Commercial trawlers slaughtering thousands of striped bass off the Outer Banks

Commercial trawlers slaughtering thousands of striped bass off the Outer Banks
"Stripers Forever members - on Jan. 15th the North Carolina, ocean commercial striped bass season opened. In this trawl fishery, individual boats can keep the 50 largest fish that they catch in a day. This practice allows and encourages the culling or high grading of the catch. This means that the boat will keep the 50 largest fish in possession but may continue trawling all day and may replace these fish with larger ones caught later. Replacing means they will throw the dead or dying fish over the side, substituting them with the freshly caught larger bass. It is nearly beyond belief that such a system could be in place, but it is."
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My letter to to Louis Daniels Ph.D. the Director of Marine Fisheries in NC.
Louis Daniels PhD
NC DMF
3441 Arendell Street
PO BOX 769
Morehead City, NC 28557-0769
louis.daniel@ncmail.net

Dear Dr. Daniels,
Below is a forum post I shared with fellow members of CT Fish Finder with regard to the commercial trawling for stripers and culling or high grading that takes place, resulting in the loss of thousands of healthy stripers prior to their prime reproductive years. The commercial policy is not only ill-conceived from a long term growth and recovery effort, but is directly harmful to recreational and charter fishermen, an industry that generates 8X the revenue and jobs of commercial fishing. Companies such as Parker Boats and Jones Brothers, guides and tackle related businesses are harmed by this policy, as evidenced by the fact that individuals like myself chose to spend our money elsewhere this year due to poor winter fishing on the Outer Banks. I opted instead for trips to fish steelhead in upstate NY. I grew up fishing the waters of the Outer Banks in the 70s-80s, and watched as stocks declined and recreational fisherman sought other locations with more abundant stocks. It's seems that based on my completely unscientific, anecdotal evidence and more success in recent years that many species have increased due to better management. Stripers are one of those species that have on the whole rebounded. However, waste like this could put them back in jeopardy. It would make much more sense to shift a significant portion of the quota to recreational/charter fisherman, who either take their limit or release the vast majority of their fish unharmed, and who do not create large wasted bye-catch. Allowing charter captains to sell fish commercially makes far more sense that trawling. It is a far more efficient utilization of resources, and while it may cause a job shift, makes more economic sense. I hope you will consider changes to NC regulations that allow for such waste of a valuable resource.

Sincerely,
Brian Kirby

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:11 pm on CTFishFinder.com
Post subject: Striper Kill Reply with quote
Was in VA and spoke with some guys I know that fish the lower Chesapeake and Outer Banks for the winter striper run, and this just contributed to what was a slow season. It absolutely kills recreational and charter fishermen who make up a larger part of the economy and contribute much more to protecting and expanding fish stocks. I passed on a late December trip while back down in the area because the cost just outweighed the poor fishing they were having. This method of fishing that they allow can be devastating when combined with what appears to be a declining Chesapeake stock. While I'll be back fishing the Outer Banks in June, I will also be fishing with a few Captains who are really focused on protecting the fisheries which are trying to come back after decades of overfishing and declining stocks. This was my "back yard" growing up, and I want to be able to share the same experiences with my kids, so any lobbying in support of SFs efforts is appreciated!

Thanks,
RNA

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:23 am Post subject: Hope so! Reply with quote
I hope that is the case. One of the guys I know down there was complaining about the trawlers driving them off the fish in December. Still makes more sense to me to shift quota percentages of game fish to charters, letting them keep fish beyond the limits established for paying customers and selling the excess commercially. It would offset operating cost and could lower charter fees, encouraging more fishing and tourism. A fifty fish limit would mean just about that as well. There would be very little wasted catch, as shorts would be returned to the water with a high probability of survival. There would be no real byecatch. I had a 2 hr day last spring where I hooked over 2 dozen keepers, and thanks to circle hooks, released all healthy. Not a single gut hook. It sucks for the small commercial operators, but they have almost all been pushed out by larger corporate operations anyway, and NC relies heavily on the sportfishing industry, between charters, tourists, boat builders, tackle shops, etc. I know commercial fishermen don't want to hear any of this, as livelihoods are at stake, but it just seems to make sense to me.