Living on the Water 9-9-08

[bigeasy]

http://www.darenc.com/video/let_them_fish.html

Interesting video on commercial fishermen--an endangered species.

The fishermen of Eastern North Carolina are trying to do what all Americans do. That is, make a living with the resources at hand.

[gradywhite273]

great find, extremely interesting.

[sportfishingusa]

What a great video man.. thanks for sharing that... the work of the good old american boys doing fishing for our country is just about long gone.. seem they are better off bait fishing now adays.. the amount of seafood that is imported is just as scary as how much of the fish we catch in the us that goes overseas.. makes me sick knowing people are selling out, starving, and having trouble feeding their families and live their lives because of the governing bodies..

dog fish are one thing i feel should be wide open for anything. the amount around here is tremendously over populated and the death of a couple million lbs in not going to do anything other than better our resources.. those sobs are killing baby fish all over the ocean and it is horrible..

let us fish.... let us eat.. let us live... damint that crap ticks me off to no end...

thanks for that video. hope everyone on this site watches it closely!!!

[giantfan]

Great vid.

I have mixed feelings about this.

On one hand,

I feel that the comm guys are getting squeezed out by the regs and they should have every right in the world to be able to make a living. It's sad to see their way of life being taken away from them and struggling to feed their famlies.

On the other hand,

If there were some types of limits introduced before the problem got so bad. Or even better yet, the fishermen did a bit of self imposed conservation along the way, we wouldn't be in this situation.

It's just sad anyway you look at it.

[capt. jakeg]

dog fish are one thing i feel should be wide open for anything. the amount around here is tremendously over populated and the death of a couple million lbs in not going to do anything other than better our resources.. those sobs are killing baby fish all over the ocean and it is horrible..

People who arent in fishing have no idea about this. Most recreationals have no idea about how much commercial fishermen struggle. Mismanagement and improper regulation of resources have left commercial fishermen all over the east coast without a livelihood and there is no one out there to stand up for them. These guys are not Omega protein or some other large scale conglomerate with the facilites available to decimate a species overnight. These large corporations are the ones who actually have the power, money, and resources to protect their futures. The type of fishermen in this video are hard working, mom and pop organizations that deserve more. They have earned it.
Just with the example of the mismanagement of dogsharks, it is hard to understand how many fisheries have been adversely effected. People don't understand how bad these things eat sea bass and tautog, how much of the forage species they eat, and how the dogfish's overbearing presence displaces every species they come into contact with. There are a lot of people, and its not just people who net dogfish, who have had their livelihoods drastically changed because of mismanagement of just this one resource. I would agree that some commercial fisheries, such as rockfish or sea bass, desperately need tight regulation to ensure further commercial viability of that fishery, but the ASFMC uses their powers to aid their committee members' personal agendas.
Good Video, Doc. This is a great perspective inot a flawed system.

[marlineer]

Great story Doc. Thanks

[000's]

Its like everything else follow the money.

[gottaflylee]

No truer words have ever been spoken about CCA. Sorry guys but I have seen and said this for years...CCA people, Please feel free to call me if you would like to dicuess this futher...

[SAXIS ISLANDER]

Thanks for bringing this to us Cliff.

The video is representative of not only Dare County, but of the commercial fishing industry as a whole. I now live in Pocomoke. A customer of mine from Ocean City asked me to get him a gallon of oysters this spring. Where there used to be many shucking houses all across Delmarva, they are now very rare. There are none in northern Worcester County, MD. There is only one that operates part time in Crisfield, MD. There are none in Saxis, Sanford, and outside of two in Chincoteague I know of none other in Accomack County, VA. There is one in Northampton. Buying the gallon of oysters turned into an ordeal.

Commercial clam farms are a success story however.

This is not a perfect world...Sometimes it gets messy. Regulation of the balancing act between commercial and recreational interests is a example of this. But I like to eat seafood and can't catch all I wanna eat.

[seapower]

The people and places are all familiar to me. Commercial fished here for about 18 years myself. These guy's are not the problem. No true' er words have ever been spoken about the CCA. It's all about them, screw the rest regardless. Thanks again for the truth, Frank