Stripers Forever Petition
Submitted by Ted Williams on Sun, 03/10/2013 - 15:21.
ACTION ALERT On March 8, 2013, a petition signed by approximately 750 concerned anglers was delivered to Paul Diodati, Director of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), requesting that the commercial and recreational harvests of wild striped bass in Massachusetts each be reduced by 50 percent for the 2013 season You are getting this email because you have expressed concern for wild striped bass. We are asking you to put that concern into action by emailing Director Diodati and informing him of your support for this long over-due conservation measure. Scientifically and anecdotally, it is well known that the striped bass population has been declining for at least five years. Recruitment of newly spawned striped bass has not kept pace with fishing mortality along the entire coast. The recreational harvest in the coastal fishery has declined by 75 percent since 2005 and the striped bass population will continue to decline until harvest restrictions are put in place. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) has voted against coastwide fishing mortality reductions as recently as 2012. That vote came as a surprise to Director Diodati because he had proposed the motion for fishing mortality reductions! The director is fully aware of all the problem with striped bass and he needs your encouragement to do the right thing. From 1995 to 2002, Massachusetts enacted statewide regulations that were more conservative than the ASMFC allows. Massachusetts needs to step up again this year and be a leader in striped bass conservation. Whether you live in Massachusetts, travel to fish there, or are simply concerned for the overall quality and sustainability of the striped bass fishery, please send Director Diodati an email and tell him you support the requested harvest reduction outlined in the petition that he has just received.
You can write your own message to Director Paul Diodati or just copy and paste the message below into an e-mail. Send your message to paul.diodati@state.ma.us.
Sample e-mail: Dear Director Diodati – I ask that you act immediately and affirmatively on the recently submitted petition~to reduce the commercial and recreational harvests of striped bass in Massachusetts by 50 percent for the 2013 season.~ With the striped bass population and associated~fishing in~a troubling decline, now is the time for Massachusetts to step up and be the leader in the protection of this valuable natural resource.~ Please don't let future allocation issues prevent you from doing what is right for striped bass now.~ Sincerely: (your name here)
Tell the truth Ted!
This is simply not true.
According to the same statistics that SF cites from -
FINAL 2005 STRIPED BASS 2,439,210 6.3
FINAL 2006 STRIPED BASS 2,724,767 5.6
FINAL 2007 STRIPED BASS 2,422,415 6.4
FINAL 2008 STRIPED BASS 2,323,241 6.2
FINAL 2009 STRIPED BASS 1,946,234 5.7
FINAL 2010 STRIPED BASS 1,968,311 6.3
FINAL 2011 STRIPED BASS 2,218,366 5.4
Given the above statistics, the harvest as of 2011, the last year for which harvest numbers are available as a final tally, the recreational harvest is down only 10%.
So, your article has done nothing but obfuscate the situation.
Huh???
Not sure from where you are plucking these alleged stats. But why do you imagine that it is "my article"? And why are you admonishing me to "tell the truth"? I posted the SF release merely as a point of interest. For all you know I abhor it.
Really?
The source of the stats is the same source as SF is using, but I cannot post it here, due to the limitations of your sites commenting policy.
Abhor it? C'mon Ted, do you really want me to dredge up our past back and forth's that we had here?
The tell the truth, is your moniker.
Interesting about the "release"...There is anarticle in the Hamptonroads dotcom, pilotonline this AM, that says over 1,000 anglers signed the "petition".
I've seen the petition and even though SF asked for only folks from MA to sighn, many are not.
As far as the actual question of reducing the quota, MA DMF doesn't have the authority to do so, that falls under the ASMFC, so again, SF has missed the mark.
Limitations?
Cape: You must know something about my site that I don't. Limitations of what? And "past back and forths" are exactly that--past. They relate to other posts and other issues. And who told you that states can't set limits on marine fish? Get with it, Cape.
Water Temps have pushed the
Water Temps have pushed the fish (bait and bass) since 2008 into unusual patterns. Talking recently with researchers in woods hole, I was told also that lobsters on the continential shelf also have drastically altered there migratory pattern with offshore mooring temps being recorded 2 to 3 degrees above normal. The piles of bass sitting off chatham (where the cooler water current swings . . . both state and federal waters) are unprecidented in number. The commercial fishing effort in MA (which is rod and reel) filled the 1.1 million pound quota last year in 12 days (not counting 5 fish sundays) . . . shortest season ever. Before everyone get swayed with this fear mongering conservation assualt, let's use facts to understand the problem and call a spade a spade.
Okay. Let's call a spade a spade
The recremercial striper season is a grotesque charade. An absurd waste of an important resource. Kill 1.1 million pounds of breeding-age females and sell them for meat. STOOOOOOPID! It makes no economic sense. It makes no moral sense.
"The recremercial striper
"The recremercial striper season is a grotesque charade."
Agreed.
There are quite a few fishermen in MA who are real commercial fishermen, not recremercials as you put it, who fish for stripers as just another species among the many they fish over the course of the year. This is entirely the fault of the DMF, who refuses to do anything about how the fishery is affected other than to keep selling permits to anyone who wants one, under the auspices of it being " the gateway to other fishing opportunities".
The current legislation proposed by SF to limit the fishery to only htose who have landed more than 1,000 pounds a year is a good start, but it falls short of the mark. If they and the state want to really legitimize the fishery, they need to limit all the fisheries to only those who earn at least 1/2 their annual incomes from fishing.
Good Point
Not sure what you mean by "quite a few." Guess that's a judgement call. If we go by percentages, it's a small percent. You certainly have it right about the DMF. Dead-on-the-dock management is all those fools understand.
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