[bennyslanding]

The weakfish are in the most depleted condition in history with the real possibility of extinction! 0ver 98% of the letters received were pleading for a moratorium for weakfish. The data clearly indicated a moratorium would offer the best chance for recovery. Yet, the weakfish board made one more bad decision,in allowing 100 pound by catch per trip" for ever commercial net on the east coast and to allow recreational fishermen to kill the last of the breeders. Oviouslely, this decision was made in complete disregard to the majority and the science. It is time for some new council members, starting with chairman Mr. Tom Fote.
Tom, no fish no industry:nuts:





Tom Fote quote-----

How do you keep an industry going?
You know, we also talk about we’re supposed to
build a sustainable fishery for a sustainable industry.
If you start closing down both those industries, it
takes a long time for that industry to recover. end-------:nuts::nuts:​

MR. RICHEN BRAME -----quote

​

​

I think this stock is in such a state that you need to
tell the public that it’s in real trouble. It’s near
collapse.
Even with a moratorium, it won’t recover in 20 years.
Your goal should be to maintain as much SSB as
possible in order to allow a quicker recovery
whenever the conditions allow it to recover. The
good news is this is not a red snapper or a goliath
grouper. It doesn’t have a 40-year recovery time. It
can recover in two or three or four years, so we’re not
looking at a long moratorium. I think that this is a
time when this commission needs to stand up and say
this fishery is real trouble and we need to stop fishing
for them. It’s pretty much that simple. Thank you.​

Quote------- MR. MARK GIBSON ------------------quote:
I think you’ll get some tangible

benefits from it. Even if that’s all I got, it’s better to
have twice as much than zero and put the stock
precariously close to extinction as far as I can see
from this. I think the peer review panel said much
the same thing, that F is still a limiting – is
exacerbating the problem and it’s unsustainable.
That’s what you have to manage. A lot of managers
don’t like to accept the fact that what you have to
manage is F and that sometimes sustainable Fs
declines with externalities that happen to fish stocks.​

It’s a lot like the serenity prayer if you’re familiar
with it. You know, you have the wisdom to know the
difference between the things you can change and
those that you can’t and have the courage to change
the ones you do. I think that’s what we’re faced with
here.​

 

[Simp]

Terrible news to say the least. We've go to get those nets out of the water. :thumbsdown:

 

[fdformicola]

I was hoping for total closure for everyone, did not understand their ruling and definitely do not like it:thumbsdown:

 

[VooDoo Chile]

Let me present a possible scenario. Fluke are generally considered to be at higher numbers then most fishermen can remember. Black sea bass are said to be at 103% of the target numbers. Weakfish are on the verge of collapse. The fisheries administration imposes tough restrictions on fluke and sea bass. They leave a higher harvest then is recommended on weakfish. Looking in the future, fluke and sea bass are at tremendous levels, and weakfish are decimated. The fisheries administration can then say this to the public. Look at what happened to fluke and sea bass when we managed the regulations as we wanted. We let them catch weakfish and see what happened there? Could this happen? Oh yea, just about the same time as elections are going to happen.

 

[Far26]

My local ShopRite had plenty of fresh weakfish on ice...

 

[rchipbrown]

So what was the actual decision on the regulations for weakfish?

 

[Hooker]

Whats a weakfish?

 

[bennyslanding]

So what was the actual decision on the regulations for weakfish?

One weakfish bag limit for recreational, 100 pounds of weakfish per trip" for commercials.

 

[GoNavy]

1 fish bag limit is essentially closed for Recs. No one is going to target 1 fish.

Is 100lbs a lot for a Com?

Assuming it sells for 6-10 dollars a pound (RETAIL) it probably means about 300-500 bucks wholesale???

I don't know how much that's really open. I really don't... Would a Com go out to target 100lbs of fish?

Picker? Maybe he could answer...

 

[mw1020]

i agree that the should have just shut it down completly. Its just not the com that are going to hurt the stocks but also the recs that catch on tiderunner in the spring and keep it before they can spawn.