I was alternate Captain on the clipper. I did lots of overnight trips - lots of time on the water. Head boats gave a guy a way to get offshore and have a good day on the water and catch a cooler full of fish. Often I had families on board . Lots of things happened to kill the industry. The reduction in limits on BSB and vermillion to 5 fish per day and all the restrictions Plus at the time this was happening fuel prices were thru the roof and dock space was going up. It got so the average guy wouldn’t pay the $85 to catch a very few fish. Very sad.
Okay, this question has had about 18 responses out of over 700 reads. The responses gave little or no indication that NOAA had reached out (cliche) to them so, what conclusion should one reach about the 700+ fishermen who did not respond? ( l ought to say that I hated statistics in school, and statistics hated me.) A.couple of things come to mind:
Maybe they are just trusting of the government to do the right thing.
Maybe they don’t know how to respond.
Maybe they don’t think it is as important as a few of us do.
Maybe they think it is a lost cause.
The only thing I am pretty certain of is that NOAA and DNR don’t know or care about the condition of the fishery or the effect it has on our economy and on us personally.
I was hoping someone would prove me wrong. There’s still time to respond!
Sulcataman-Keep thinking SCDNR cannot write you a ticket in Federal waters if you like, you will be sadly mistaken.
I was approached last Friday when I was loading the boat at Shem Creek ramp by a DNR biologist. He was not law enforcement but asked us to do a voluntary survey about what we caught, even what we released. He asked if he could measure our fish and did while filling out a form. Said thanks and that was it.
2005 Sea Hunt 212 Triton
“Head East”
quote:
Originally posted by longbearded1Sulcataman-Keep thinking SCDNR cannot write you a ticket in Federal waters if you like, you will be sadly mistaken.
I stay within the law anyway.
Olde Man Charters
I’ve been approached by one of the “researchers” at Remleys probably three times over the last few years. It’s usually someone college aged and a very casual interview in the peak of the summer months. They ask permission to see your fish and are clearly not LEOs of any kind. Measured fish and even asked if we minded disclosing bait choice. Each time it was also around 11am and the bulk of people were just getting to the water. In the busy summer days, I like to get away from the water once the yahoos start putting in, so I’m in early and out early. The questions were different each time, but for the most part they wanted to know location, how many fish kept and how many anglers. I was never asked about how many fish we released. If someone is extrapolating data from these types of interviews, I think it’s safe to say the ones I participated in were…unscientific at best.
If I get murdered in the city, don’t go revenging in my name…
I have been checked many times over the years ( on others boats, not mine) and always DNR and always courteous and professional, and yes, have been asked about numbers. I was actually on the boat with Sulcataman when they stopped him a month or so ago. NICE DNR rig.
Understand that safety, license, over the limit, etc. checks are normal and expected. We’ve all been there, done that. The question remains, how many times have you been interviewed for scientific purposes?
Ive fished in SC my whole life. Ive been boarded by DNR MAYBE 3 times my whole life. Each time they were nice, each time they asked how many fish and i would usually open the cooler and show them, but never did they record any information. I have never been called or surveyed about any of my fishing.
I would have to agree with you Realfin. It seems to me as if theyre guesstimating these “numbers” they use to limit recreational fishing.