Commercial fishermen seek to halt recreational angling?

You think the differences between commercial fishing groups and recreational anglers has been heated in the past? Well … consider this just in from the “you aren’t going to believe this” file. In the comment section: I’d care to bet the use of long line commercial and net techniques vastly outweigh the stray rec hook & line incident. These clowns are simply trying to divert attention away from an obvious fact: commercial netting is the #1 way to overfish any fish population. I can’t believe it! Read more here 08:49

One Response to Commercial fishermen seek to halt recreational angling?

  1. JW Gooding says:

    First off, I resent being called a “Clown”, but I am intelligent enough to consider the source.

    As I do support this effort for the Sports industry to “Clean up it’s own Act” as Commercial Fishermen have done in the past, and are doing now over the turtle indangering and harm; it behooves me to say a few words in defence.

    At this point in my life perhaps “Offence” would be a better word for my thoughts on the subject.

    Commercial fishermen don’t want to stop recreational fishing. Just about every commercial fisherman I know also rec fishes with their family and friends.

    If recreational fishing stops at all, it’ll be because of the endangered species act.

    Commercial fishermen didn’t write that, but we’ve had to deal with it. You can’t enforce laws on some and not on others for doing the exact same thing. That’s prejudice,by all means!

    I am a turtle lover and do know for a fact thru personal observations, that turtle populations from Texas to the Carolinas are on the increase and thus interactions with them also go with the territory because of this.

    A marked increase of anglers does add to the equasion creating such as this in our neighboring state of Virginia. These events are becoming more and more numerious with each passing year.

    http://wavy.com/2014/07/07/sea-turtle-hooked-again-days-after-release/

    How would a Sportsman record interactions with lost and abandoned tackle? Bit difficult right?

    So I guess that means everytime they broke off on something they didnt see, they reported it as an interaction? Yeah right, that is not going to happen either.

    Here is how some might see it for them.

    Pay an enviromental impact fee on your sport mono..like a deposit. It will be registered and when ya want more ya gotta turn in the old. And pay heavily for whats gone.

    And no more line under 50# test, to improve the chances of dehookin them n reduce tangling.

    They should also be required to take fish Capture and release classes the same as commercial fishermen..have their boats inspected..the whole nine yards.

    Deposit is required on bottles and cans to help keep them out of the enviroment, sinkers and mono, lures etc..should be the same.

    The majority of turtle injuries, according to the Beasley Foundation website are caused by hooks, and boat strikes.

    Some have fishing lines (monofilament) that aren’t nets but lines that are on the hooks. Others struck by high speed boat propellars.

    Many hooks are found imbedded inside the Sea Turtles that are turned in to them as a humanitarian effort when spotted and left to die a horrable death by an inconsiderate angler that either just cuts the line, or the line is to light to stand the strain of the “Fight”.

    Sportsfisherman used their money to support this foundation so they could attack commercial fishing nets!

    However, the Beasley foundation is now questioning why?

    Sportsfishermen aren’t being held accountable, Period

    The turtle lovers love the turtles, they will go after the Sportsfishermen too, to protect their turtles!

    Commercial fishermen (Shrimpers) invented TED’s Turtle Excluder Devices that according to and approved by NOAA are 97% effective in avoiding incidental captures of the species. By catch level problems are also addressed with a Fish Excluder devise.

    And local Shrimper testmony’s attest to the fact that what do get by these devises wind up being live releases once on board.

    NOW what, are the many, many anglers doing to avoid the above?

    Gill Nets for centuries have been used for selecitive harvesting and are good at it for the resources. What Commercial fisherman in his right mind want to catch undersized fish that he can’t sell and will be legal later?

    And this goes with the photo of LIVE turtles waiting to be marketed where present day subsistance taking and trading of them among themselves by Miskito Indians is permited.

    Yes they are “Protected” which means there is a season on them, and a size limit on them in countries that harvest the species (Green Sea Turtle).

    This photo was taken (not by me, I got it off the net) but I have seen this personaly many times, and in the exact same landing spot. I have also even been on several Green Sea Turtle fishing trips (Legaly I might add).

    This photo is a typical 10 day fishing trip by a group of 4 fishermen with gill nets for the taking of this species in the waters of the Miskito Keys in Nicaragua.

    The nets are set and left for an over night soak and pulled every morning to insure that the turtles snared are alive. This is their target, Live Green Sea Turtles.

    According to a family member of mine that partcipates in the practice, there are no mortalities in the method of capture, none.

    They have to be alive for them to be of any value in the transport, killing, butchering, and marketing of the species. In the shallows of the Miskito Keys, less than 60 feet in depth all taken are live captures.

    Generations of local wittnesses I have asked, attest to the practice of the gill netting of the species produces all live captures.

    So as God is my wittness in the industry of Gill Netting in my home state of the Great State of North Carolina’s local shallow waters.. (60 feet or less).

    It Holds No Merit in being of mortal danger for the Sea Turtles of incidental entanglment in those fishermen’s gear.

    I know of NO Commercial Fishermen that work Gill Nets that would leave them unattended for a length of time for this to occur.

    So the hype is wildly exzagereated in my personal experiance and opinion.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.