You guys keep in mind that the new council members only have 1 vote each. They don’t control the entire process.
Also, don’t forget that for 10 different fishermen, you have 10 different ways that the fishery should be run. Not having a unified voice from the fishing community hurts tremendously.
Also, don’t forget that there will be some type of laws. I don’t have any time invested in triggerfish research and I don’t know what the debate is at this point, but it’s unreasonable to think that all regulations are bad. Most of you would not be in favor of a year long deer season. You would complain that the rednecks would hunt deer all year and there would be nothing left. There has to be some point in the middle where opposing views meet. Every time we have a knee-jerk reaction to a new law and instantly oppose it without even looking at what when into the decision, it takes away from our credibility when we have a stronger point to oppose.
Understand that this post doesn’t mean I “support” a closure of triggerfish, only that we shouldn’t be attacking new council members and really any decision unless we have the facts. Honestly, I have not had time to review the debate myself, so I am neutral at this point.
PS, Again, I don’t know the details surrounding this, but maybe it wasn’t a decision made recently. Maybe the “data collection” and ACL were set some time ago (months, years, etc) and the calculated “threshold” was finally hit resulting in this “automatic” action. Point being that not every ACL closure is a big “decision” of people sitting around a table voting to either close or keep open a fishery.
It’s the same as it was with the closure on black Seabass. They tried to tell us how the species was in trouble, while all the while we knew that they were more Seabass than we’d ever seen. this is the same with triggerfish. With no head boat fleet and a circle hook requirement triggerfish catches have plummeted in recent years. And let’s not forget the cost of fuel has been prohibitive for many fishermen to run offshore. B- liners and triggers have both benefited from the absence of a head boat fleet and their numbers and size show it. When is the SAFMC going to give us more b-liners per trip than five? You are very quick to take away but oh so slow to return what is rightfully ours.
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PROUD YANKEE
Oyster Baron
NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
Come on, Skinny. Envision a room filled with cigar smoke and briefcases of hundred dollars bill laying around open everywhere. Mark Brown is tied to a chair, while the “bad guys” (you get to choose:PEW, NMFS, SCNDR, Obama, Charter Captains, Commercials,etc) take turns putting out cigarettes on his hand in order to get the final “close the triggerfish” vote.
Actually Skinnee is very close. It’s a 350K lb allotment of fish, so it doenst take that many charter reports, extrapolated phone surveys, or extrapolated creel surveys to reach that number.
It’s the same as it was with the closure on black Seabass. They tried to tell us how the species was in trouble, while all the while we knew that they were more Seabass than we’d ever seen. this is the same with triggerfish. With no head boat fleet and a circle hook requirement triggerfish catches have plummeted in recent years. And let’s not forget the cost of fuel has been prohibitive for many fishermen to run offshore. B- liners and triggers have both benefited from the absence of a head boat fleet and their numbers and size show it. When is the SAFMC going to give us more b-liners per trip than five? You are very quick to take away but oh so slow to return what is rightfully ours.
.
PROUD YANKEE
Oyster Baron
NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
No doubt, anyone that fishes can see that trigger fish are bigger and more plentiful than ever. The only points that I am trying to make are:
1) The 1 month closure is probably an artifact of some process that was dictated some time in the past (likely not a recent vote or decision)
2) No ONE council person is going to change things overnight.
3) This is a really big ship that will take time to turn around.
4) Models are not real time, so decisions that ARE made are probably based on old data (sometimes YEARS old).
5) We can't just turn our noses up at every decision without being willing to at least hear both sides of the story. sellsfish, you may know a lot more about the typical guy, but look how many people instantly want to point fingers without even knowing how the closure came about, who suggested it, etc. Again, the pro-closure members of the council are just going to say, "oh, you know those fisherman. Th
It’s the same as it was with the closure on black Seabass. They tried to tell us how the species was in trouble, while all the while we knew that they were more Seabass than we’d ever seen. this is the same with triggerfish. With no head boat fleet and a circle hook requirement triggerfish catches have plummeted in recent years. And let’s not forget the cost of fuel has been prohibitive for many fishermen to run offshore. B- liners and triggers have both benefited from the absence of a head boat fleet and their numbers and size show it. When is the SAFMC going to give us more b-liners per trip than five? You are very quick to take away but oh so slow to return what is rightfully ours.
.
PROUD YANKEE
Oyster Baron
NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
gotta love some people in a big office environment speculating on what our fishery is actually about. I want to see black sea bass back to 8" and 30 per person. If these jack legs actually fished they might think a bit different about some of the idiodic regulations they are pushing. I’d love to know how many baby trigger fish BSB eat.
Gotta love the below b.s. … I say go back to putting “crab” pots off shore to catch BSB. anyone on her ever do that??
“Black Sea Bass populations were once depleted, but because of good management have now recovered to healthy abundances. Hook and line fishing has low impacts on seafloor habitats and typically low bycatch. We are currently updating this seafood rating.”</font id=“blue”>
I still want to know where the big shots got their numbers for trigger fish caught by recreational fishermen. I call B.S. Nope I call super B.
Not turning my nose up to them,just giving them the middle finger…i am getting to old to play their stupid games,you can play nice and pretend to get along…**** them and their bull**** science…
Sounds harsh well heres the deal,i have seen and heard the lies long enough,i only have so much time to enjoy what i enjoy,everyday something is closed is one day i will never ever get back to enjoy…now if it is justified theres a whole different discussion,but when its not,you took something away i can never get back…and you took it away for no friggin reason except some stupid ass agenda…
Sorry you all are way smarter than i am,i am just a hard working poor as redneck who likes to be able to fish when the weather allows and keep some groceries…but to do that you have slowly made me a criminal…
Sounds harsh well heres the deal,i have seen and heard the lies long enough,i only have so much time to enjoy what i enjoy,everyday something is closed is one day i will never ever get back to enjoy…now if it is justified theres a whole different discussion,but when its not,you took something away i can never get back…and you took it away for no friggin reason except some stupid ass agenda…
Sorry you all are way smarter than i am,i am just a hard working poor as redneck who likes to be able to fish when the weather allows and keep some groceries…but to do that you have slowly made me a criminal…
SAFMC you suck!
I prefer the word pirate, let the rest of the world brick and burn itself in the name of justice, leave us pirates alone…
Let me bore you with a personal experience I’ve had with another bureaucracy. Forty years ago I bought a small oil business which has now been operating 100 years. Soon after, EPA decided that petroleum in the ground was a major threat to our health. They passed major requirements for storage in underground steel tanks (USTs), but passed the job of enforcement to DHEC. Very long story short, the regs cost me a fortune in time, lost business, and cash out-lay. I almost folded. But the UST section at DHEC said to me (and I presume to lots of other tank owners ), This is what we need you to do, THIS IS WHY, and we will work with you while you do it. It took years, and one of the top dogs with that section is now a close friend of mine as are several others. If anybody could hate a bureaucracy it could be me, but I don’t.
The difference between the UST Section and NOAA is this: UST told me and showed me why the problem needed fixing, and worked with me to fix it. No threats, just " as long as you work with us, we will work with you." NOAA has not been willing or able to back up anything they say. They have shown me no respect as a conservationist and a responsible recreational fisherman. Why should I , or anybody else, have any respect for NOAA and the paid guns they hired to enforce their regulations?
I wish this thread had this many comments before I threw back at least a half dozen triggers and the same amount of red snapper last sunday. I’ve caught some trigger fish in mexico but being sorta new here and being focused on surface trolling, I’d never actually boated a trigger or kept a red snapper on the east coast. Like Gutwrench said, I only have so much time. Especially since triggers will open again on the 1st and there will likely only be a couple of days before then when it would be possible to get out.
8" black sea bass is a minnow… It would take 4 of those to make a fish stick.
Not really 30 8"- 12" scaled and pan fried whole are pretty tasty and filling. Last time I fished the P.I. reef, we never caught one legal BSB. But the undersized BSB were so thick we packed up and got a limit of trout.
When your personal boat is only a capable of of near shore stuff, the legal BSB are out of range. I know you know this.
On a side note, I don’t keep Peanut Dolphin unless the boat owner wants them. It’s all good Skinneej. I’ve also kept some pretty small Bream. But we both know if you don’t keep them under control that’s pretty much all you get…
8" black sea bass is a minnow… It would take 4 of those to make a fish stick.
Not really 30 8"- 12" scaled and pan fried whole are pretty tasty and filling. Last time I fished the P.I. reef, we never caught one legal BSB. But the undersized BSB were so thick we packed up and got a limit of trout.
When your personal boat is only a capable of of near shore stuff, the legal BSB are out of range. I know you know this.
On a side note, I don’t keep Peanut Dolphin unless the boat owner wants them. It’s all good Skinneej. I’ve also kept some pretty small Bream. But we both know if you don’t keep them under control that’s pretty much all you get…
There are 6" gag grouper inshore from April to October. Do you want to eat them too? :smiley:
Looks like they are working on a minimum size on gray triggers now…
SAFMC you suck!
I doubt it will affect us that much. Most of the triggers we catch are pretty good size. It might just make themselves feel good. Maybe we can pretend to support this rule, so that when one really does effect us, we can say, "Hey guys, we were with you on the 10" trigger minimum, give us something on the red snapper"...
Again, you have to pick your battles… Some rules have no effect on us…
Skinneej’s, I’ve caught way more than my share of spades, and I would support a smaller limit. I just don’t want that decision to be forced on me by the federal government.
Skinneej’s, I’ve caught way more than my share of spades, and I would support a smaller limit. I just don’t want that decision to be forced on me by the federal government.
It’s all good Skinneej. I’ve also kept some pretty small Bream.