Mass. weighs tougher protections for striped bass

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by CowHunter

Mine is $470.00... Moving to Mass when I retire!

Why so much? I thought the out of state was like $150?

[CowHunter]

Out of State Boat, Charter, Striped bass, Seabass, Scup endorsements.... Mass Raises more than people think on license fees...

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by CowHunter

Mass Raises more than people think on license fees...

In keeping with the context of this thread its probably 240K or so just for striped bass endorsements. Licensing revenue overall would obviously have to be substantially higher.

[CowHunter]

Yes it is true, but some people only get a license for the striped bass endorsement ONLY, fees being much higher for boat...

[Saltheart]

What I think would help is to make it mandatory to show your sales slip from the year before in order to get a license again the next year. I bet a big percent of the licenses in MA go to people who just pay the fee so they can skirt the bag limits. They take all the fish a com license allows but sell zero. This is just paying a fee to get around the bag limit laws. People do it for taug and fluke as well as stripers. It should be a regulation something like if you had a license last year , you cannot get a renewal ubnless you can prove you sold more than x amount of fish the year before.

There are two issues here. One , they get to skirt the bag limits for a price. Two , the fish they take are not counted in the quota because nobody knows they are taking them.

I think fixing that problem and forcing bicatch to be sold and counted would really go a long way to reducing the take pumping health into the fishery.

[MAKAI]

A quick search of mass.
2008 numbers
3599 permits sold
1207 reported landing even one fish
102 reported landing at least 3000 pounds

[sokinwet]

Although I don't doubt that "some" will get the permit just to take more fish, I question why someone would do that (other than having a whole flock of mouths to feed). If you're just fishing to fill the freezer, you're limiting your catch to 34"+ fish....keep one under 34" and you're now fishing as a rec. I think the more likely thing is that many of the "0" reports come from people who have a licence because they fish in someone elses boat who does not have a boat permit. No permit...no ride.

[TheSpecialist]

Originally Posted by MAKAI

A quick search of mass.
2008 numbers
3599 permits sold
1207 reported landing even one fish
102 reported landing at least 3000 pounds

Those are interesting numbers.

[Saltheart]

Originally Posted by MAKAI

A quick search of mass.
2008 numbers
3599 permits sold
1207 reported landing even one fish
102 reported landing at least 3000 pounds

That is just about in agreement with the people I know who have commercial licenses. I would say it 2 to 1 the people who just keep everything vs the people who actually sell fish with their license. From what I hear its the Taug and Fluke that make it worth while but they do the same with stripers if the occasion rises.

[maddmatt]

Originally Posted by Saltheart

What I think would help is to make it mandatory to show your sales slip from the year before in order to get a license again the next year. I bet a big percent of the licenses in MA go to people who just pay the fee so they can skirt the bag limits. They take all the fish a com license allows but sell zero. This is just paying a fee to get around the bag limit laws. People do it for taug and fluke as well as stripers. It should be a regulation something like if you had a license last year , you cannot get a renewal ubnless you can prove you sold more than x amount of fish the year before.

also good

[sokinwet]

Hey Sandman do you ever read anyones posts and attempt to understand what the other guy's opinion is, like most of the other posters in this debate, or do you just like to hear yourself repeat your same old tired mantra. Since I did read your post let me respond to your latest diatribe:
1st - a simple look at the economics of your 3 a day limit proposal would convince most of the obvious flaw in that logic. More costs, more fuel, more man hrs....same quota.

2nd - Well my "math challenged" friend do you really think the entire commercial fleet consists of the 60 boats fishing in "your" spot. Now let's see..a million pounds/20 lb. avg. = 50,000 fish/60 boats=833 fish ea. boat/30 = 27.7 for each boat for virtually every day of the season....roughly 16,000lb. a boat. A quick look at the permit/catch data previously posted shows this is BS. If I'm wrong be assured there will be 61 boats there nxt. year.

3rd - We're also killing all the bunker....never mind..this is just to far from reality to even comprehend.

4th - So instead of a regulated R&R fishery you would rather see the draggers sell their bycatch...of course then the bycatch just might turn into the target species. We wouldn't want to address the bycatch issue on it's own...just give these "few" guys the quota to catch....while they're dragging in the sacred EEZ and shut out the other couple of thousand guys who just may also rely on that income.

5 - Juicy, bogus tax write offs? I guess you never filled out a small business return...what was that about some type of log books you sell?

6. Charter fish = commercial catch. So I guess that means...Sandman can't catch a fish in his new boat (only because the new rig isn't ready for sea of course) so he charters w/CowHunter to catch his 2 and those are now commercial fish? Tell that to the restaurant who wants to sell that fish, the tourists who want to eat it or the guy who works in the fish market.

7. Most comm this.... most comm. that...Well Karnac...I would say that mostly you don't have a clue about most anything we're about.