Rather than properly manage the commercial gag quota, the SAFMC in its infinite collective wisdom decided to allocate 27,218 pounds of our gag quota to Post Closure Discard Mortality. Do you passively support this waste?
As we discussed in person. It doesn’t make sense to have different seasons and closures for fish that are caught in the same type spots. There is consistently no wisdom in the decisions made by SAFMC
As we discussed in person. It doesn’t make sense to have different seasons and closures for fish that are caught in the same type spots. There is consistently no wisdom in the decisions made by SAFMC
I could be incorrect, but I think that they are trying to have some sort of commercial fishing in place year round... As opposed to commercial guys only having a job for 6 months out of the year.
I am not saying that this is a good thing. I am just trying to give you some background on why they are doing it that way.
That being said, there are a few members on the council and a bunch of members in the SSC that are cheering on a failure for these types of allocation based regulations. A failure in this system means that their “ecosystem based management” approach would get a closer look from the powers that be.
Anyway, I find that right or wrong, it always helps to understand what the opposition is thinking…
We could have year-round commercial fisheries IF the council simply MANAGED our quotas with split seasons and appropriate possession limits to avoid long closures. Some fish would have higher limits than others based on the size of quotas. We could target the fish with higher limits while still keeping most of the ones with lower limits we accidentally catch. This approach would remove the need to allocate tons of our quotas to Post Closure Discard Mortality while giving consumers a dependable supply of local seafood. Properly managing our quotas to avoid extended closures and excessive Regulatory Discards should be the council’s primary focus since they have met the MSA hard deadlines.
Just wanted to say that I was able to get out Sunday with a couple great folks and we caught a nice mess of bottom dwellers. Big BSB’s, Trigger, Vermillion, Red Porgy’s, White Grunts ect. No grouper though.
Got in one spot and the Red Snapper were there bigtime. Had to move, but mark:smiley: Even hitting the cut squid on dropper rigs.
The Man, Chris caught one pushing 30lbs and recently had purchased a descent device (as previously mentioned on another post on here).
Anyway, he broke out the tool and put it to work sending it down after only a couple minutes in the boat.
Pretty cool device IMO and the Big Girl swam away safely…we hope.
Gotta be better than sticking a hole in it to vent???
What do I do if I find Skinnee on top of the water floating bloated up with “The Bends” Either stick him or wrap the anchor rope around him and sink him:smiley:
Planning on meeting some of y’all at the next meeting.
What do I do if I find Skinnee on top of the water floating bloated up with “The Bends” Either stick him or wrap the anchor rope around him and sink him:smiley:
I prefer that you just stick me, get it over with quick, and then tell everyone at home that I got eaten by Mary Lee... Because that would be a bad ass story... Well that, and people could track my remains on OCEARCH...
DoubleN, Thanks for sharing your story. I wish you could have eaten that big snapper rather than discarding it. Please consider submitting a public comment for the upcoming SAFMC meeting detailing how you successfully released a Red Snapper suffering from barotrauma with a decent assist device. I have seen scientist vent large snapper only to see them float off as seagulls pecked out their eyes. That is a sad sight to see. Please consider taking a picture of your crew using the decent assist device next time. We could convince the council to stop allocating over half a million pounds of our Red Snapper quota to dead discards if more fishermen documented the use of these devices that work much better than venting.
While DoubleN used the decent device and it worked…very few fisherman, recreational and commercial use a decent assist device or a vent tool. Most are too lazy and don’t want the extra tool to buy and keep up with. This is a big problem. I watched a commercial boat (that parked right on top of me over the summer in 135 ft) throwing one fish after another off the bandit reel back into the water without venting in any way. This really pissed me off but what can i do about it. I have seen many recreational boat do the same but the described situation happened 100ft from me and just stood out in my mind. So many ignorant people in the world these days equates to many ignorant people in the ocean and everywhere else. Im the last guy to suggest any type of law ever and I think we have WAY to many laws as it is, but a law/rule requiring decent assist device on the boat of offshore fisherman would be only way (that i see) to nearly force people to do the right thing and help the fish swim back down. Complicated issue
Personally, I would like to see evidence that these tools work before I line Guy Harvey’s pocket with more money, or whomever else profits from these devices…
Freefish, I regret not at least taking several photos of the device being used. Had the GoPro in my bag but did not pul it out Sunday when fishing due to the wind/wave/spray as I would have spent more time cleaning lens than taking vids and fishing.
Anyway, I have ALOT of lead and am gonna try to come up with a way to attach the GoPro to video the fish being dropped/released. Not sure if this will be of any value to the knuckleheads that are against us but I suppose it won’t hurt. Will be cool to see at least. Hope we can get back out there soon.
While DoubleN used the decent device and it worked…very few fisherman, recreational and commercial use a decent assist device or a vent tool. Most are too lazy and don’t want the extra tool to buy and keep up with. This is a big problem. I watched a commercial boat (that parked right on top of me over the summer in 135 ft) throwing one fish after another off the bandit reel back into the water without venting in any way. This really pissed me off but what can i do about it. I have seen many recreational boat do the same but the described situation happened 100ft from me and just stood out in my mind. So many ignorant people in the world these days equates to many ignorant people in the ocean and everywhere else. Im the last guy to suggest any type of law ever and I think we have WAY to many laws as it is, but a law/rule requiring decent assist device on the boat of offshore fisherman would be only way (that i see) to nearly force people to do the right thing and help the fish swim back down. Complicated issue
Hey Charles, just want to add that I was fishing with Chris, Baracuda on CF. His boat and his purchase on the descent device. Just want to be clear that I am in know way trying to take credit for what he has done. He is a great guy and cares about doing the RIGHT thing.
Just want the credit to go to the right person…carry on.
for those that think that the descent devices may be questionable: i use it on the larger fish, over 20" generally. the dozens of 14-18" red snapper we caught were plenty lively on the surface, so we threw then back into the water and watched them swim back down successfully. the larger ones seem to have a problem getting back down, i suspect due to a longer fight and more exhaustion. when i send the fish back down with the descent device, i use a 48oz trolling weight and try to handle the fish as little as possible. i think i have gotten it down to less than 30 secs of surface time when properly prepared. i try not to bring them in the boat unless the hook is in their gullet. when lowering them back down, i stop at 50’ and make sure that they are kicking. every one that i have checked has been pulling on the rod pretty good at this depth. then i go to the bottom (release depth set at 75’).
i decided to get the device because it broke my heart to see a 25+ lb snapper floating off after spending 20 mins trying to vent and revive him unsuccessfully. i still carry a venting tool to comply with regs but i dont use it.
i will get with NN about getting a descent camera rigged up, but wont be for a while unfortunately. its in the works.
A decent assist device can be as cheap and simple as a barbless hook and enough weight to get the fish back down to the bottom where it will throw the hook when given a little slack.
Please submit public comments to the SAFMC for their next meeting during the first full week in December if you have used a SeaQualizer or any other device to release fish suffering from barotrauma. Remember a picture is worth a thousand words and a video is even better. Please consider providing the council with proof of each time you use a decent device. We could get back hundreds of tons of our quotas that are currently being allocated to dead discards every year IF enough fishermen provided proof we are doing our part to greatly improve survival rates of regulatory discards.
A decent assist device can be as cheap and simple as a barbless hook and enough weight to get the fish back down to the bottom where it will throw the hook when given a little slack.
Please submit public comments to the SAFMC for their next meeting during the first full week in December if you have used a SeaQualizer or any other device to release fish suffering from barotrauma. Remember a picture is worth a thousand words and a video is even better. Please consider providing the council with proof of each time you use a decent device. We could get back hundreds of tons of our quotas that are currently being allocated to dead discards every year IF enough fishermen provided proof we are doing our part to greatly improve survival rates of regulatory discards.
Pretty interesting read. Nice find!
To be honest, the story still isn’t 100% in my head. I am not saying that it is incorrect, but there is just one piece missing in the puzzle for me… That is, how is a release device really any different than venting? Both are just methods used to get the fish back down to the bottom, because barotrauma is the main concern.
Notice that every tagged fish released was done by SCDNR using hypodermic needles cleansed with iodine before use. In other words, professionals doing it by the book. You will note that in the study, that while no correlation can be made between fish that were vented versus non-vented (since they were all vented), yo
Also, check out some REAL statistics about “floaters” and red snapper…
New data on red snapper release mortality is coming in from the headboat observers on the Atlantic coast. One of those studies is the “Headboat At-Sea Observer” pilot study in Florida (east coast and Florida Keys) conducted by conducted with federal funds by Beverly Sauls (Florida Wildlife Research Institute). The release condition of fish is noted as: 1) released alive and swam down fast, 2) released alive and swam down slowly, 3) released alive and floated at the surface 4) released dead, or 5) predator attacked released fish. The observed release mortality for red snapper (n=1233) was very low (5%), as most fish swam down (condition 1 and 2) after being released. Similar results were noted in the headboat logbook reported by captains from Florida Keys to North Carolina in 2006 (1%, n =17,504).
