Gag Closure

Saltwater Offshore Discussion
21

So, my points are:

  1. We’ve been talking about “release mortality” for quite some time in the fisheries management world.
  2. If you read 10 different studies, you will get 10 different answers ranging from “all the fish live” to “the sky is falling”
  3. Supposedly barotrauma is NOT the #1 killer in released fish, but it is J-hook mortality (i.e. gut-hooking). This is supposedly fixed now.
  4. If barotrauma only claims 13% of the lives of fish and we can come up with a device that saves 73% of those fish, then our total impact was 9.5%
  5. But what depth is that? Most of us fish < 60m, and I do MOST of my bottom fishing around 30M.

So, as you can see, it’s pretty hard to quantify the impact of a release tool, and I believe that is the answer you will get from SAFMC.

22

Just to clarify, I believe that because of the nature of the species, gag mortality is going to be higher than that of red snapper. And as another side note, it’s pretty common for divers to see red snapper quickly descend off the bottom even up as far as 70’ off the bottom or so in 100’ of water. Interestingly enough, I did see a gag 50’ off the bottom on my last dive which is a bit more rare from my experience.

23

Thanks for all the great info skinneej. I talked with Dr. Michelle Duval last night during a NC Marine Fisheries Commission meeting about the Visioning Project she is leading for the SAFMC. Reducing regulatory discards and discard mortality rates will be a primary focus of the project. We need to put together a statement interested fishermen can include in our Visioning Project public comments detailing how circle hooks have reduced mortality rates for many species as more fishermen are using decent assist devices to release illegal fish suffering from barotrauma. We should have a goal of getting the discard mortality rate used in stock assessments under 10%. What do you think?

24

Here is an excerpt from my public comments to the NC Marine Fisheries Commission.

"The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is also doing a Visioning Project at this time. Please consider asking the council to focus on reducing the countless regulatory discards that result in well over a million pounds of projected dead discards being deducted from our quotas every year.

Please also consider asking the SAFMC not to create any more Marine Protected Areas on traditional fishing grounds like North Carolina?s Big Rock. Please ask the council to allow each state to work with its citizens to create appropriate artificial reef habitat on existing MPAs."

25

thanks guys now if we can just get the weather on board with some calm seas

26
quote:
Originally posted by freefish7

Thanks for all the great info skinneej. I talked with Dr. Michelle Duval last night during a NC Marine Fisheries Commission meeting about the Visioning Project she is leading for the SAFMC. Reducing regulatory discards and discard mortality rates will be a primary focus of the project. We need to put together a statement interested fishermen can include in our Visioning Project public comments detailing how circle hooks have reduced mortality rates for many species as more fishermen are using decent assist devices to release illegal fish suffering from barotrauma. We should have a goal of getting the discard mortality rate used in stock assessments under 10%. What do you think?

Which species are we talking about? Discard mortality is mostly dependent on that. Are we talking about Gag? Also, there is no closure on recreational, just commercial. We have a seasonal closure on Gag during the spawn.

I think red snapper would be a more interesting topic, but not sure it is up for discussion at this point.

27

skinneej, we should not wait for the council to make something a topic. The Visioning Project gives us a chance to address regulatory discards and discard mortality for any species.

The recreational gag quota is being mismanaged as only about half of the quota is being landed. The possession limit should be increased from one fish to two per person just as the commercial quota should be properly MANAGED with appropriate possession limits that fill the quota without a long closure.