Immediate Action Needed By 7/30 For Seabass

[Duffman]

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

On man you hurt me to my core…Lead follow or get out of the way. Me and others have a lot of time and effort invested in this. If you choose to give up and throw in the towel fine but why discourage others? Fight with us or die a slow death for you and you kids future.

Not discouraging anyone at all. Did my thing and signed. Just questioning what will it do? We have all been dying a slow death for years and years. Just an honest response to what’s going on. We aren’t comm fishermen nor have the political backing. You have 30 comm sponsers on this site. Where is there stance in this post? Capt Bobby. Just 1. Sad.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by AndyS

Would love to see a 25 per person limit in January and February again.

And I would love to have a pony as a kid but that didn't happen...

Lets not jump the gun here and say what we'd want and when we want it.

Our State can easily grant your wish next year within the current catch limits but the problem is other parts of the season would have to be traded with fewer days and or a lower bag limits.

Fact is we need to get more fish from the feds first before we have the good problem of deciding what to do with them.

That's the goal here so lets stay on task and get the feds to give us more fish!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by Duffman

Not discouraging anyone at all. Did my thing and signed. Just questioning what will it do? We have all been dying a slow death for years and years. Just an honest response to what’s going on. We aren’t comm fishermen nor have the political backing. You have 30 comm sponsers on this site. Where is there stance in this post? Capt Bobby. Just 1. Sad.

First of all thanks for doing your part Duff... Further all of us on this on this site are considered recreational fishermen, including all our charter and party boat sponsors. I've reached out to may of them personally offline and they are in support of this movement, why wouldn't they be??

Big problem here in general is people are expecting others to tow the line so they don't have to take the time to do it themselves.

Point in case is we have 50 sponsors on this site compared to several thousand individuals... Volume speaks numbers so lets do our part as several thousands instead of relying on 50 others to get his done.

[Broad Bill]

Everyone's heard the saying "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones". It's very applicable to this thread and comments which have been made. People are frustrated with the rhetoric they've been fed over the last 20 years only to be essentially taken advantage of over that entire time frame with reduced access and possession limits in virtually every salt water fishery. Personally I spent years fighting for changes to fluke regulations and when I turned around to see how many people had my back, one person (Dave Daly) did who I will always respect for his sincerity, conviction and efforts educating me about the process. Other than that, everyone had their own agendas and even though no one in positions that matter said my work and conclusions were wrong, no one had the balls, willingness or conviction to help me carry the bucket up the hill. Hurt to the core over a question! Please, I spent and wasted 5 years of my life analyzing this fishery for literally everyone's benefit and got virtually zero support from recreational fishing clubs, this site or any members of the agencies tasked with managing salt water resources. And I had no skin in the game other than simply trying to help insure the fluke fishery would be around for future generations. I was able to get my work in front of NMFS, ASMFC and MAFMC, something very few people have been able to do. I was published in two local fishery magazines and was invited to speak on a local radio station about matters impacting the fishery to educate the public about the problems facing it and the regulations at the heart of those problems. One individual, a sponsor on this site who absolutely knows who I'm talking about, actually went out if his way to sabotage my work simply because it didn't support his own personal agenda or the agenda of his organization. Precisely the reason the recreational sector is in the absolute mess it is. I went out of my way to communicate with and coordinate efforts with SSFFF, RFA NJ Chapter, JCAA, NJMFC, NMFS, ASMFC, MAFMC and others and in the end everyone regardless of how impressed they were with the depth of my analysis and conclusions baled when it came to politics. When push came to shove, everyone folded like a cheap suit because no one wanted to challenge the establishment. Remember "enough is enough" in 2018, is it really because we seem to tolerate the same today? Everyone echoed insanity was the definition of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, well that's precisely what as an industry the recreational community is still doing today and quite frankly people are fed up. So when Duffman asked a very legitimate question, I think history more than supports his concerns which are shared by many and he and everyone else have every right to ask a question and voice their concerns without getting a snarky response from anyone. I think our pain, suffering and sacrifices over all these years allow a legitimate question to be asked which happened to be right on point.

[bunker dunker]

there was a thread not long ago "why no one posts anymore".this is a perfect example of why.a thread is put out to save the sea bass,great.then one person asks a very very ligit question with ligit points and here comes the wave of hate.that person has the right to his opinion or is that a way of the past also.
as the 1st portion of this thread say"we are 2x better with sea bass at this time"{or close} why are we having this conversation.using myself as a example,i am a sea bass junky.i chase them from inshore to of shore and fish different states for them also.with all that said why do we have to fight for what we already have??why do we have to do this when the science speaks for its self.no one is saying this is a "wrong" thing to do.i believe the question is"why".

[NJSquatch]

Done and Done

[pectoralfin]

Done

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by bunker dunker

there was a thread not long ago "why no one posts anymore".this is a perfect example of why.a thread is put out to save the sea bass,great.then one person asks a very very ligit question with ligit points and here comes the wave of hate.that person has the right to his opinion or is that a way of the past also.
as the 1st portion of this thread say"we are 2x better with sea bass at this time"{or close} why are we having this conversation.using myself as a example,i am a sea bass junky.i chase them from inshore to of shore and fish different states for them also.with all that said why do we have to fight for what we already have??why do we have to do this when the science speaks for its self.no one is saying this is a "wrong" thing to do.i believe the question is"why".

Thanks for your comments Bunker. Not sure which question that was posted you thought was legitimate and the wave of hate that followed. If it was Duffs who I assume wants more seabass but thinks why bother, were already beaten. This is a big problem with the recreational community in general, apathy. " I went to meetings, I submitted comments and nothing ever happens " Well if you do nothing, guess what's going to happen...

Further me and others try to continue to fight to make a difference and it's pretty demoralizing when we lay this whole thing out, sort through all the goop to make it as simple as possible for people be informed and get involved and as of right now there have only been 38 comments submitted...

As far as your question why we have to fight for what we already have?

- We certainly have enough fish yet we still have these sea saw open and closed seasons which were designed to rebuild the stocks which are now rebuilt 2X of their target. Yet, we only 1 fish bag limit through the summer months and last year they decided to closed part of our winter season? The empty promise was you suffer and cut back and once the stocks are rebuilt you get rewarded by getting some fish back. That never happened and in fact it's got worse.


- There's a new study being introduced by the NE Science Center which assumes there is going to be a downturn in the future biomass due to future unfavorable spawning conditions. If this study is factored into decisions being made now instead of getting fish back, we could actually loose fish and have even tighter regs...

- Although our state makes our regulations and could easily change them it would mean we've have to reduce current regs in one season to expand another in order to meet the same catch limits. This is why at this point we should not be fighting to change our seasons, instead need to fight on a federal level to get more fish and increase our catch limits so we can decide what we want do with them, otherwise were just horse trading with the same amount of fish.

Hope this makes sense and people get involved, not to state their particular desires for a better winter or summer season but to get back the fish we've earned so we can decided on a state level what we'd like to do with them.

After all, the punitive regs in the past worked for the fish so it's time they start working for the fishermen too, wouldn't you agree?

Sorry if I seem pissy here but I and others have a lot of personal sweat equity into fighting this and other fishery issues and all we're asking for is some support.
I totally understand if people have an opinion different then mine and maybe think the regs are fine the way they are. What I do take issue with is people that want better regs yet are not be willing to fight with us because they think they can't make a difference?

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

Want a little more history on Seabass? Here’s a portion of an article I clipped written by Jim Hutchinson from Fisherman Magazine. The more healthy the fishery gets the tighter our regs get, really?

In 2008, New Jersey sea bass anglers had a 12-inch minimum size limit and 25 fish bag with 365-day access to the fishery. In the fall of 2009, NOAA Fisheries took unprecedented action in shutting down black sea bass midseason, and by 2010 our January/February fishery was gone forever. We then found ourselves with a 2010 bag limit of 25 fish at 12-1/2 inches running May 22 to September 12, and still the biomass continued to grow…and grow, and grow.

The fishery was officially rebuilt (a third time) 13 years ago, and we’ve since gone from overfished to overstocked. In fact, there are now so many black sea bass that anglers can’t help but catch one, often inadvertently. The more we catch, keep and/or release, the more restrictive the regulations to preserve the biomass, which only promotes more discards; in turn each reported sea bass caught, kept and/or released is fed back into the assessment model to prove that yes, indeed, the stock is robust. I think the only thing this chart needs is a graphic of a dog chasing its tail!

[bulletbob]

"The current average price of whole wild-caught black sea bass in the United States is $42.99 per 2 pounds or $21.5 per pound. The most expensive filet cost upwards of $36 per pound".,,



Found this on a search of sea bass prices.. If its anywhere close to accurate, there's your reason.. Every one of these fish eaten at a restaurant is taxed, and from what I have read black sea bass is the most requested fish at high end restaurants.. A skinny, sickly looking, foul smelling foot long sea bass with grey gills and white eye s on ice at a grocery store around here is better than $22,$23..,, I can imagine what a fresh, plump 3 pounder in prime condition would cost at a high end fish market.. THATS the problem,.. They are worth a lot of money, and as we all know , money talks.. Commercials and their lobby have it, the average fisherman and his advocates do not... bob

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

"The current average price of whole wild-caught black sea bass in the United States is $42.99 per 2 pounds or $21.5 per pound. The most expensive filet cost upwards of $36 per pound".,,



Found this on a search of sea bass prices.. If its anywhere close to accurate, there's your reason.. Every one of these fish eaten at a restaurant is taxed, and from what I have read black sea bass is the most requested fish at high end restaurants.. A skinny, sickly looking, foul smelling foot long sea bass with grey gills and white eye s on ice at a grocery store around here is better than $22,$23..,, I can imagine what a fresh, plump 3 pounder in prime condition would cost at a high end fish market.. THATS the problem,.. They are worth a lot of money, and as we all know , money talks.. Commercials and their lobby have it, the average fisherman and his advocates do not... bob

Yes these fish are valuable but lets not loose the main message here and turn this into a commercial vs recreational discussion.. Right now commercials are allocated 45% and we recreationals are getting 55%. Fact is we should all be getting more fish, right?