O.K., I'll play devil's advocate here and perhaps give some a different perspective on this controversial issue. This is just something to think about and does not necessarily present my view (although it also might). First, as Larry mentioned, there is c
urrently no bag or trip limit for commercial striped bass licenses- they can fill the boat each trip, and decimate an entire school if they feel like it (they often do). That said, let's consider the way fisheries management has historically worked. When
a species is goes under strict management, managers look to historical catches to decide how the resource is to be divided. This is not necessarily the smartest or best way to do things, but it seems to be the way they're done. One has to only look at the
swordfishery for an example: The traditional harpoon fishery (a clean, bykill-free fishery) was basically eliminated by the long-line fishery. Now, when looking to divide up the fishery, managers look back 10 or 20 years and see that over that period, th
e harpoon fishery accounted for only 1% or less of the total catch , so they get squat. What they fail to look at is the fact that the longline fishery is the very reason the harpoon fishery accounted for so little over the last 20 years. If they went bac
k 50 or 60 years, they'd see the harpoon fishery was the predominant fishery and also the cleanest one. The longline fishery would be allowed a much smaller piece of the pie and we might possibly see a resurgence of the harpoon fishery and the swordfish p
opulation. Now for striped bass. If the striper is to have to come under stricter management in the future (this is probably the case under almost all management plans) the managers will have to look at historical catches to divide the resource. If the Ma
ssachusetts recreational catch accounts for 95% of the local catch and, say, 25% of the coastwide TAC (total allowable catch), chance are pretty good we'll get close to those percentages when the pie is sliced up again. If we can take 2 fish at 28" (ASMFC
has allowed us to do that for about 5 years) but choose not to, our unused portion of the TAC is considered a surplus and is abosrbed by other states like maryland (where they can take fish at 18"). Once we recreational anglers in Massachusetts give up s
ome of our slice, the chances of getting it back when there are fewer fish overall are slim. Right now the population is the highest by all accounts since population analysis began, so we should take what we can while we can. Because if we don't, another
state down the coast certianly will take our share, and when the fish have to be manged more carefully agin, we can still have a fishery. This is the general gist of the argument for going to two fish at 28" as is allowed by ASMFC. Any quesions?