jbrob this is for you

[Bluewater Sportfishing]

I don;t have anything against anyone on a personal level. I do think that charter fishing generally could do more to promote conservation. I know at OC fishing center they have agreed to a limit of 2 YFTs per person a day even though the federal limit is 3 per person per day. I realize that you have some charters who want to sink the boat with fish and in those cases you pretty much have to follow their wishes. But there are people fairly new to the sport that charter and they should be steered the conservation route whenever possible. I've been around the fleet long enough that there are some operations that simply like to lay em out on the dock for advertising and the like knowing full well that most likely the fish are going to be taken home put in the freezer and left there until they are thrown out.

Fish stocks are falling in most places around the world. It is incumbent on all who use the resource to do so in a manner that promotes conservation to the greatest extent possible. That's my just my take and we could all do more in that area.

Contrary to some I am not a tree hugger nor a PETA supporter at all but unless the sportfishing community presents a positive image, which the shark show certainly did not regardless of the exact circumstances, those that do have extreme views will gain traction. I do care about the sport though.

I guess I have rubbed some people the wrong way with my comments. I tend to obtain information too often by being controversial but I have found that simply remaining silent and agreeing with the group speak does not improve my understanding of an issue or situation. If I have offended anyone on a personal basis please accept my apologies.

jbrob,
Your post is good and I see where you are going with it. I think that most charter boat captains try to conserve as much as they can. and some promote conservation. I have offered in my fall striper trips, catch a 50lber take a pic release it and the trip is on me. Another CAPT. that I know is doing somthing like it, catch a fish over 40lbs release it and get $50.00 off your trip. what we face here is nothing short of a collapse of the fish stocks the way the WORLDS hunger for seafood is. its simple the oceans can not sustain the fishing pressure from the huge FACTORY commercial boats. you see the problem is alot bigger then a few sportys catching their limit and bringing it back to the docks. The small time commercial boats will never decimate the stocks and neither will we. The unpatrolled foriegen countries are reaking havoc on stocks primarly the BFT. The tuna farms, the blatent overfishing that goes on with quotas being overfished by 50,000 metric tons per country. thats the problem. if we all stoped fishing for BFT right now it wouldnt make a damn differance, other then to give the foriegen countries more quota. I could go on for hours on this but it falls on deaf ears. Our govt. is just now stepping up to take ICCAT head on and try to solve a problem, I just hope it works. Charter boats are gonna line up fish on docks for the rest our natrual live weather you lke it or not. Its how we get people to book our boats. If we didnt show off the catch there would be no bookings. I would like to think that most people preach conservation on their boats as I do, but what it all comes down to is the paying customer, and what they want. If they want to c & r then the captain will do that for em, but unfortanaly that is the exception not the rule. Please forgive my spelling I suck at it.The problem is huge of what you speak of, but it has to start with other people, other countries, and most of all the government. By the way our fleet is the most regulated fishing fleet in the world and for the most part they abide by the rules, of course you have some outlaws but again the exception not the rule.

[fishskipper]

Is Judge Judy your Wife?