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The lady forgets to mention by-catch, dead, culled stripers drifting in the current, rat reds, floating in the Neuse, culled from nets, or trout taken by the bushel and flooding the fish house.
Bill, one more time, the issue is not catching the allotted fish and taking them to market, the issue remains, and cannot be overlooked, the wanton killing and waste of resources, everyone's resources, to do so.
By the way, the author of this rubbish ought to learn about plagiarism. Cause I think I have seen some, if not most of those words before.
So far, I have motivated 47 people (confirmed) to send in letters to bestow gamefish status on these three game fish. I am sure I will top 100. And these guys are from across the state.
I also have urged that the bill include 30 months of free tuition at the Community College of ones choice for those able to prove financial hardship. The stipend and tuition are a lot better than those in the textile industry received when all those jobs moved to China.
Finally, I am sure the gentlemen from Wilmington would take offense at being called inland.
I can tell you that many recreational fisherman who live on the Outer Banks do not support the bill,myself included.
There's nothing fair about having a resource controlled by a group of self righteous individuals,who have little respect for those who make their living along the coast.It's all about bent rods and big ego's.
You've succeeded in destroying a relationship with a group of people who you need as your ally.It's going to come back and bite you in a big way and take innocent people along with it.These environmentalists are on a mission to end fishing of all types and when they succeed,you have no one to blame but yourselves.
A very small group of angry ardent anglers here in North Carolina are attempting to give speckled trout, red drum and striped bass Gamefish Status. This would ban the commercial take and sale of these fish. It would also ban the consumer from being able to buy certain fish at restaurants and seafood markets.
Although this small handful of anglers claim gamefish status is a conservation measure the fact is this. The recreational sector catches far more of these fish than the commercial fishing families of NC do. In some cases as much as 3 to 1.
These ardent anglers are attempting to legislate away a public resource and make it exclusive to the priviledged few.
They know the landing numbers speak the truth of the matter and are counter productive to their cause so the next tactic is to speak in terms of economic value. Their tactic is to take the dockside value (wholesale price) of the commercially caught fish and compare it to all of the recreational anglers travel, tourism and fishing expenses.
They'll include the price of their boat, truck, fishing equipment, hotel/motel, etc.
Let's compare apples to apples. If you're going to use the dockside value of a commercially caught fish then you need to use the dockside value of a recreationally caught fish-Which happens to be zero.
And if you are going to factor in all of the travel, tourism and fishing expenses of the recreational sector then you need to do the same for the commercial fishing families too. You must factor in the boat(s), the homes, the gas, cars and trucks. You also must factor in the tourism aspect of commercial fishing. people come to the coast of NC expecting to eat fresh, locally caught seafood. The annual North Carolina Seafood Festival is a testiment to this fact. 100's of thousands of people come to that one event in celebration of North Carolina seafood.
This small band of angry ardent anglers want to ban locally caught seafood.
A very small group of angry ardent anglers here in North Carolina are attempting to give speckled trout, red drum and striped bass Gamefish Status. This would ban the commercial take and sale of these fish. It would also ban the consumer from being able to buy certain fish at restaurants and seafood markets.
Although this small handful of anglers claim gamefish status is a conservation measure the fact is this. The recreational sector catches far more of these fish than the commercial fishing families of NC do. In some cases as much as 3 to 1.
These ardent anglers are attempting to legislate away a public resource and make it exclusive to the priviledged few.
They know the landing numbers speak the truth of the matter and are counter productive to their cause so the next tactic is to speak in terms of economic value. Their tactic is to take the dockside value (wholesale price) of the commercially caught fish and compare it to all of the recreational anglers travel, tourism and fishing expenses.
They'll include the price of their boat, truck, fishing equipment, hotel/motel, etc.
Let's compare apples to apples. If you're going to use the dockside value of a commercially caught fish then you need to use the dockside value of a recreationally caught fish-Which happens to be zero.
And if you are going to factor in all of the travel, tourism and fishing expenses of the recreational sector then you need to do the same for the commercial fishing families too. You must factor in the boat(s), the homes, the gas, cars and trucks. You also must factor in the tourism aspect of commercial fishing. people come to the coast of NC expecting to eat fresh, locally caught seafood. The annual North Carolina Seafood Festival is a testiment to this fact. 100's of thousands of people come to that one event in celebration of North Carolina seafood.
This small band of angry ardent anglers want to ban locally caught seafood.
Bill, Raw, hyperbole filled emotion is not becoming. At least we agree on "the landing numbers." which of course do not include culled by-catch, undersize fish that die in the net, or the fish that are just tossed back since they are not as big as the commerical guy wants.
Just last week, I witnessed two guys pulling a net, within 50 yards of Front Street by the Shriner's park. Though they did their best to shield their efforts from public view, the amount of DEAD by-catch and undersized fish, they took enormous efforts to loosen from the net and never put in the boat was ASTOUNDING. For 10 minutes I watched from my car, they put two fish in the boat and threw back 20 - 30 dead, wasted, not accounted for by landing numbers fish. I have seen this many times while on the water and I am 100% certain you have, too. How can this waste be defended.
Waste of a shared resource is the issue, Bill.
You say rec anglers catch fish at a 3:1 ratio...Now how about posting the number of rec anglers vs the number of commercial netters...it is probably close to 3,000 to 1....but that would be, as Al Gore sez, "An Inconvenient Truth."
Also you have so far failed to mention the financial mitigation that is in the bill.
Can you identify how many tourist come to NC to eat wild caught Red Drum. I mean, you used the argument, I am really curious. Heck, Bill, I live here and have never seen that on the menu. Though I will eat a flounder in a minute. I did see some farm raised stripers at the HT last week. They looked good, but I was after Salmon.
Oh yeah, how about providing for these good people the % of the three species caught in NC that remain in NC for consumption...Again, if you are talking about feeding the folks in NC, that should be easy to come up with.
Or, you can ignore facts and continue to spew emotional poppycock. (Don't intend to sound mean, but I thought that sentence sounded pretty good)
Finally, go ahead and post one more emotional zinger. I am done. i don't think we will ever agree.
Ultimately we will get to see what the people of NC wish to do with the three species, either eat them or bestow gamefish status on these wonderful fish.
I know which way I hope the decision goes.
By the way, we agree on much except this topic, and I appreciate your response to my hay farming question. Tight lines!
Bill, Raw, hyperbole filled emotion is not becoming.....ignore facts and continue to spew emotional poppycock.
And that's why I posted the actual numbers. Recs land more than commercials but a small group of angry anglers want to ban the commercial take of these fish. A handful of ardent anglers want to keep it all to themselves. Gamefish status will eliminate the chance for most of the general public access to these fish. Never aagain will speckled trout, red drum or striped bass be on a menu or in a seafood market. Now why would you want that?
.....how about posting the number of rec anglers vs the number of commercial netters...it is probably close to 3,000 to 1.
Even if the amount of by-kill of recreationals is less than commercials on a per person basis by your own admission the numbers (3000 to 1) of recreational fishermen creating their own by kill is exponentially greater than commercial.
By the way-by-catch just means a non-targeted species. A commercial fisherman may have by-catch that is marketable. And the myth that some purport that all commercial by-catch dies is wrong.
By the way-How familiar are you with recreational by catch and by kill? Is a 25% mortality rate in the recreational fishery acceptable? How about 50% or more? Look into fish like grouper and sea bass and what their mortality rate is in the recreational fishery. Look at the mortality rate of big fish like marlin in the recreational fishery. You might be surprised.
Be careful leading first with your emotions. Facts tend to prove emotions wrong.
Commercial fishermen here in NC strive towards a clean fishery. It only makes smart business sense. Unwanted fish cost commercial fishermen money.
I can tell you that many recreational fisherman who live on the Outer Banks do not support the bill,myself included.
There's nothing fair about having a resource controlled by a group of self righteous individuals,who have little respect for those who make their living along the coast.It's all about bent rods and big ego's.
You've succeeded in destroying a relationship with a group of people who you need as your ally.It's going to come back and bite you in a big way and take innocent people along with it.These environmentalists are on a mission to end fishing of all types and when they succeed,you have no one to blame but yourselves.
That's an interesting comment.
One could argue that fishermen are the ones who want to control the resources for themselves; after all, fishermen do not own the fish in the ocean.
Do these fish need gamefish status? I don't know. I do know that the state of North Carolina has a responsibility to manage things like this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Hitchcock
This small band of angry ardent anglers want to ban locally caught seafood.
I think net fishing inside the waterways is a bad idea, commercial or recreational but it's pretty stupid for the government to tell recreational anglers that they are free to catch a certain species of fish but it's off limits to commercial anglers. I don't have a problem with the net vs line debate as much as I do with the government telling me or anybody else what we can or can't sell. But I quit salt water fishing when the government decided they needed to tax it by issuing licenses to recreational fisherman.
After the resolution was passed, Commissioner Allen Burrus was blunter. He said the legislation was being pushed by what he described as elitists seeking exclusive access to a resource.
“Only those that can afford boats that are $40,000 or more are going to have the opportunity it to catch it,” he said.
That's funny. I don't know much about drum, but I have caught striped bass in a $100 jon boat.
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