Stripers Forever

[riff_raff]

I once agreed with Stipers Forever. Admittedly I did not really understand the fishery at the time.

The thing about the commercial fishery on Stripers, at least in MA, is it's very limited, with a hard well-regulated quota, and is completely open to the public (even out of state residents).

So for starters it's not a privileged few taking more than their fair share, it's open to anyone who's interested enough to buy permits. If you are not interested in joining the ranks, then don't, but it's completely open to the public (and I applaud MA for this).

It's also a drop in the bucket compared the recreational fishery (especially when you start considering release mortality) and is a unique opportunity for a small boat or shore fisherman to make a few bucks with rod in hand. It'd be nice if there were more of such opportunities that didn't require a big boat budget & commitment.

I'm not saying it's wrong, but the worst thing for the Striper is the serial catch-and-release fisherman. For 4 months+ out of the year a guy who's good with artificials or flys can go catch 30 fish a trip. That class of fisherman alone does far more damage than the 2 week commercial season, and there's no good way to curb their mortality.. And of course those same C&R fisherman all think they are taking the high ground, and are of the sort to support things like Stripers Forever..

Some people are really rubbed the wrong way by part time commercial fishing, I don't get it. Anyway, provided the health of the Striper remains intact, and it's done sustainably as it has, I see no issue with a well regulated commercial Striper fishery, especially when it remains small compared to the recreational fishery. If we hit a point when it needs to go back to 1 fish @ 36 inches for sustainability, then it will probably make sense to suspend the commercial season. Until then I'm all for it.

Jon

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by riff_raff

Some people are really rubbed the wrong way by part time commercial fishing, I don't get it. Anyway, provided the health of the Striper remains intact, and it's done sustainably as it has, I see no issue with a well regulated commercial Striper fishery, especially when it remains small compared to the recreational fishery. If we hit a point when it needs to go back to 1 fish @ 36 inches for sustainability, then it will probably make sense to suspend the commercial season. Until then I'm all for it.

Jon

You're joking right?

[numbskull]

If I'm a striper, I like my chances one helluva lot better getting caught by some dude with a fly rod than by any other method out there.

[riff_raff]

Originally Posted by numbskull

If I'm a striper, I like my chances one helluva lot better getting caught by some dude with a fly rod than by any other method out there.

So you'd rather inhale a small "J" hook, possibly deep depending on nothing more than luck, and then are played out until exhaustion on light tackle?

I think I'd rather be one of those bass that hits a squid bar with a 14/0 Jobu, planed out on a 130, and released in 45 seconds ..

Back to the point, when you are talking commercial versus recreational the difference is small numbers of fish targeted and harvested over a short season versus large numbers of fish caught and injured over an entire season.

Commercial fishing is over and done with in 2-3 weeks; legal sized fish are targeted, harvested, the quota is filled, and it's over. It might appear wrong to see tote after tote of dead stripers heading to market, but that's just a knee-jerk reaction.

Even if you completely discount release mortality (which on the recreational side more fish actually die post-release than are harvested while on the commercial side it's only 10%), the harvest on the rec side is something like 7X the commercial fishery. If you count release mortality it's >15X the commercial fishery.

Why focus your attention on the something that accounts for < 10% of the total Striper mortality? I'm not saying it needs to be fixed, but the real issue in the northeast Striper fishery (if there was one) would be mortality generated by Catch and Release fishing. It accounts for more dead Stripers than the commercial and recreational harvest combined.

Jon

[riff_raff]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

You're joking right?

What do you mean by that? From what I'm reading, and what I'm seeing, things are fine. The only thing I've heard (and I've yet to see it really backed up) is there may be a decline, possibly just due to normal cycles, of schoolie sized fish. The current year classes coming down south are massive, in a few years we'll be inundated with small fish again.

For sure there are plenty of large fish around, they just may not be where you are expecting them. Take a cruise through Stellwagen up in a tower during the summer. Huge schools of large striped bass just outside of state waters, some years for whatever reason it happens. When tuna fishing at times they've been practically as bad as dogfish.

My night bite sucked last season; lots of small fish 25 - 30 inches, the bruisers just didn't want to gather for our boats, and we spent a lot time running away from little fish and searching, although some guys were doing well. During the day though the bite in rips of the Merrimack was outstanding with plenty of large fish available. So, they were around, just not where we always wanted them to be. Bite in the rips was probably was similar at night, but I try and avoid fishing rips at night. Commercial season was more of an open water bite up my end. Anyway, plenty of fish, just some of the patterns changed, and it makes people think there's a problem.

Jon