Good topic! Alot of good input so far, some I agree with, some I don't. As to buying fish, I never do, except when eating out at resturonts.
I spend way too much money on catching fish to turn around and spend more to eat it. Also, my wife and kids are spoiled by eating totally
fresh, properly prepared fish. My wife even insists I cook it. Next time you're in the supermarket, pick up a plastic wrapped cod fillet
and hold it under your nose. Know what that smell is? That's bacteria breaking down fish flesh. Lastly, I can't justify killing a fish like
swordfish, halibut or even cod which are all over harvested when I can catch a dozen perch, five 12" largemouths or a 28" striper without
stressing a population. In the case of the perch and bass [or the native brookies mentioned above] harvesting some surplus can improve the
overall population.
On the subject of trout, I say if you have a legal license and you can stand the taste of fish raised on liver pellets, you're welcome to
take your limit if you can. That's what you payed for when you bought the license. That's why they call it "put and take". I don't believe
honest fishermen who observe the limit can take too many trout from ponds and many in rivers and brooks die in the summer anyway. I regularly
fish Walden which has more than it's share of meat fishermen, and yet when the midges are hatching, the number of [holdover] trout rising
will blow your mind. BTW, trout bought in fish markets are raised in the same conditions and on the same liver pellets as stocked ones.
I don't believe it's EVER ok to harvest or "cripple" fish you aren't going to use. That puts the fisherman in the role of fisheries manager
which most people are not prepared to be in. If you're gonna eat it, keep it. If not, treat it with the same respect any living creature deserves.
I believe the striper population can handle recreational harvest but commercial should be stopped. When you place a monetary value on anything,
people will abuse it, it's human nature. I agree with Larry and also return large stripers and keep 28-32 inch fish. Even better, there is a secret
little river near my Dad's place in Maine that is so reliable for 20 inch slot fish, we can start the grill before we head out to fish. The four or
five fish per year we harvest don't hurt. The little ones eat a whole lot better and have far less mercury and pcbs. BTW, the is no difference between
a bass taken 10 miles up the Merrimac and an off shore rip. Stripers are cosmepoliton fish. Any striper over 28 inches has probably been raised in the
Chesipeak and visited every urban harbor from New York city, New Haven, Providence, Boston and Portland. They've swam up the Hudson, the Connetticut
the Merrimac and others at least a few times. If contamination is a concern, eating only aquaculture fish is the only reliable way to go.