hope to a better fishing future so happy to give him all the help and support required. Why not. If it fails we tried and if it succeeds we will have been part of a solution. Keep at it Tom!

[Detour66]

Originally Posted by bunker dunker

like i said folks would say i was being negative,shocker!!!!! hypothetically what
if we all gathered at a certain marina and filled all the boats.we then all catch and keep 1 short fluke.we then call the co's and report it.we all get tickets and
tell them we want court dates.we fill the court rooms and tie up the courts or something like that.i'll bet we would be heard then,just saying

What if every private boat...party boat...charter boat...kayak..land fisherman all decide to keep short fluke state wide in protest. Pick a date or dates and we all do it! That might get some attention.