Stripers Forever members - on Jan. 15th the North Carolina, ocean commercial striped bass season opened. In this trawl fishery, individual boats can keep the 50 largest fish that they catch in a day. This practice allows and encourages the culling or high grading of the catch. This means that the boat will keep the 50 largest fish in possession but may continue trawling all day and may replace these fish with larger ones caught later. Replacing means they will throw the dead or dying fish over the side, substituting them with the freshly caught larger bass. It is nearly beyond belief that such a system could be in place, but it is.
Here is the link http://www.examiner.com/fish-and-wildlife-policy-in-charlotte/commercial-trawlers-slaughtering-thousands-of-striped-bass-off-the-outer-banks to a newspaper story about the debacle. The story itself contains a link to a YouTube video that shows pictures of the dead floating stripers. The trawlers committing this atrocity tow their nets right through fleets of recreational and charter boats that are fishing on the schools. Is it any wonder this resource is becoming scarcer every year?
SF has sent a letter to Louis Daniels Ph.D. the Director of Marine Fisheries in NC. We hope that you will send the note below or something like it in your own words to Dr. Daniels and let him know that this is a barbaric and unacceptable practice. Here is an e-mail link to his office louis.daniel@ncmail.net.
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Louis Daniels PhD
NC DMF
3441 Arendell Street
PO BOX 769
Morehead City, NC 28557-0769
Dear Dr. Daniels – The world is now aware of the terrible misuse of the striped bass resource caused by the commercial ocean trawl fishery off the North Carolina Outer Banks. These fish are worth considerably more per pound if allocated to the recreational fishery in North Carolina than when taken by commercial harvest. But if the practice of commercial fishing for striped bass must continue in NC, certainly the participants should never be allowed to cull and high grade these fish. It is already too late to save the thousands of large striped bass wasted by this fishery during the 2011 winter season, but we hope that you will use the power of your office to keep this from happening in the future.
Sincerely;
My name here
Here is the link http://www.examiner.com/fish-and-wildlife-policy-in-charlotte/commercial-trawlers-slaughtering-thousands-of-striped-bass-off-the-outer-banks to a newspaper story about the debacle. The story itself contains a link to a YouTube video that shows pictures of the dead floating stripers. The trawlers committing this atrocity tow their nets right through fleets of recreational and charter boats that are fishing on the schools. Is it any wonder this resource is becoming scarcer every year?
SF has sent a letter to Louis Daniels Ph.D. the Director of Marine Fisheries in NC. We hope that you will send the note below or something like it in your own words to Dr. Daniels and let him know that this is a barbaric and unacceptable practice. Here is an e-mail link to his office louis.daniel@ncmail.net.
*************************
Louis Daniels PhD
NC DMF
3441 Arendell Street
PO BOX 769
Morehead City, NC 28557-0769
Dear Dr. Daniels – The world is now aware of the terrible misuse of the striped bass resource caused by the commercial ocean trawl fishery off the North Carolina Outer Banks. These fish are worth considerably more per pound if allocated to the recreational fishery in North Carolina than when taken by commercial harvest. But if the practice of commercial fishing for striped bass must continue in NC, certainly the participants should never be allowed to cull and high grade these fish. It is already too late to save the thousands of large striped bass wasted by this fishery during the 2011 winter season, but we hope that you will use the power of your office to keep this from happening in the future.
Sincerely;
My name here
Was in VA and spoke with some guys I know that fish the lower Chesapeake and Outer Banks for the winter striper run, and this just contributed to what was a slow season. It absolutely kills recreational and charter fishermen who make up a larger part of the economy and contribute much more to protecting and expanding fish stocks. I passed on a late December trip while back down in the area because the cost just outweighed the poor fishing they were having. This method of fishing that they allow can be devastating when combined with what appears to be a declining Chesapeake stock. While I'll be back fishing the Outer Banks in June, I will also be fishing with a few Captains who are really focused on protecting the fisheries which are trying to come back after decades of overfishing and declining stocks. This was my "back yard" growing up, and I want to be able to share the same experiences with my kids, so any lobbying in support of SFs efforts is appreciated!
Thanks,
RNA
Thanks,
RNA
Dear Dr. Daniels,
Below is a forum post I shared with fellow members of CT Fish Finder with regard to the commercial trawling for stripers and culling or high grading that takes place, resulting in the loss of thousands of healthy stripers prior to their prime reproductive years. The commercial policy is not only ill-conceived from a long term growth and recovery effort, but is directly harmful to recreational and charter fishermen, an industry that generates 8X the revenue and jobs of commercial fishing. Companies such as Parker Boats and Jones Brothers, guides and tackle related businesses are harmed by this policy, as evidenced by the fact that individuals like myself chose to spend our money elsewhere this year due to poor winter fishing on the Outer Banks. I opted instead for trips to fish steelhead in upstate NY. I grew up fishing the waters of the Outer Banks in the 70s-80s, and watched as stocks declined and recreational fisherman sought other locations with more abundant stocks. It's seems that based on my completely unscientific, anecdotal evidence and more success in recent years that many species have increased due to better management. Stripers are one of those species that have on the whole rebounded. However, waste like this could put them back in jeopardy. It would make much more sense to shift a significant portion of the quota to recreational/charter fisherman, who either take their limit or release the vast majority of their fish unharmed, and who do not create large wasted bye-catch. Allowing charter captains to sell fish commercially makes far more sense that trawling. It is a far more efficient utilization of resources, and while it may cause a job shift, makes more economic sense. I hope you will consider changes to NC regulations that allow for such waste of a valuable resource.
Sincerely,
Brian Kirby
Below is a forum post I shared with fellow members of CT Fish Finder with regard to the commercial trawling for stripers and culling or high grading that takes place, resulting in the loss of thousands of healthy stripers prior to their prime reproductive years. The commercial policy is not only ill-conceived from a long term growth and recovery effort, but is directly harmful to recreational and charter fishermen, an industry that generates 8X the revenue and jobs of commercial fishing. Companies such as Parker Boats and Jones Brothers, guides and tackle related businesses are harmed by this policy, as evidenced by the fact that individuals like myself chose to spend our money elsewhere this year due to poor winter fishing on the Outer Banks. I opted instead for trips to fish steelhead in upstate NY. I grew up fishing the waters of the Outer Banks in the 70s-80s, and watched as stocks declined and recreational fisherman sought other locations with more abundant stocks. It's seems that based on my completely unscientific, anecdotal evidence and more success in recent years that many species have increased due to better management. Stripers are one of those species that have on the whole rebounded. However, waste like this could put them back in jeopardy. It would make much more sense to shift a significant portion of the quota to recreational/charter fisherman, who either take their limit or release the vast majority of their fish unharmed, and who do not create large wasted bye-catch. Allowing charter captains to sell fish commercially makes far more sense that trawling. It is a far more efficient utilization of resources, and while it may cause a job shift, makes more economic sense. I hope you will consider changes to NC regulations that allow for such waste of a valuable resource.
Sincerely,
Brian Kirby
I hope that is the case. One of the guys I know down there was complaining about the trawlers driving them off the fish in December. Still makes more sense to me to shift quota percentages of game fish to charters, letting them keep fish beyond the limits established for paying customers and selling the excess commercially. It would offset operating cost and could lower charter fees, encouraging more fishing and tourism. A fifty fish limit would mean just about that as well. There would be very little wasted catch, as shorts would be returned to the water with a high probability of survival. There would be no real byecatch. I had a 2 hr day last spring where I hooked over 2 dozen keepers, and thanks to circle hooks, released all healthy. Not a single gut hook. It sucks for the small commercial operators, but they have almost all been pushed out by larger corporate operations anyway, and NC relies heavily on the sportfishing industry, between charters, tourists, boat builders, tackle shops, etc. I know commercial fishermen don't want to hear any of this, as livelihoods are at stake, but it just seems to make sense to me.
