|
Hey Gang,
Let me unload on the NMFS for a bit, new fishing regulations have been proposed for the
year 2012. Some of those knuckleheads think we need a 100% reduction in groundfish quota. Not only is that STUPID, but down
right IGNORANT!!!! There is a difference, stupid can be fixed, ignorance can not!
The Cod and Haddock supply is
fine, better than fine, its massive. The problem is, the council has no idea what they are doing. NONE.. They claim that the
recreational sector is catching way too many fish, more than the commercial sector. Like I can catch more fish with a fishing
pole with two hooks on it than a gillnet or trawler gear. See what i mean, thats just IGNORANT. We spent millions of dollars,
and thousands of man hours doing the tag program. Catch a fish, put a tag in it, release it, see where it ends up. Some of
those fish were caught several times and reported where and when caught, how much it grew and so onj. But now the council
says every fish caught and released must go towards our TAC (total allowable catch) because everyone of those fish die. The
tag program proved that to be false. I could ramble on for days over this travesty, but my website isn't big enough to
handle how badly the groundfish council has dropped the ball on this matter. For example, they have a new boat, set up for
trawling to make test tows to check the biomass of the cod. The boat builder told them it was setup wrong for this fishery.
The person who outfitted the boat with its gear said the same thing. They made thier test tows, and caught nothing. Therefore
there must be no fish. Somebody used thier quota to shadow tow the NMFS boat, and outfished that boat 30 to 1. towing 50 feet
to starboard. They admit thier data is wrong, but dont care, and wont listen to us fisherman out there everyday telling them
we can't run far enough away from the cod to get away from them, because thats how big the bio mass is. Thier answer,
"we know our data is flawed, but it is the only data we have and must act on it."
BRILLIANT!!!!!
Keep those tips up and lines tight.
|
