Best Striper Conservation Post of 2010!!

[SteveL]

Please Note: I have cut and pasted below a posting by Fish EYES on the VA Board. I posted my opinion of his post in that thread. In short, this post is the best striped bass conservation posting of the year, without a doubt. Rec fishermen illegally catching (and "potentially" harvesting) striped bass breeders on the VA/NC border as they stage prior to spawning in a little over 3 months is a fundamentally important striped bass conservation issue.

The link to the original post is:

http://www.tidalfish.com/forums/showthread.php/296573-Striped-Bass-Fishing-Beyond-the-3-Mile-Limit


Striped Bass Fishing Beyond the 3 Mile Limit

Before the bad weather front moved in yesterday many boats found themselves fishing outside the three mile line for striped bass. Boats were identified as charter boats and recreational fishing boats from the states of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware according to the boat registration numbers that were recorded. Some boats appeared to be catch and releasing and some appear to have kept fish and returned to ports along the Atlantic coast. The name of the boat owner on the boat registration will ultimately be held accountable. Crew who are engaging in fishing can also be held accountable with photo or video evidence if identifiable.

Keeping striped bass outside of 3 miles of any size is illegal. Keeping in the no take zone and returning to port is a federal offense.

Catch and release striped bass fishing is illegal outside the three mile limit. You may not harass striped bass beyond three miles. Claiming you are blue or another species fishing is not a valid argument. If you have been recorded removing striped bass from the water and taking photographs of striped bass and then returning to fish that area and catching more striped bass you are guilty.

Words can be denied or questioned, photos and video with verifiable gps coordinates of where the photos or video was recorded can be confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt.

If you fish for striped bass beyond the three mile limit you have engaged in an illegal activity. With evidence you can be federally prosecuted and any tackle, truck, trailer or other gear witnessed and recorded being used in the act of engaging in that illegal activity can be confiscated at the time or future time when charges are filed. If you engage in the illegal activity and use a motor vehicle and trailer to remove your watercraft that you used to engage in that illegal activity, those items now become part of the crime. The registered owner according to the license plate will be held accountable. If you use a friends motor vehicle and trailer you are putting them at risk of losing their asset.

If you engage in fishing for striped bass and keep them to weigh in at a tournament you are participating, the tournament owner can also prosecute you.

If you do not engage in this activity you have nothing to concern yourself. If you have engaged in this activity over the last year or are considering this an option for the future you have and will most likely be observed and recorded. The evidence will be turned over to the proper authorities and if allowed by law released to media outlets.

At a time when the striped bass populations are in question we as a society can no longer afford to have illegal fishing activities. The three mile limit for striped bass fishing was created for a reason, to protect them. We need to protect them so they exist in the future.

[27 sailfish]

Be great if the laws were really enforced but most poachers get a slap on the wrist.

Perhaps being in federal waters will make a differance.

[SteveL]

Dear Mr Fish EYES,

Thank you for your efforts to help protect the Chesapeake Bay striped bass spawning stock from outlaw poachers, regardless of whether they are recs or comms. Poachers are stealing a public trust resource from all the citizens of the US. Rec poaching in the US EEZ has the potential to adversely impact the striper spawning stock and it needs to stop, just like the "semi-legal" commercial slaughter off NC and the rampant gillnet poaching in MD.

Congratulations on a job well done!

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bs-sp-charter-boat-poaching0311-20110310,0,1602676.story

baltimoresun.com
Federal officers search charter boats suspected of rockfish poaching
Waters off Virginia Beach offer prime winter fishing for tourists, but many areas are off limits
By Candus Thomson, The Baltimore Sun

6:44 PM EST, March 10, 2011

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A three-year federal undercover investigation into charter boats illegally fishing for striped bass in a closed area off the Atlantic coast led to the seizure Thursday of electronics and records from a number of vessels in Virginia.

Special agents from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration served search warrants on at least four boats that primarily operate out of the Northern Neck and Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach. The vessels' port of origin is not known, but as many as 35 Maryland charter boats spend a month or two during the winter in Virginia.

Seizures included GPS units, cell phones, fuel logs, radios, ship logs, manifests and client lists, a source who has been briefed on the investigation said.

Officers posing as clients have been able to take photos and videos of illegal fishing; those materials helped build the case.

The sting is being supervised by the Department of Justice Environmental Crimes Section, which last year successfully prosecuted the massive Potomac River striped bass poaching operation. A Justice Department spokesman said he could not comment on the ongoing investigation. NOAA officials did not return phone calls seeking comment.

"I hope this is a wake-up call for everybody," said Brian Keehn, president of the Maryland Charter Boat Association. "We need to start paying attention to the striped bass before we have another moratorium and no one fishes. Illegal fishing hurts everybody."

Winter fishing is a lucrative business in the waters off Virginia Beach and North Carolina, where big striped bass migrate to await spawning season in the Chesapeake Bay. When the fish are close to shore, catching is easy and legal. But when they swim in search of warmer water they move into the Exclusive Economic Zone, a wide swath of water three miles to 200 miles off the coast that is off limits to striped bass fishing.

Many boats follow, lured by the promise of fish weighing 50 to 70 pounds.

"Recreational, commercial, charter boats, it's everyone. No one is less guilty than anyone else," said one Maryland charter boat captain, who requested anonymity because of fear for his safety.

Police say poachers use spotters and satellite phones to watch for law enforcement boats and Coast Guard helicopters and planes. When patrol boats approach, poachers dump fish overboard in weighted containers to destroy the evidence.

If they elude capture, paying clients take some fish but some fish are filleted and illegally sold to restaurants in Maryland and Virginia, police said.

Last fall, members of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission complained about illegal fishing in the EEZ, calling the poaching "problematic." In letters to NOAA and the Coast Guard they asked for an increase in penalties and enforcement.

Striped bass on the wintering grounds off the Virginia coast are "especially vulnerable to harvest," ASMFC Executive Director Vince O'Shea wrote. "Depending on their magnitude, unreported landings have the potential to jeopardize the status of the stock."

candy.thomson@baltsun.com