Cape Cod Bay 2004

[tunafishdeath]

Watched 40 fish get pulled out of deep in the bay. Sickening

[Heli Sports]

Attachment 209415
Watched 40 fish get pulled out of deep in the bay. Sickening

What is it that you find so sickening about commercial fishermen lawfully harvesting tuna?

[tunafishdeath]

Corralling a bunch of fish in a net is what is sickening. Catch them on a hook or with a harpoon.

[LadyB]

Corralling a bunch of fish in a net is what is sickening. Catch them on a hook or with a harpoon.

Death,

Without the seiners, there never would have been a BFT fishery for the rest of us. They have a quota like everyone else. You sound more like an activist than a fisherman, could I be wrong?

[tunafishdeath]

Activist ha ha thats cute. Anyway its only my thoughts and was looking through old pics and thought i would share.

[amarshall]

I wish we had a fishery in Cape Cod Bay healthy enough to support seiners.

Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think they could set up shop down there anymore and make it worth it. Maybe a pile of 75" fish
but not the 200 piece a day of large giants, days of old.

[Tuna Meltdown]

What is it that you find so sickening about commercial fishermen lawfully harvesting tuna?

Lets start with the fact that these boats are offshore capable and would come in wipe out entire schools of bluefin right in front of the traditional small boat rod & reel fishermen and harpooners in Cape Cod Bay. Since bluefin are imprint feeders, wiping out entire schools meant they would not return in years to come. Hell we have only seen a rebound in Cape Cod bay within the past two years when it comes to true giant sized fish and it still doesn't hold a candle to what that fishery once was. In the 90's and early 2000's there would always be boats fishing bluefin in the bay. From June until September small fleets could be seen fishing off Pamet, Billingsgate, The Path, the Parking Lot, the Dump and fishing ledge. Those spots are a thing of the past because the fish have never returned. I completely understand that the seiners have a quota and a right to fill it but to come in to such a small area and take fish like that was unsustainable and I am glad they stopped fishing the bay. In fact I attended one of the meetings in Dedham MA that helped that along. If I remember correctly one of the major contributing factors were the commercial gear conflicts that were a result of the seiners making sets in the bay. There are not very many spots in the bay that is not covered with lobster gear. Heli, was young at the time and I don't claim to know even a fraction about tuna as you but I don't believe giant bluefin in Cape Cod Bay could have much longer withstood the seiners scooping them up year after year.

I wish we had a fishery in Cape Cod Bay healthy enough to support seiners.

Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think they could set up shop down there anymore and make it worth it. Maybe a pile of 75" fish
but not the 200 piece a day of large giants, days of old.

Your right Andrew. I believe that was the last year the Seiners came into the bay. There is no law in place but I do believe there was a "gentleman's agreement" made that winter between the seiners and many Cape Cod bay rod & reel fishermen and harpooners.

Here is the whole story: http://www.fish-news.com/cfn/editori...seine_ban.html

http://www.fish-news.com/cfn/editori...g_fishery.html

[LurkerCharters]

What is it that you find so sickening about commercial fishermen lawfully harvesting tuna?

Hey Heli, just because it is legal doesn't mean its right or good for the fishery. I think seining should be banned world wide, along with pair trawling and pelagic drift nets. These are industrial fishing methods that harvest too efficiently for the stock to keep up. Just because the human mind conceives a new technology or method doesn't mean its a good one. Why don't you ask the real commercial tuna fishermen of cape cod bay how they felt about an entire population of giants being wiped out in one week. your attitude makes me sick, people like you are the reason there are issues in the global tuna fishery, no conscience, just greed, catch 'em all today and screw tomorrow, screw the children of the rod and reel and harpoon fleet who want to carry on a family tradition. Its been shown again and again in every fishery that the governing bodies do not regulate in favor of the small boat guys, its in favor of whoever has the most money to make it worthwhile for the regulators. If you could only fish with hooks the ocean would be a better place, don't argue, you know I'm right, I know I'm right. If NMFS had their way the fisheries would be like Walmart. Speaking of Walmart, am I the only person who thinks it is strange that Sam Walton's foundation is a big proponent/funder of the catch shares program?

Oh and will someone please explain to me how the seiners are responsible for there even being a tuna fishery?

[Heli Sports]

Hey Heli, just because it is legal doesn't mean its right or good for the fishery. I think seining should be banned world wide, along with pair trawling and pelagic drift nets. These are industrial fishing methods that harvest too efficiently for the stock to keep up. Just because the human mind conceives a new technology or method doesn't mean its a good one. Why don't you ask the real commercial tuna fishermen of cape cod bay how they felt about an entire population of giants being wiped out in one week. your attitude makes me sick, people like you are the reason there are issues in the global tuna fishery, no conscience, just greed, catch 'em all today and screw tomorrow, screw the children of the rod and reel and harpoon fleet who want to carry on a family tradition. Its been shown again and again in every fishery that the governing bodies do not regulate in favor of the small boat guys, its in favor of whoever has the most money to make it worthwhile for the regulators. If you could only fish with hooks the ocean would be a better place, don't argue, you know I'm right, I know I'm right. If NMFS had their way the fisheries would be like Walmart. Speaking of Walmart, am I the only person who thinks it is strange that Sam Walton's foundation is a big proponent/funder of the catch shares program?

Oh and will someone please explain to me how the seiners are responsible for there even being a tuna fishery?

Typical uninformed and counterproductive "Us vs. Them" mentality.

Seiners were commercially harvesting Bluefin in New England for decades before there ever was a General Category...

[LurkerCharters]

Typical uninformed and counterproductive "Us vs. Them" mentality.

Seiners were commercially harvesting Bluefin in New England for decades before there ever was a General Category...

Just like talking to a wall, the reason why nothing will ever change and the stock will continue to decline, then it will be closed. How come there are no more seiners operating in New England? because there aren't enough fish to support it and they know it. How come the seiners haven't been able to fill their quota in the past few years? Last time I checked the gen cat quota was far from full and they are considering raising the limit to 5 fish just to get it filled, how bad will that look to the scientists? How come you can hand feed giants in PEI? If we had that many fish in cape cod bay they would all be dead in the back of a truck and everyone would talk about the good old days when you could hand feed the giants and pick out which fish you hooked. Maybe its a lack of bait, maybe lack of tuna, probabbly a combination of the two. We could learn alot from Canada, they banned pair trawling 30 years ago and now they have huge amounts of herring and mackerel in their waters, which brings the giants back every year. I may not be as well informed as you, but I know the differnence between right and wrong. Industrial fishing methods will be the downfall of the global fisheries, remember that statement 25 years from now. The pair trawlers were on George's this year, and the tuna fishing was tough for most guys out there, not to mention the quality was crap for the most part, cloudy meat. Much different from last years fishing, when there were no pair trawlers.

As far as being counterproductive, BS, this needs to be said. I don't know exactly what you do for a job, but I can guess you are not a charter boat capt, rod and reel fishermen, or harpooner. Put yourself in the other guys boat for a minute, you can see why we may be frustrated by a seiner cleaning out an area. You are in the minority on this board, and its not the first time I have watched you defend an industrial fishing method. Maybe I'm wrong, and I hope I am, things may turn around on their own, I know fish populations can be cyclic. I truly believe that technology has given fishermen the ability, if they choose, to overfish a species much faster than scientists can predict. I am not referring to US fishermen only, the problems are much larger in other parts of the world where there is little or no regulation and no education or understanding of the impact their kill everything that swims mentality is having. This is not meant to be a personal attack on you Heli, I am sorry if I came across that way, I just love fishing with a rod and reel, being on the ocean is the best and I get passionate when I see that being abused in the name of greed and "capitalism", which has completely lost its meaning in this country. I'll say it again, I love the ocean and all its inhabitants and I want to be able to enjoy it for the rest of my life.... well maybe not dogfish