I hate the arguement that if we do not catch and kill all of the fish someone else will. That just shows that the governments goal is maximum sustainable yield not trying to return fish stocks to the state they were before man decimated them.
By the way if you know people in Rhode Island, CT, and NJ ask them how many fish they catch. It is much harder to catch fish in those states. They may never reach their quota's. Mass has the best striper fishing in the world and the least conservation eth
ic in the north east. People here take the fishing for granted. Many people used to be commercial or have friends who fish commercially and are reluctant to to say anything negative about commercial fishing. I think in Cape Cod if you come out against com
mercial fishing someone would burn a cross on your front lawn.
People keep writing about how the fishery managers are professionals and we should listen to them about the bass population. Look at the job they have done with the other fish stocks. Cod, haddock, whiting, ling, flounder, bluefish, tuna, menhadden, sea b
ass, blackfish, eels and most others have been horribly mismanaged. the bass are really the only game in town. I fear that we will lose them too in the future.