DMF appears to be covering up striped bass kill

[jeffreyweeks]

DMF appears to be covering up striped bass trawlers' massive fish kill

The NC Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) appears to be trying to cover-up the activities of commercial fishing trawlers who have been killing thousands of striped bass off the Outer Banks in “culling” operations by simultaneously changing the rules for trawlers and at the same time blaming the majority of the carnage on a single incident of an “overloaded net.”

The DMF on Thursday changed the laws which limited striped bass trawlers to 50 fish in response to public pressure and media reports detailing trawlers throwing thousands of striped bass, many of legal size in the 15 to 20 pound range, back into the ocean dead in order to keep larger fish.

“The division will replace the current 50-fish-per-day commercial trip limit, which has been in place for 15 years, with a 2,000-pound-per-day trip limit,” the DMF said in a press release. “To avoid the need to throw back dead fish, commercial fishermen will be allowed to transfer trip limits to other fishing vessels that hold a striped bass ocean fishing permit for the commercial trawl fishery. The transfers must be made in the ocean.”

The DMF also made clear its opinion of the ethics of culling, which it called “high-grading,” although amazingly it said despite feeling the need to change the 15-year old law it had been unable to confirm that culling had even been happening.

“Staff with the division is still investigating the incident but has been unable to confirm reports that commercial trawl fishermen were high-grading,” said the DMF. “High-grading occurs when a fisherman discards a previously-caught, legal-sized fish in order to keep a larger fish within the daily possession limit. While high-grading is not illegal, it is not an ethical fishing practice and the division does not condone it.”

Even more amazing was the fact that all of this was sent out in a press release clearly designed to take the pressure off of commercial charter fishermen by blaming the majority of the fish kill on a single incident of an overloaded net.

The press release was titled “Overloaded Fishing Net Causes Striped Bass Spill.” It claimed:

“An overloaded fishing net prompted fishermen on a commercial trawler to release thousands of striped bass they caught Saturday off of Bodie Island. After towing through a school of striped bass, fishermen on the commercial trawler Jamie Lynn found the net was so full it was too heavy to bring onto the boat. In order to retrieve the net, the fishermen had to open it and release the fish, the boat captain said.

The boat captain estimated 3,000 to 4,000 fish were released from the net. Many recreational and commercial fishermen picked up the discarded fish. When Marine Patrol officers arrived on the scene, there were approximately 250 dead fish.The incident occurred Saturday afternoon.”

However, evidence of the mass kill (that’s kill, not spill) of stripers during the days surrounding the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend is overwhelming and one overloaded net on Jan 15 could not possibly be the main reason for the extended fish kill.

Fishermen took this video on the next day, Sunday Jan 16, off Kitty Hawk near the Wright Brothers Memorial which clearly shows the same events occurring behind other trawlers.

In addition I have personally spoken to numerous charter captains and recreational anglers who were on the water from Jan 15 to Jan 17 and documented their comments about trawlers tossing overboard massive fields of dead, legal-sized stripers.

My report is but one of the many flooding the internet, local media, and fishing message boards documenting these activities over the span of several days. I have been copied on numerous emails from fishermen sending the DMF documentation of these events.

The striper trawling is currently shut down but the DMF intends to re-open it for three days beginning Monday under the new rules. The DMF previously said it would consider not reopening the trawling season due to the fish kills, but has obviously been influenced by something or someone to change its mind. The NC Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) will review the new regulations at its Feb 11 meeting in Pine Knoll Shores.

Meanwhile it appears that not only will the commercial trawlers not be held legally responsible for their actions in this mass slaughter of striped bass, but that the NC state government is doing everything it can to cover these events up and make sure the commercial trawlers also escape any public blame.



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[bigfishhooker]

DMF appears to be covering up striped bass trawlers' massive fish kill

Maybe it can be perceived as a coverup.....I look at it as a positive outcome caused when you motivate a bunch of pissed off NC fisherman!

Let's keep up the pressure now for Bluefin, wahoo, cobia, mahi, sea bass, and those ever elusive gags.

[scattered_grass]

The way I see it, it's over and done with. Adjustments were made, which is what everyone wanted correct? What is anyone trying to cover up?

[gcredle]

Bigfish/Grass--
Dead on. What happened was ugly. Pressure was applied and the voice of the majority (not all, but the majority) was answered in hope to keep this from happening again. This ugly scene sparked legislation changes to keep our commercial guys working and keep the fish stock in check---what more could anyone ask for?? I think the title of the article is uncalled for and sensationalist/unfounded---but I guess that is good entertaining journalism??
Here is some fun with numbers for those who would rather use visual aids than read a long boring post about user data:

[aftergolf]

Would be interested in how the recreational landings were derived?

[Fishing Report]

An unfortunate incident happened on the Outer Banks over Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The weather was absolutely beautiful, following a very cold, rough December. Fishermen by the droves came down to the beach for a relaxing weekend of Striped Bass fishing (rockfish for us). We have finally had good rock fishing for the first time in years, due to the cold conditions we have all been experiencing (must be global warming), and everybody was excited to catch some fish.

Our commercial fishermen have been blessed by the good rockfishing, also. The federal government gives North Carolina 480,480 pounds of commercial quota, which is split 3 ways between the beach seine fishery, the gillnet fishery, and the trawl boat fishery. There is no quota for the recreational sector. Our commercial quota has not been caught in years, and I frankly don’t know if it has ever been caught.

By proclamation the director of the Division of Marine Fisheries closed the gillnet fishery on Thursday before the weekend. By proclamation the director of the state division of marine fisheries closed the trawlboat season on Friday at 6:00 p.m., but by proclamation the director opened up the trawlboat season again 3 hours later and allowed that fishery to proceed through the weekend.

Trawlboat fishing for rock is a hit-or-miss proposition. One boat will catch some, and the boat right next to him will not have a fish. One boat had a great catch, and that is where the weekend took a very bad turn. The boat caught way over his 50 fish limit, even while the boats on either side caught nothing. After keeping his 50 fish limit, there was no recourse, except to discard the rest back over. The capt. and crew were sick that the resource was wasted, the recreational observers were sick about the waste, and the general public has become inflamed over this waste. There was not one law broken. Had the trawlboat with the good catch given one fish to either boat that had caught none, he would have broken the law. Had he given one fish to a recreational angler to take home, he would have broken the law. Had he done anything other than keep his legal limit, and throw the rest away, he would have been in violation of law. Industry has been pointing out for 2 y!
ears that this law needed to be fixed, and yet nothing has happened until the very thing we have been fearing came to fruition over MLK Jr. weekend.
The very industry that has been branded as practicing wanton waste, and disregard for the law, has been lobbying for 2 years to have a law changed that would eliminate regulatory discard, and allow every pound of fish caught in commercial fishing operations to count against our federal quota. If we don’t use all of our quota, we do not get any back.
Allowing a transfer at sea would eliminate all regulatory discard, and would allow every pound of fish caught commercially to count against our quota, and would eliminate the black eye that our area, and our industry has sustained as a result of a bad law that has repeatedly been pointed out as needing to be fixed. It takes a true leader to confront unpleasant situations, and rectify wrongs. This very unfortunate incident should be one that we vow to never repeat. It should not, however, be one that takes our sight off the fact that the recreational, charter, and commercial industries are being assaulted by federal regulation pressed by radical environmentalists who would like to see all fishing eliminated.
Britton Shackelford
www.ncwu.net




http://ncwu.net