I know I may catch some heat, but sometimes that's OK if it gets a good bit of dialogue going and some deep thinking started.
First off, I always find it interesting how the word ``commercial'' has taken on a four letter connotation. The problem I have with this is that it promotes a pack mentality, lumping all commercial fishermen together. The reality is that commercial fishin
g in and of itself is not bad; rather, it is the methods used nowadays which include nets, advanced electronics, and other equipment which makes trawling, dragging, seining, and other methods hardly fishing at all.
I urge you to consider the small time, hook and line commercial angler who jigs cod and fishes for stripers to supplement an income which may also include shellfishing and other close-to-shore activities. Here in Massachusetts, commercial bass fishermen u
se the same techniques available to recreational anglers, putting them on an even footing. I suspect that if fishing had been limited to hook-and-line and other single fish systems such as harpooning, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in right now.
What I would like to see in Massachusetts is a daily bag limit for commercials; hey, figure out what a decent day's pay should be and then set the limit on that. I don't buy the argument that you can have several lean days so when you find the fish you ha
ve to make a killing. To me, that is the nature of fishing and if you choose to participate, so be it; take your lumps like you should. If a shellfisherman finds a productive bed, he's still limited to his catch for the day and can choose to go back if he
wants. And I'm not talking about fly-by-nighters who just want to sell a few fish for gas money; I have to believe there is a way of determining how many licenses should be issued and how much they should be worth (which is a lot more than they are now!)
just as in the lobster fishery.
As for other states, I will never understand why everyone isn't held to at least the same technique, i.e. hook and line, with a bag limit perhaps adjusted to the predominant size limit.
To me, what has happened to commercial fishing as controlled by corporations and large factory type ships is that greed has become the key word; it's about making a killing, not a living. We have become as good if not better at decimating the resource tha
n the Russians ever were.
I also have a problem with the incredibly low prices paid to the person who catches bass while the market makes a killing. I certainly agree with opening up other markets to bass so at least they are valued for what they are worth.
But in the end, I'll always stand up for the striped bass angler who is controlled under stricter management plans than we have right now to help with his making a living. I agree that no one makes a living catching and selling stripers alone,
but it is a legitimate way of life which we should be careful about branding as bad just because we choose not to participate.
Stripers are a public resource and if someone chooses to sell those he or she catches, so be it, but their methods should be consistent with recreational techniques and limited to a carefully defined sense of what is making a living and what the populatio
n can handle in a very conservative sense. We need some controls and some common sense, not blanket statements and histrionics.
but but for some it is part of a way of life that they love.