Lets talk DOGGGGGGGS

[fishpicker]

As just about all angler both Rec and Comm know there is a major problem on the East Coast with Spinny Dogfish. No matter what we are fishing for we're all catching dogs.

The funny but sad thing is that NMFS is still claiming that the dog stocks are just reaching substainable levels. We all know that that is a bunch of BS.

After attending meeting after meeting pertaining to dogs I have drawn the conclusion that the good people at the NMFS scince center are on a ego trip. They can not bring themselves to admit that they are wrong and that their own findings are nothing more then garbage.

Here is a small example ..... NMFS says that through trawl surveys that only cover 12 feet from the bottom up. That they are catching what they deamed to be a substaibable threshold. More importantly they strongly feel that dogs don't go above 3 fathom from the bottom. So all the dogs that are in any part of the water columm other then on the bottom have been left uncounted. GOOD WORK GUYS !!!!!

Another point to ponder on....... The ASMFC is at least smart enough to say we need to reopen the spinny dog fisherie, mainly because of the predator / prey issue GOOOOOOOD NEWS. The bad news is NMFS says sure go ahead and have a inshore dog harvest. ASMFC you get 8 millon pounds to devide amoungst the states on the east coats. At first that sound great ,,,,, right ?? wrong !!!! Why you might ask ??? Answer.. We already have a estimate of 400 milion metric tons in the North Atlantic. Dogs Produce a estimate of 15 million puonds of pups a year. Of that 15 we are allowed 8 !!!! So we are basicly being given a 5 gallon bucket of salt water out of the ocean.

Another sad thing happened pertaining to smooth dogs and that fisherie. They have be classifided as small coastals sharks. Which the advisor's for the ASMFC and the Mid Atlantic fisherie council voted agaisnt.

In a nut shell it is all but a waste of time being a advisor because the enviros are calling the game by there rules anyway. The system is offically broken and NMFS needs to be dismantled. We the user groups Comm and Rec are without a doubt thee ENDANGERED SPEICES !!!!

I have all of the facts and figures that all groups (NMFS , Mid Atl and ASMFC ) have used in these public meeting. The are also on there respective web sites.

[sportfishingusa]

i am 100 percent with you fishpicker.. the amount of dog fish and the damage they do is horrific.

i think you need to go out there and kill em all.. they have no value to our underwater ecosystem other than eating smaller fish and taking dumps all over the sea floor..

i dont think the smooth or the spineys should have anything to do with being protected.. the smoothies are getting larger and larger every year.. i know someone who caught a huge one off the beach about 3 months ago.. thing have to be 15lbs..

i remember catching little one and big ones years ago but i think the spinys have taken over in full effect.

if something is not done and they are not harvested we are looking at a complete melt down from these things.

they are the snakehead of the damn sea. they eat everything and are nothing but rats.

the commercials should be allowed to harvest them and it should be a large amount. like you said.. one bucket of the sea is not going to do crap. you guys need millions of pound and they need ot be depleted..

these damn enviromentalist do not think of anything else but stupid crap.. it makes me sick and i could go on forever but i wont!!

[scotishfisherman]

How about them rare Blue Sharks! I've personally dreaded day I'd have to shake out and (no offense picker!) pick those suckers all day. The ocean crawls with them.Now if we could genetically alter the Blue Sharks dietary desires to eat some fish and chips they could hopefully kill each other off.

[livetofishnj]

picker, after years, it seems we finally agree on something...

I heard a story that they had a research trawl that had doggies as more than 70% of the total caught. That's just ridiculous, whether it's an ego thing or if they're still getting pushed by the radical enviro's doesn't change the situation out there. I read somewhere a study that showed a 5 to 1 ratio of females to males, yet i thought it was the momma's that were in short supply.

I just don't see how we're gonna have improvement in groundfish or fisheries like weakies where the young winter offshore. With the swarms of dogfish I've seen I don;t see how they could survive it....

[gottaflylee]

We got them real bad down here also. We need to do something very soon or we will be in a disastrous situation in other species very soon.

[Bird Dog]

EVERY single dogfish and cow nosed ray should be killed. They are a nuisance to the the bay here in Virginia, and up and down the east coast. They do way more harm than good...

[striper101]

I totally agree with you Marty! I think we've had this discussion before about this matter! In the last 4 years we've never caught so many doggies! I used to fish Martha's Vineyard and the last 3 years up there the doggies have devistated the fishery up there! And that goes for the whole east coast I'm sure! Something has to be done about it!

[swell rider]

I noticed a major increase in dog fish in Alaska once the shut down a majority of near shore dragging. You couldn't ever make a Halibut set in some areas. 5000 hooks covered up with Dog Fish. I agree we all take part in the pros and cons of our fisheries but so do other species of fish.. I saw it with the crab stocks everyone thought it was over fishing but it was mostly the cod stocks were so high and feeding on the small crab, now that theres a cod fishery in AK the crab stocks are making a good come back. Ken


Swell Rider Sportfishing
www.swellriderfishing.com
Atlantic Beach, NC
910 200-2502
910 233-1714

[codfishshark]

the dogfish has kept us out of our haddock sap because you cants get past them. we set 16000 hooks for 1500lbs of haddock because 90% of the other hooks were covered with dogs there was an observer on the boat so NMFS does know about it.

[hotshot1]

Not to disregard authority, But at what point do we take things into our own hands? A Fishermen revolution of sorts.