Dec 16th ASMFC Striper Meeting Recap

[dales529]

Originally Posted by hammer4reel

Maybe someone had to explain how release mortality went from 9 percent to 39% in what was actually held against us in the same document they presented .

In Order for a third of our quota to be from released bass , you would have had to CR 4 times as many fish as what was kept

Agreed and been saying the same thing on Fluke for years, proposed mortality rates are overinflated and not the rule but an exception of the rule.

[Broad Bill]

Posted a reply earlier and deleted it so as to not include names. Why would any of us believe ASMFC, MAMFC or the State of Virginia will do anything to change a problem they themselves created causing a 42% decline in the summer flounder quota for 2024 and 2025 and a potential moratorium in the striper fishery.

We've all worked throughout our lives. How many chances does an employee, executive or in this case agency or members get before realizing the problem is the agencies and members themselves. Government is the only institution where you actually get recognized and promoted for failing.

Everyone of these institutions are as corrupt as they get and now we're expected to applaud the same people for kicking the proverbial can down the street for yet again another two years before addressing the problem and implementing remedial measures before it's too late. And what happens over that two year window with the unabated exploitation of menhaden in the Chesapeake by Cooke Inc. while corrupt Virginia politicians and businesses get filthy rich.

Yesterday's ruling, in my opinion, is symptomatic of the systemic failure of the process, completely ignored the problems facing the fishery and constitutes business as usual which all but guarantees continued failure within these stocks. All lip service and no substantive action, no different than the BS we've endured the last twenty or more years. The powers to be are deferring the problem so in 2026 we'll be looking at a full season closure as opposed to two months and forget about summer flounder because all these younger age class fish we saw this year won't be making an appearance next year as they're being killed by year round offshore commercial operations throughout the winter.

I'd refrain from accolades to any individual whose been involved for years in the decision making process causing these catastrophic problems until changes are made to actually protect and grow these fisheries. You want to fix the striper fishery, focus your efforts on managing the attached graph and stop harvesting the big female breeders. You want to fix the summer flounder problem, protect the fall spawn and provide protection to the spawning stock. Stop making decisions which favor the commercial sector and start making decisions which benefit the stock.

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by dales529

Agreed and been saying the same thing on Fluke for years, proposed mortality rates are overinflated and not the rule but an exception of the rule.

We all know the powers to be have absolutely no idea what fishing mortality rates are. We also know no fishery will last by targeting the breeding stock, commercial operations killing millions of juvenile fish in the process and utter incompetence by the Commission and Committee not protecting the primary spawn while the biomass is migration offshore in the fall and most vulnerable to commercial netting. There's no accountability whatsoever in this process which means we should all expect the same results going forward.

[Gerry Zagorski]

You either learn to how to work inside the machine to influence it and make a difference or work outside it and make peripheral noise here or other places to no avail. There are times for both.

I've been on both sides of this and can say without a doubt working inside the machine although sometimes frustrating and can wear you out, has gotten more results then trying to make changes outside of it.

That's my perspective.. Your mileage based on your perspective, circumstances, your willingness for patience and comprise may vary.

It's like any relationship. I've had my moments of throwing in the towel since things did not go my way but this is a marathon and not a sprint..

Merry Christmas and stay thirsty my friends...

[bunker dunker]

why is it so hard????,just use more common sense.you kill the breeders,you have no offspring.you take all the forage you have no fish.you have open season during spawning you have poor spawning.why do we need graphs and data when
the answers are right in front of us.i guess it just me,FOUR!!!!

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by bunker dunker

why is it so hard????,just use more common sense.you kill the breeders,you have no offspring.you take all the forage you have no fish.you have open season during spawning you have poor spawning.why do we need graphs and data when
the answers are right in front of us.i guess it just me,FOUR!!!!

BD, you nailed it! This isn't complicated and we certainly don't need more data or time. Corrupt states like VA., businesses, graft, corrupt politicians and misguided corrupt agencies is what we need less of and I don't see that happening in our lifetime. Gerry, Adam I'm sure is a good friend of yours but he's part of the process which has miserably failed the recreational sector and stock management. The facts and declines in both stocks, recreational allocations and restrictions to access couldn't be any more clear in that regard.

[AndyS]

Connecticut State Environmental Conservation Police
·
On Tuesday December 17, 2024 two EnCon officers and K9 Luna were patrolling the Housatonic River for striped bass poaching activity. Officers located a group of six anglers fishing. As the officers watched, they observed an angler climb the riverbank, climb over the guard rail, run across the road, and enter a steep wooded hill side on the opposite side of the road, disappearing into the woods. The angler appeared to be carrying something heavy. After a few minutes the angler returned to the riverbank empty handed and continued to fish. Contact was made with the anglers, two had no fishing license. They claimed to have caught and retained no striped bass. K9 Luna was deployed on leash along the roadside and requested to search the wooded hill side. She located four separate bags of striped bass each buried in the ground and covered with leaves, the bags spanned a 75 yard long stretch of roadside. In total there were 34 striped bass, all ranging from 12.5” to 25” in length, in violation of the striped bass slot limit which is 28” to 31”. The anglers had 64 striped bass violations and two license violations. They were issued fines totaling $4,974.00. All fish were seized and donated to a non-profit wildlife rehabber.
Connecticut Fish and Wildlife.

[bunker dunker]

so we have finally graduated to arguing with common sense,we really have come a long way.

[Broad Bill]

While I agree a seat at the table gets you in the game, what a person does with that seat is what matters most. I heard that speech from Adam 7 years ago, I didn't believe it then and I don't believe it now. How many years should someone be given before their presence makes a difference, 20 years?

Patience you say, the recreational sector has been waiting patiently for over 20 years for something to break in these fisheries that would provide future benefits for the decades of sacrifices we've all made. What have those benefits been because people don't see any and they don't see any because there haven't been any.

Adam opposed regulations which would have reduced commercial harvest, why would he do that as commercial operations are at the heart of every fisheries problems. Recall the post that Massachusetts allows their commercial quota filled with primarily female breeders 36" and greater, why is that allowed as historically low recruitment is one of the primary problems threatening the stocks future.

People are tired of political rhetoric and BS and the two fisheries you're giving a member credit for fighting for the recreational sector are not only in the shitter, they're in the shitter on their watch while the recreational share of those stocks has been slashed over the years. Wait two years for more data and time to analyze that data, that's all we've been doing since MSA was adopted in 1976. Lack of data isn't the problem, ignoring the massive amounts of data already available is. Let me take you back 7 years when we met for dinner in Brielle with Jim Hutchinson Jr., Greg Hueth, Dave Arbeitman, Nick Cicero and a few other key recreational players to review the power point presentation I put together for the RFA. It was filled with data and based on massive amounts of research, and that was 7 - 8 years ago. Jim Donofrio categorized the presentation as "The best representation of the stock and data he has ever seen". So much so it was published in RFA's Making Waves in the Spring 2017 edition and subsequently in the Fisherman Magazine. Where did it go from there? Adam wouldn't touch it and ultimately others because it rocked the boat with and challenged status quo management by NMFS, ASMFC and MAFMC personal agendas, politics in other words. Corrupt political institutions don't get better with patience, they become more corrupt.

Dales529, you've said to me no less than a few dozen times, "no one says your work is wrong, they simply don't want to admit its right because by default they'd be admitting their policy decisions over the last 2-3 decades have been wrong". As Capt. Ron said, time to get the pirate flags ordered because if we're not willing to fight for our share of a public resource, we will lose these resources forever and I'm &*^%$%! tired of listening to the same BS over and over again as should everyone else.

Gerry remember when you walked up to the podium in Galloway in 2017 / 2018 and said "Enough is Enough", why almost eight years later are you praising anyone involved with the disastrous results management has delivered since. ASMFC and MAFMC should clean house as they've been completely compromised in their values and until that happens nothing will change. Recruitment has hit 50 year lows, seasonal closures are imminent so let's wait two more years before addressing the problem.......brilliant management strategy!