Quote:
Originally Posted by B-Faithful
Marylands commercial harvest is out of line in the sense that it makes up nearly 1/3 of the entire commercial take in lbs. That doesnt include the potomac river numbers either!
Even good "off the boat prices" are still selling our gold resource at copper prices. A reduction in commercial allocation may even benefit some watermen through increasing the prices for their harvest.
I am aware of what NJ did. They gave striped bass gamefish status and their recreational fishermen the commercial allocation through trophy tags to keep from losing it. I believe the MSSA is asking for commercial allocation to be given to rec side to cover seasons like 2009. I dont believe unused allocation would be redistributed to other states given the recent exceeding of the rec targets here in MD. Should the fish population look great in a few years and Maryland is hitting the targets, then Maryland may need to look at where unused allocation can be used to expand our fisheries as to not lose fish to redistribution. Until then, this reallocation is necessary to protect our recreational fishing and act as conservation initiative given the growing concerns at the ASMFC and within our own DNR.
It certainly be interesting to see how DNR responds to this paragraph of the letter given their concerns over preseason C&R (not to confuse the subjects):
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The last time MSSA got greedy with the Striped Bass and tried to cut the throat of the commercial user group , it created a rift within MSSA. I don't expect anything different this time.
Don't expect the DNR to take MSSA's side on this matter, they still have people working for them, who remember the last time.