SAMFC to examine the Dolphin fishery....

[AtoZ]

as there is some indication that overfishing might be occuring along the Atlantic coast.

Do you think overfishing could be occuring???

If so, what regulation changes would you like to see?? Reduction of limits?? Size limits??

[alex n]

I always thought pulling a boat up to a pot and taking 50 -80 mahi was a bit much, multiplied by a lot of boats, is probably not the greatest thing for the fish. I think the most impact will come from the comms , and how many hundreds of metric tonnage they take, of course it could be happening

[Bert Rodgers]

What indications do they have? It seems to me the last few years we have had more dolphin off the Mid Atlantic than ever.

Bert

[Capt. kapoc]

well there goes that fishery... I belive that they only have a life span of 5 yrs and gro a an astounding rate which is why it was difficult to overfish and they breed more than rabbits but what do i know i r just a dumb fisherman

[giantfan]

well there goes that fishery... I belive that they only have a life span of 5 yrs and gro a an astounding rate which is why it was difficult to overfish and they breed more than rabbits but what do i know i r just a dumb fisherman

I thought I heard the same thing.....

Actually I thought they were the fastest growing fish out there.

And I'm just a dumb carpenter so your one up on me

[Anthony of the ARK]

i dont know what size a mature mahi is but i think the limit should be a little larger then a mature fish. so they have a chance to produce at least one batch of offspring.

[AtoZ]

They do grow very fast and I think it would be hard to decimate the population. Some data is showing a slight downward trend in the catch per effort ratio. They are going to want to do studies and collect more data, that is why they have the committee.

I doubt if anyone believes the fishery is in danger, but some good regulations would prevent severe restrictions in the future.

It would also give a lot of ammo to the wacky enviromentalist groups if the regulations stayed the same and when all the data was completed in a few years if it showed the dolphin fishery was being overfished. They would say that fisherman were not good stewards of the resource if they were able to overfish one of the fastest growing fish in the ocean.

Recreational fisherman have been credited with taking around 90% of the annual harvest.

[AtoZ]

What indications do they have? It seems to me the last few years we have had more dolphin off the Mid Atlantic than ever.

Bert

Some of these same studies show that the size limit enacted off Florida has contributed to more fish making it up the coast.

[mudshark]

From fishbase...
http://www.fishbase.com/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=6

Sexual maturity is reached in 4-5 months (3 for captive fish)

Max. size: 210 cm TL (male/unsexed; (Ref. 9846)); max. published weight: 40.0 kg (Ref. 30874); max. reported age: 4 years (Ref. 2885)

At 4-5 months of age studies suggest these fish will be in the range of 40-50 cm, so about 16-20 inches. I don't think there has been a lot of population level research on these fish in the Atlantic...a catch limit probably would not be the worst, only so much mahi you are going to eat anyhow...

[AtoZ]

I think a size limit of 20-24" and a reasonable catch limit of 6-7 fish per person would fix the issue and result in improving the fishery. More fish and bigger too!! We would all like to be able to catch more slammers.