Nantucket fishermen implore state to protect squid, DMF director balks!
For the past couple of years, Nantucket fishermen have had a hard time finding striped bass in the rips and alongshore where they were accustomed to catching them. They think they know why: no squid. “This was where all the bass were caught. Now, no bait, no fish, no stripers to speak of,” said Pete Kaizer, a charter boat captain and commercial tuna fisherman. Kaizer and other Nantucket fishermen petitioned the state Division of Marine Fisheries to prohibit fish draggers and scallopers that tow nets or large metal dredges along the ocean bottom from state waters, up to 3 miles out from shore all around the island. The ban would run from May 1 to Oct. 31 with the idea of protecting spawning longfin squid.,, The Nantucket fishermen have an online petition, signed by over 1,200 people, asking state DMF director David Pierce to enact the Nantucket fishing prohibition. Pierce said there was little science to back up the proposal, and said he opposed it and would not forward it to his state Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission for approval. Read the story here 07:40
First of all you have to reject any argument that includes any dialog about “protecting the resource”. That never has and never will be the driving motivation behind any of these user groups that want to place restrictions on other groups. This is all about the money ! Put a high dollar value on a Striper, a Giant Tuna, a Fluke or any other species that swims the ocean and it all comes down to pure greed and how one group, ( in Wolf’s clothing), can screw another group so they can make more money. These part time charter operations and part time commercial rod / reelers are the largest single threat to the true commercial fishing operations, especially when they team up with the “greenies”.