Trawlers Killing Rockfish in North Carolina-Legally?

[Kevin Smith]

Never heard of such a stupid commercial fishing loop hole. Just as bad a poaching.

http://www.tidalfish.com/forums/showthread.php/297712-All-you-can-net-off-Kitty-Hawk!/page5

Kevin
Weekend Mistress

[pier_man0909]

this is entertaining. everyone is more pissed off about the trawlers fishing legally this year than illegally the last few years.:hysterical:

[ROCKFISH_GAMEFISH]

Both are outrageous, the difference this year is pictures and videos.... the outrage can be contagious

[Kevin Smith]

Here are a couple of photos. Hopefully Carolina will close this stupid loop hole.



Kevin
Weekend Mistress

NO BAIT = NO FISH = NO FISHERMEN

[Rumbley]

Suggestions on who or where to complain??? That is outrageous!!!

[fly flinger]

Found at Dan Blanton's website: http://www.danblanton.com/viewmessage.php?id=149939

Posted by kendall o on 2011-01-21 09:54:04 in reply to cull, not a word I like to hear posted by Stephen Heinzelmann on 2011-01-19 03:52:44

Here is the official press release...

Beverly Eaves Perdue, Governor Dee Freeman, Secretary





N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources


Release: Immediate Contact: Patricia Smith
Date: Jan. 20, 2011 Phone: (252) 726-7021 or (252) 342-0642


Overloaded Fishing Net Causes Striped Bass Spill

MOREHEAD CITY – An overloaded fishing net prompted fishermen on a commercial trawler to release thousands of striped bass they caught Saturday off of Bodie Island.

After towing through a school of striped bass, fishermen on the commercial trawler Jamie Lynn found the net was so full it was too heavy to bring onto the boat. In order to retrieve the net, the fishermen had to open it and release the fish, the boat captain said.

The boat captain estimated 3,000 to 4,000 fish were released from the net. Many recreational and commercial fishermen picked up the discarded fish. When Marine Patrol officers arrived on the scene, there were approximately 250 dead fish.

The incident occurred Saturday afternoon.

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries confirmed the specifics of the event through an eyewitness account and an interview with the boat captain.

Staff with the division is still investigating the incident but has been unable to confirm reports that commercial trawl fishermen were high-grading. High-grading occurs when a fisherman discards a previously-caught, legal-sized fish in order to keep a larger fish within the daily possession limit. While high-grading is not illegal, it is not an ethical fishing practice and the division does not condone it.

For this reason, the division plans to implement management measures designed to limit discard mortality when it reopens the striped bass trawl fishery for three days beginning Monday.

The division will replace the current 50-fish-per-day commercial trip limit, which has been in place for 15 years, with a 2,000-pound-per-day trip limit. To avoid the need to throw back dead fish, commercial fishermen will be allowed to transfer trip limits to other fishing vessels that hold a striped bass ocean fishing permit for the commercial trawl fishery. The transfers must be made in the ocean.

The new regulations will be implemented by a proclamation that will be released Friday.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will review these actions at its Feb. 11 meeting in Pine Knoll Shores.

The division opens and closes North Carolina’s commercial ocean striped bass fishery and sets trip limits under a quota system set out in the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is a compact of 15 East Coast states that manages migratory fish in state waters (within three miles from shore).

[Rumbley]

High grading is not illegal????? If the culled fish is dead or dying it SHOULD DEFINITELY be illegal. NC is condoning waste of a limited resource!!! Hopefully changing from number of fish to pounds of fish will help!!

[LTF]

I'm not sure it has. I saw an article that interviewed a captain and they wrote that they watched the crew pull 40 fish off their boat. That puts all 40 fish at 50lbs to meet a quota of 2000lbs, and would indicate that they are culling as much as ever. It is a slight improvement as they are culling to keep 40 instead of 50 fish. This explains why the interviewed captain whined that the quota should be 100 fish. He states that it not fair because because they have no way to weigh their fish to avoid getting overweight fines. They still follow the same practice of culling, but keep fewer fish. You would think that the new rule would allow them to keep whatever came into the net to meet the quote and quit early.