OTW "Striper Cup Tourney" Format is Irresponsible to the Fishery

[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by JohnR

Yes the regulations clearly state that BUT assuming if everyone were able to catch and then to take 2 legal fish per day / 14 per week, there would be a SIGNIFICANT impact on the fishery.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the state allocations are based on perceived pressure as there are not landing receipts from every angler on every trip to give hard numbers. So they use their estimates from their dosckside / shoreside studies and guestimate a total catch and compare that to what they feel the biomass can manage and be sustainable. A couple years ago they might say to Mass DMF that they can allocatate for grins and giggles 1 million pounds of bass and Mass then would need to come up with regulations to meet that target. For years Mass had 1 fish @ 28 inches and based on the numbers available at the time, Mass had an uncaught balance of about 14% under the quota. So Mass for example could have added 2 fish @ 28 for say 3 months of the season as they felt that would use the last 14% of their allowable quota. When Mass went to 2 @ 28 they felt the chances of one person keeping the second fish was significantly less than keeping the first. And they assigned some number like 10% of trips would catch a keeper in the first place...

Sorry for the ramble but 2 fish per day per angler for 7 days a week for the entire season would really harm the fishery.

John,
Not quite right. Striped bass is managed on a coastwide basis, i.e. there is no allocation of the quota to any individual state. ASMFC sets the maximum creel limit, all states have the option to use a more restrictive limit. But your main point is correct, in that effort is factored into the equasion and if all fishermen went out and killed two fish a day, it would have a severe detrimental impact on the fishery.

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by MakoMike

John,
Not quite right. Striped bass is managed on a coastwide basis, i.e. there is no allocation of the quota to any individual state. ASMFC sets the maximum creel limit, all states have the option to use a more restrictive limit. But your main point is correct, in that effort is factored into the equasion and if all fishermen went out and killed two fish a day, it would have a severe detrimental impact on the fishery.

Actually - I reread my post and it was a little wishy-washy but correct where it talks about how the states managed quotas before Ammendment 6 hence the "couple years ago". This is what allowed Mass to have a 1/day with a a bonus period so to speak with a time for 2/day under the old rules - they chose not to implement it but they could have... Also allowed other states to implement slot limits. All were based on allowable numbers from ASMFC with the state to decide how to achieve under that quota.

[Mr. Sandman]

The boat guys have this locked up.. I don't think you realize how many big fish these guys take ***per day***. tons of 20's lots of 30#ers a few 40's and some of the hotshots take a 50+ once or so each season. A surf fish winning this thing is a long shot. And they DO cull out smaller fish, few take a fish less then 20# to the market. So they will weigh in the fish, then take it to market .

Removing myself from this thread, I am getting too much email about it.

[DZ]

I think many of you lost focus about what this thread was discussing, which isn’t hard because so many views have been expressed.

The initial question actually started on another thread – Should S-B.com field a team to compete for the new “Striper Cup”?

Most anglers would tend to agree that a tournament with prizes for individuals in various categories is not really anything to be concerned about. Many exist already.

The point of contention with the new Striper Cup is the point system for the club competition that has “no limit” on how many fish a club can enter.

Here is the statement from the OTW website:

(The members of the club with the most points tallied throughout the season will take the “Striper Cup” to display in their clubhouse for the year.)


To give you an example on how this contest might be run - read the following scenario:


Press Release 2006

Striper Cup Results

_________ Fishing Club Claims Striper Cup Bragging Rights

The_______ Club takes first place in the first annual Striper Cup with a total of 3653 points (awarded 1 point per pound). Minimum weight for entry was 15 pounds. 210 club members entered 189 striped bass over the course of the 20 week season. Of the 189 entered only 4 won awards in the ______Club’s own year long contest.

Club President -------- was proud of his members. “We made a big push for the trophy in August and September” he said. “Our members were encouraged to weigh-in all the eligible bass they could and they came through” - “they weren’t the biggest bass but we had enough weight to beat everyone else” he continued. “Now we can say we’re the best, at least for this year”.



So here’s the question each one of you should ask of yourself and your club:

Do you/we want to support a tournament like that?

I’m only one voice in my own club, but as President of it I would recommend “No” if it came up. But my club members might not see it the same way – in that case we would vote on it. But I’m fairly certain that a club like ours would not be willing to support the Striper Cup unless it changed its rules on club competition.

DZ