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martinatpw · #1 10-09-2003, 10:39 AM

Its no secret to anybody how bad the bluefin bite is this year. I was out there yesterday, and I barely saw anybody on fish, and I saw a hundred boats..(still amazes me that people try)
And I hope people read the article about the seiners in CCB and the herring being decimated from Maine to Nantucket. They were out there too by the way... But this is really bad. We have mismanaged another fishery and I would say its possible this one dies a true death.. It has been said that the GBFT's return to a spot.. when you net the whole thing, nobody returns... These seiners MUST be stopped. The whole fishery is going to die. We can blame the europeans, we can blame the japs, and we can say that seiners have every right, but I don't think they do. Nobody should be able to net these creatures anymore. It needs to stop. The lobbyists that they can afford makes this difficult to penetrate.. The problem signed long term contacts with the gov's that state nothing about what happens to the fishery and to their abilities if the stock declines... This is just my opinion, but will it ever stop or will there be no more bluefin, and no more sport boats, and all the MONEY that goes into gear, gas, blah blah... the marinas are hurting this year.

Also, did anybody hear about the proposed tax on nantucket on TROPHY homes? $8 per square foot extra tax on any house over 2500 sq ft... it is being considered.. better keep an eye on this one. if it passes, every town will want one.
Can you say socialism???? absurd. sm

schwilp · #2 10-09-2003, 10:54 AM

Martinapaw - I agree 100% on the seiner issue. It is wasteful and it's not fair. Stick boats can bring in a much higher quality tuna at a much higher price/lb - and offer more jobs/tuna. As it is now ,a very small number of people (including Ted Kennedy who has part ownership in one of the seiners) make a lot of money off the 5 seiners. It is a destructive and wasteful fishery that harms many (stick boats, general category and sport, the fish themselves) to enrich a very small number of people.
I agree they should be shut down... how to effect change though when the ruling bodies are dominated by the owners of the seiners? (I may be wrong on this - please someone correct me if I am...)

Who should we call? - these are a magnificent resource and we should not squander it - I want my kids to see these fish.

Jacob K. · #3 10-09-2003, 10:59 AM

i second that on BFT. has anyone read "Song for a Blue Ocean" by Carl Safina? the first section is about BFT. it is amazing. So, sad. in the 50s giants were being caught in CCB and sold fro $0.05/lbs for cat food. aobut 4 years ago a 450# fish sold for $250,000 on the tokyo fish exchange. we have destroyed another resrouce. and the same thing is happening all over, the PNW salmon,alaskan pollock, the atlantic salmon, even our striper fishery is a fraction of what it used to be. and what is next? it is the bread and butter fish. the manhaden, mackeral, scup, etc. all for catfood and fertalizer. and the dogfish, they will be gone too. what used to be a bycatch, is now the catch...

just my .02...
jacob

Luv2Fish · #4 10-09-2003, 11:27 AM

I really hope you meant to state 25k not 250k!

Jacob K. · #5 10-09-2003, 11:30 AM

you may hope that i ment 25k, but you would be wrong. it was 250k.

Blackjack · #6 10-09-2003, 12:35 PM

I agree - it makes me sick to see this mismanagement just to earn a few $$$. If someone can tell me what to do, who to call etc I'd be happy to help, but I admit I do feel helpless here.

Other things that concern me are the widespread netting of forage fish and the death of the Chesapeake...where will the Stripers spawn?

finatic · #7 10-09-2003, 01:11 PM

Guys we have been down this road a million times. As you know by now I have no tolerance for commercial fisheries BUT I know they are not going to go away totally. A sensible solution as I see it is to allow only ROD and REEL commercial fisheries. This would drive the fish prices up and have far less waste, and everyone wins, the comm. guys who care to participate and us - the rec. anglers who need these fish in our small local economies (gas, boat sales, marinas', tackle etc. etc.....). Gilnetters, draggers, seiners whatever NEED to become a thing of the past. I see the destruction of the herring fishery everyday on the Portland waterfront. Truck loads of herring being hauled off to go to fertilizer and animal food. If it keeps up you will see no fish return to our waters because there will be no food to support their populations. It DOES NOT MATTER who's side your on you need to call or write your congressman, legislators , etc. and let them know you won't take it lying down anymore. Go to www.stripersforever.org and they have listings for the people who represent your area in the fisheries WARS........

scruffy_fish · #8 10-09-2003, 02:30 PM

Guys,
The Atlantic Salmon have been fighting the netters for over twenty years and look were they are. It took buy outs to make a small dent in the netting. The ASF (Atlantic Salmon Federation) along with other inter-national orginizations and it's lobbist are starting to turn things around for the salmon.
It is a slow and costly excersise, with an up hill battle.

BFT may learn from the ASF, they have the experience. You'll have to organized and lobby for this resource.

My 2c

martinatpw · #9 10-09-2003, 03:25 PM

I can't believe Ted is an investor in one of those..is that public info? Nobody will change Mass until he is out of there then.
Will somebody please give him a few more cocktails so his liver FINALLY GOES OUT!!!! I agree with the prior post about Rod and Reel.. IS that soooo hard to get done.??. If this takes twenty years, we will not have anymore fish.. Seriously folks, I haven't really stepped up to the plate to protect anything..(other than family, my bank account etc) I guess I took evrything for granted. This might be the only time I will actually try to make a dedicated effort.. Give me a reason perhaps... I'm going to explore what I can really do. Its just o sad... But let me retract... I am a fisherman first. I do catch these fish, and I WILL sell it if I can... And again, I know we have been over this a million times.. my fear is that we will be over this another million, with nothing happening except the GBFT's saying bye bye.. Time to be heard people... Lets start the REEL TIME petition first... Every Reeltimer that believes this needs to sign a petition. Should I start that???? I will send that to our congressman.. THoughts? We are becoming a voice too...

--username-deleted-- · #10 10-09-2003, 05:04 PM

Martin, let me preface by saying I have read many of your posts and both enjoyed and appreciated your experience, experise and general knowledge. That said, I was rather unhappy and shocked to hear you use a racial slur in your post above.

Whether or not it was intended to be so, I assure you that to me, as son of a Californian-born father who happened to have had parents who emigrated from Japan, it's highly offensive.

It just so happens my entire family on the paternal side was stripped of their constitutional and civil rights, as well as their freedom, and incarcerated for years by the US gov't during the WWII era, and carted off to a desert prison camp. This after being robbed of just about everything they owned. They were not alone. ~110K others were sent as well.

Back to the point of this: regardless of the who-what-why, it is my belief that bigotry needs not rear its head here nor in any other discussion, and I will thank you to not use such terms.

I am American, born and raised as such, and will die in my country as an American. I try to respect others' heritage. I ask that you do the same, regardless of your feelings and beliefs.

Respectfully,

Leighton

PS. I tried to email you offlist, but you don't have that option enabled.

Jacob K. · #11 10-10-2003, 07:56 AM

we do need to do something. this is the perfect form to act. we are motivated, educated and concerend. i think a petetion is a good place to start, but not really sure. has anyone ever done anythign like this? maybe we could write a letter to ted and ask him to explain his investments. maybe we could get john kerry on our side (although he is prob. too busy right now with election stuff)...
anyone have experience in this stuff?
wouldn't it be great if we could get rid of seine nets in MA and change the striper quota to one fish between 24-36 inches? keep all the big fat cow breeders a live to make more little fishes for us?

Mike Leech · #12 10-10-2003, 09:01 AM

There are basically 2 ways to get the attention of fishery managers. One is to sue them and the other is to have a better lobbyist than the other guy. It's all politics and what is good for the resource has very little to do with it I'm sorry to say.
In 1975 NMFS and USFWS posted their intention to list BFT as a threatened or endangered species in the Federal Register.As we all know, that never happened. Since that time BFT have declined another 90%. Now ICCAT's goal is to rebuild BFT to 50% of the depleted level of 1975. They are giving themselves 30 or 40 years to accomplish this goal.
That five purse seiners can get rich at the expense of the rest of the fishery is a tribute to their lobbyist(s), and should be an embarrasment to NMFS, but NMFS has become immune to embarrassment.

goldenangel · #13 10-10-2003, 01:08 PM

Thanks for the reply Mike!
It seems that us little guys may never have a say. But we contribute more tax dollars to the NE fishery via tackle, fuel,lodging,boating etc. than do these commercial guys who can rape these fish to extinction within a season. Are our politions so blind that these recreational dollars exceed commercial fisheries. Or maybe I am very nieve.
If you have any more info for us recreational guys hear on reel-time you can be sure that we will listen!!

Thanks again Mike Leech for your response!

P.S. Which Org are you from? I forwarded this thread to many!