An Email from NOAA Recreational Fisheries Coordinator - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

monstahfish · 04-23-2015, 03:56 PM

I for one am glad they are regulating the fishery. We used to have an epic schoolie bluefin fishery in new england and it's all but gone. Most of this is related to foreign fisheries the rest is the lack of inshore forage due to midwater trawlers and factory fishing vessels and guys going out and taking every fish they could.

The attitude that you can't overfish with a recreational fishery is bunk as well. Striped bass on the east coast went from epic to mediocre at best within 10 years after they lowered the minimum size and raised the bag to 2 fish. Spawning has been a major issue but I think this is mostly related to pollution and the allowance of taking barely spawning size fish. Most of these fish are taken by six pack charters keeping full limits every trip. Say each boat goes out 100 times a year with six guys that was 1,200 fish a year which is on the low side cause a lot of boats did 2 trips a day and fish more than 100 days. Now add that up with at least 1,000 six packs and cattle boats up and down the striper coast and you're talking some serious decimation. The ocean is not a never ending supply of food and we have to be responsible for how much and what we take from it.

I often wonder what the yellowtail fishery would look like after a few years of a one or two fish limit. My guess would be epic. You won't see it happen with the current attitudes and if it does decline, like what happened with stripers, you'll see people block any action until it's too late.

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04-23-2015, 03:56 PM	#9
monstahfish Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2014 Posts: 423	I for one am glad they are regulating the fishery. We used to have an epic schoolie bluefin fishery in new england and it's all but gone. Most of this is related to foreign fisheries the rest is the lack of inshore forage due to midwater trawlers and factory fishing vessels and guys going out and taking every fish they could. The attitude that you can't overfish with a recreational fishery is bunk as well. Striped bass on the east coast went from epic to mediocre at best within 10 years after they lowered the minimum size and raised the bag to 2 fish. Spawning has been a major issue but I think this is mostly related to pollution and the allowance of taking barely spawning size fish. Most of these fish are taken by six pack charters keeping full limits every trip. Say each boat goes out 100 times a year with six guys that was 1,200 fish a year which is on the low side cause a lot of boats did 2 trips a day and fish more than 100 days. Now add that up with at least 1,000 six packs and cattle boats up and down the striper coast and you're talking some serious decimation. The ocean is not a never ending supply of food and we have to be responsible for how much and what we take from it. I often wonder what the yellowtail fishery would look like after a few years of a one or two fish limit. My guess would be epic. You won't see it happen with the current attitudes and if it does decline, like what happened with stripers, you'll see people block any action until it's too late.