MUST SEE!!!!

[Deep C]

Our Florida boy is dead on target. I look across at the scarecrow on the other side though that stands by her assertion that "her data" is accurate. Clearly it isn't! The sad part is that she believes what she is saying and that is where this mess gets mired down.
Down here we know that the reds have blossomed. Aj has made a strong bounce back too. I can't say with certainty where the grouper stocks are because I dont fish them, but I have seen them in places again where they had been picked clean years back.
Up north the number of fluke are greater than at any time I have seen in my entire life as are sea bass. Have I just become better at catching em? No ... There are more than ever!
There is no way that they are getting their data from those in the field. For her to sit there smugly an announce that "our" numbers are also used in data collection is a bold faced lie! Solid grounds for her dismissal!

[Capt_John]

Co-Operative Science - my ass.

I may be mistaken, but last time I looked - Commercial fishermen are required to file a Landing Report in order to sell their fish.

Notice I said landing - No accounting for bycatch, how many snappers, groupers, etc are released - dead or alive...

There is absolutely bogus info on Recreational catches - The Wildlife guy may do a few creel checks, or walk the docks - but again no accounting for released fish

Something stinks - PEW

They are using the catch reports from over 10 years ago to make their judgements. They look at the number of fish sold then to the ones sold now. The dumbasses don't think to take in account all of the boats that are out of the business since then, the bad weather keeping boats at the dock more, and not to mention the released fish. It's total BS.

[Block and Tackle]

You guys are dead on here. Released fish are the biggest numbers they are missing in their data for all species. No where do I have to report that I caught 3 sub 73" bluefin in one days fishing. They only care for me to report when I get a 73" plus fish. The holes in their data are so large its almost laughable.

[SeaBiscuit]

I may be mistaken, but last time I looked - Commercial fishermen are required to file a Landing Report in order to sell their fish.

Notice I said landing - No accounting for bycatch, how many snappers, groupers, etc are released - dead or alive...

There is absolutely bogus info on Recreational catches - The Wildlife guy may do a few creel checks, or walk the docks - but again no accounting for released fish

Captain Fred is right, as usual. Although I will probably get "corrected" by many for what is merely an opinion, I will voice it one last time, nevertheless.

The end of recreational fishing (or public access to public marine resources) has begun to occur. Of course tightly regulated, limited entry commercial fisheries can be managed by landing data. Especially if the entry becomes more limited and better policed by use of the moneys recreational fishermen pour into the industry in the form of license fees and sport specific taxes. Both of the above are happening now. Both are independent of the administration in DC or any "current" socioeconomic conditions. Without knowing it the commercial fishing industry lobby (and I am not talking about the independent commercial fisherman or charter captain) is in bed with NMFS by STRONGLY favoring catch shares, thus further limiting access and concentrating resource control and profit within the hands of the catch shares ownership (large fishing corporations and seafood buyers - distributors).

NMFS does not have the budget, the know how nor the desire to collect recreational catch data.

Enter the extreme green lobby. They want to protect the resource. Limiting entry does that. Tight regulation of a limited entry fishery allows for species specific decisions on real numbers. Most commercially valuable fisheries would readily agree to lower quotas, especially if they can no longer dispute the science and are allowed a virtual monopoly on the market allocated portion of the resource, thus the ability to control price and profit margin.

The recreational fisherman is the odd man out in this. As clearly demonstrated by the apathy displayed by recreational fishermen during last week's "Recreational" Fishing Alliance rally in DC, this is the interest group less likely to fight for their rights, thus the one easiest to screw. We have it coming for sure.

SeaBiscuit

[WAHOONBOX]

WELL SENATOR LeMIEUX.....YOU MAY BE ONE OF THE FEW I WILL HAPPILY DONATE A PIECE OF RE-ELECTION MONEY TO....ONLY IF, IF I HAVE A JOB WHEN RE-ELECTION OCCURS


THANK YOU SEN. LeMieux FOR ADDRESSING THIS TO DR LUBCHENCO SO CLEARLY....PLEASE GET HER NOAA ASS OUT ON A BOAT THAT KNOWS HOW TO CATCH FISH ASAP....THEN SEND HER TO NC TO SEE SOME REEL SNAPPER/GROUPER/ BLACK BASS ACTION.....SHE WILL BEG FOR MERCY NOT TO MAKE ANOTHER DROP BEFORE THE DAY IS OUT

DEAR DR. LUBCHENCO....WHY DON'T WE JUST USE ALL OF NOAA'S FISCAL BUDGET FOR THE NEXT 10 YRS AND BUY OUT ALL FISHERMEN INVOLVED HERE....LET'S END IT ALL.....NO FISHERMEN NO NOAA.....PERSONALLY I WOULD LIKE TO SEE ALL OF YOU IN NOAA SQUIRM TO FIND A JOB....THEN WE COULD SELL OFF ALL THE NOAA BUILDINGS SCATTERED FROM HERE TO SHINOLA......SELL ALL OF NOAA'S RESEARCH VESSELS TO ANY COUNTRY THAT WANTS THEM FOR WE WILL NOT NEED THEM....PLUS ELIMINATE YOUR HIGH DOLLAR JOB PLUS ELIMINATE ALL EMPLOYEES OF NOAA TO HELP FINANCE THIS BAILOUT OF AMERICAN FISHERMEN ....

A 1-2 MILLION DOLLAR SETTLEMENT PER MAN SEEMS FAIR PLUS BUYOUT PURCHASE OF ALL FISHING EQUIPMENT


DR LUBCHENCO, YOU STATE THAT YOUNG SNAPPER NEED TO GROW LARGER SO THAT THEY BE ALLOWED TO REPRODUCE... REALLY? WE THE FISHERMEN NEVER KNEW THAT.....WE ARE VERY STUPID IN YOUR EYES I GUESS.....THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO DO WITH OUR CHILDREN DR. LEBCHENCO.... WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO FEED THEM AND RAISE THEM SO THAT THEY CAN GROW UP TO REPRODUCE AS STRONG AMERICANS...

NOW IF YOU CAN'T GET YOUR NO-FISHING BUTT DOWN TO FLORIDA IMMEDIATELY AND TAKE SENATOR LeMIEUX UP ON HIS OFFER, THEN WE THE FISHERMEN WILL FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN TAKE YOUR PLACE....


THANK YOU SENATOR LeMIEUX!!!!!!!!!

[Hoo Nose]

Seabiscuit, you must be a carpenter. I believe you have hit the nail on the head.

Heck, I don't see a post on here that I can totally disagree with, but you sir have nailed it.

What we're dealing with is a beast of our own creation. We may not have meant to let it happen, but frankly, it doesn't matter what we meant, the beast is knocking at the door.

What we're up against is a beast of a bureaucracy that we have allowed. We are so happy with the scraps of freedom that they give us, that we're willing to accept what they ram up our asses. Now we're about to cough up a watch, and people finally get fired up.

Sure, some sort of govt. should control interstate commerce, ie: migratory fish stocks, and maybe only the govt can really manage intrastate fisheries too. What went wrong is the massive size of these "management" entities on all levels and the inability for anyone to police them, or hold them accountable for inaction and a plain old shitty job done.

Sure, the leftist enviro freaks might have a little more influence with Barry in office, and Jane makes my skin crawl as much as anyone, but let's get real, a bureaucrat is like a cockroach, they can live through just about anything.

Thankfully we're still clinging to what's left of our republic, and we still have the ability to change what has been done. There's a number of different ways to go about getting the change, and I don't know the answer. Unfortunately as much as we need good fisheries science, we also need good political science on our side.

Seabiscuit, I don't know what the hell it's gonna take to get rec anglers off their asses and involved, but if it doesn't happen soon, I'll be breaking the law about 50 times a summer. Hoo's comin with me?