Stripers Forever –
The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries has set the following new regulations for the 2005 commercial striped bass season.
“Commercial striped bass fishery rules (322 CMR 6.07)regarding daily catch limits, season start date, and dealer requirements for imported fish, were amended. The four-day fishing week, (formerly Sunday through Wednesday) was shifted to Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The daily catch limit on Sunday was reduced to five fish but remains at 30 fish during Tuesday through Thursday. No-fishing days will be Monday, Fridays, & Saturdays. The commercial fishery
will open on Tuesday, July 12th. Dealers will be
allowed to import documented (tagged) non-conforming (legally caught in the state of origin but < 34_)whole striped bass prior to the July 12 season opening and again beginning five days after the close of the season. During the commercial season (and five days following the closure) all bass in the possession of dealers must meet the Commonwealth_s 34_ minimum size.
Stripers Forever feels that these regulations are neither in the best interest of the resource, the consumers, or the fishery in general”.
Stripers Forever Comments
a. The five fish bag limit on Sunday is blatantly designed to give recreational anglers who sell their catch one weekend day to sell enough stripers to pay for gas and fishing expenses. This is not a legitimate commercial fishery.
b. By shutting off the fishery on Thursday it is guaranteed that weekend consumers and restaurant customers will be eating fish – unless taken illegally – that are at least two days old. This proves the regulation is written to benefit commercial fishermen rather than consumers.
c. The cutback in fishing days per week is sure to extend the season as the division wants, but it will also prolong the period when people will have legal cover to transport commercial quantities of bass either for personal use or to sell under the table as is commonly reported. Combined with the reduction from 40 to 30 fish per day – never mind to 5 on Sunday - it will also encourage high-grading – the act of throwing away already killed smaller but legal fish in order to keep larger ones.
d. The discrimination against recreational anglers is clearly framed in the move to allow wild, school-sized striped bass to be legally sold in MA. The exact same 22-inch fish that must be released by an angler in MA can be gillnetted in Chesapeake Bay and then purchased by anyone after it is shipped back to MA a few days later.
Stripers Forever has constantly stated that the recreational community is forced to live with high minimum size regulations – that also puts undue pressure on the breeding stock - in order to reserve fish for a commercial quota, and this is just another illustration of that point and the injustice that it represents.
Stripers Forever wrote the governor and copied the Division of Marine resources with a letter posted to our website on 4/7/05. The post to our website also listed addresses to send your letters and/or e-mails. Everything that you need to let your feelings be known to the policy makers is included in that post. We urge our members to let those contacts in MA know how unhappy we are with the continued existence of commercial striped bass fishing in Massachusetts and policies like these that benefit a few at the expense of many.
Brad Burns “Make IT A Gamefish”
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