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STAY TUNED!!! this is an important week

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bobber

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ASMFC meets this week-  Wednesday is the striped bass committee meeting.  they should be discussing the latest stock assessment and consider future regulations.  

 

WHAT HAPPENS AT THIS MEETING MAY MAKE ALL THE TRAFFIC/CONVERSATIONS ON THIS SITE IRRELEVANT.   even if you don't "pay attention" to this kinda stuff-  you should be aware of what happens at this week.   not to mention all the other species and regulations that are up for grabs-

its all about da fishes...

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3 mins ago, Lou T said:

I'll be very shocked if its nothing more than business as usual. Same regulation's as last year...:eek:

I consider myself to be relatively uneducated in the ways that we might influence these people making those descisions, thanks for bringing this up. But is there some aggregious movement to loosen regulations and if so, is there an effective action that we can take? And I’d have to agree with Lou T, I’d be surprised if they changed anything regarding stripers. Then again, like I said I’m relatively uneducated. What’s the deal?

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1 hour ago, Lou T said:

I'll be very shocked if its nothing more than business as usual. Same regulation's as last year...:eek:

Nothing will change for the upcoming year, but, and a big one - the stock will be declared overfished and and overfishing is occurring. Where we go from there will be important. We can do the right thing and take action or simply change the reference points so that overfishing is no longer occurring.

 

I'm betting that there will be a strong attempt at the latter.

ASMFC - Destroying public resources and fisheries one stock at a time since 1942.

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Personally, I think learning to use and emphasizing effective catch and release tactics is key when it comes to our impact. The majority of damage done by surf fisherman probably has more to do with the mishandling of fish than it does with the harvesting of keepers. We shouldn’t view the little guys as “rats”. I try to enforce and encourage good practices amongst other fisherman (when appropriate). Other than that, if there’s a way to get involved with local or state politics to help bolster the enforcement of laws against poaching and get more young people interested in becoming stewards of our local marine ecosystems, I’m all ears.

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9 hours ago, Shane_O said:

Personally, I think learning to use and emphasizing effective catch and release tactics is key when it comes to our impact. The majority of damage done by surf fisherman probably has more to do with the mishandling of fish than it does with the harvesting of keepers. We shouldn’t view the little guys as “rats”. I try to enforce and encourage good practices amongst other fisherman (when appropriate). Other than that, if there’s a way to get involved with local or state politics to help bolster the enforcement of laws against poaching and get more young people interested in becoming stewards of our local marine ecosystems, I’m all ears.

that was deep, numbnuts. 

 

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There are a few things going on.

 

First, as noted above, the new banchmark stock assessment will find that the bass is overfished, with o female spawning stock biomass about 25% below the threshold that defines an overfished stock  It will also find that the stock is subject to overfishing, with F2017=0.307, well above Fthreshold=0.240.  The final benchmark assessment will almost certainly not be available at the Wednesday Feb 6 meeting, due to the government shutdown, but those numbers are included in a preliminary summary of what the report says.

 

Amendment 6 to the management plan, which currently governs the fishery, requires that ASMFC devise a rebuilding plan to recover the stock within 10 years if the bass becomes overfished, and further requires that ASMFC reduce landings back to Ftarget if overfishing occurs, so both those actions should be triggered and be discussed at the meeting.

 

But the key word is "should."

 

If ASMFC ignores the terms of its own management plan, they are perfectly free to do so.  Unlike the National Marine Fisheries Service, its is not subject to judicial review of its actions under the federal Administrative Procedures Act.

 

Furthermore, as part of the assessment process, ASMFC's Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board was investigating changing the reference points, in order to increase fishing mortality and allow for a smaller biomass threshold.  As always, they would like to do that for "socioeconomic" reasons.  So there is always possible that they will decide to "fix" the current problems not by rebuilding the stock, but by redefining the reference points so that current levels are either OK, or at least much closer to acceptable levels  To put it in terms of the late and largely unlamented Super Bowl LIIII, instead of scoring a goal by moving the ball all the way into the end zone that represents a rebuilt stock, they may move the goal posts forward until they cross the current line of scrimmage, and then declare the existing stock level a successful score.

 

Whatever they do, we won't see the impacts this season.  Any actions won't be reflected in new rules until AT LEAST 2020.  

 

So it's time to dig in for a long fight.

"I have always believed that outdoor writers who come out against fish and wildlife conservation are in the wrong business. To me, it makes as much sense golf writers coming out against grass.."  --  Ted Williams

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I'm expecting bass to stay the same but to see cuts in the bluefish quotas

I just wanta play everyday despite small nagging injuries --

and go home to a woman who appreciates how full of crap I truly am. ~ Crash Davis

 

Social Distancing since 1962

 

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18 hours ago, Drew C. said:

Nothing will change for the upcoming year, but, and a big one - the stock will be declared overfished and and overfishing is occurring. Where we go from there will be important. We can do the right thing and take action or simply change the reference points so that overfishing is no longer occurring.

 

I'm betting that there will be a strong attempt at the latter.

Realizing there is a problem is important, in order to act on resolving one.

 

To mask the data, so it is not caving into the commercial harvest, is ludicrous. Kill them all.

Image result for a sign of insanity

Edited by Lou T
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22 hours ago, Sudsy said:

I'm expecting bass to stay the same but to see cuts in the bluefish quotas

An update to the bluefish stock assessment will be released in August.  At that point we'll see what happens.  But again, nothing will happen until 2020.

"I have always believed that outdoor writers who come out against fish and wildlife conservation are in the wrong business. To me, it makes as much sense golf writers coming out against grass.."  --  Ted Williams

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