Should SC adopt VA law?

Saltwater Offshore Discussion
1

Here is the statue:

4VAC20-1120-31. RECREATIONAL LANDING PERMIT.

It shall be unlawful to possess aboard, or to land from, any private recreational fishing vessel, charter boat or head boat, any tilefish or grouper, harvested recreationally, without first having obtained a Tilefish and Grouper Landing Permit, for that vessel, from the Marine Resources Commission. Such permit shall be completed in full, by the vessel owner or operator, approved by the Commissioner or his designee, and a copy shall be kept with the permittee, while tilefish or grouper is in the possession of that permittee.

4VAC20-1120-32. RECREATIONAL MANDATORY HARVEST REPORTING.

A. It shall be unlawful for any registered Tilefish and Grouper Landing Permittee, as described in 4 VAC 20-1120-31, to fail to fully report harvests and related information, as set forth in this chapter and as provided by 4 VAC 20-610-60.

B. Registered Tilefish and Grouper Landing Permittees shall complete a daily form that accurately enumerates and legibly describes that permittees daily harvest from Virginia tidal and federal waters. The form used to record daily harvest shall be that provided by the commission or approved by the commission.

C. Registered Tilefish and Grouper Landing Permittees shall submit a monthly harvest report to the commission, no later than the fifth day of the following month. This report shall be accompanied by the daily harvest records described in subsection D of this section. Completed forms shall be mailed or delivered to the commission or other designated locations.

D. The monthly harvest report and daily harvest records from registered Tilefish and Grouper Landing Permittees shall include the name and signature of the registered Tilefish and Grouper Landing Permittee and his license number, date of harvest, city or county of landing, water body fished, gear type and amount used, number of hours fished, number of individuals on board, including captain, species harvested, number of discard by species, live

2

My first reaction is, yes.

This sounds much like the “recreational sell” paperwork here in SC. I can tell you from past experience, it is a PITA. I’m a busy person and sometimes don’t even clean the boat…OK I never clean the boat. Having to fill out paperwork after every trip is just more work, not fun. I’m sure there would be some punishment/fine/revocation of license if not done in a timely manner.

There is also the question of whether it is filled out accurately. Is a boga grip good for a scale? Do you really know if that is a kitty mitchell or a snowy? How will this info be used?

Alot of questions. If done properly, it could be an effective tool that could provide “actual” data, but I doubt it would ever be accurate, maybe just “best available”.

3

NO!!!

More paper work, more data for them to spin AGAINST US!!

You are assuming that they want us to fish more. Every bit of availible data is SPUN against us today. You really think more data will change that? They don’t look at the positive data now. Why would they if they had more. The glass will always be half empty so they can push their agenda. Think about it! Instead of X number of people caught Y number of fish the fishery must be healthy. It will be Z number of people did not catch any!! We MUST put more laws and restricitons in place!!

NO!
NO!
NO!!!

Also were is SC waters again? Do we have tile fish in SC waters?? I don’t think so…

Set the trap boys, we going to pass through them again!!

4

No. They don’t need no stinking permits. I’ve never caught a tile fish off SC shores.

1986 Gheenoe 15’9" bought new and never put a gas motor on her.

5

In utopia, this would solve nearly all our problems.

I would say do it for all species that are federally, i.e. poorly, managed- not just species that are on the front burner in the present time.

The problem is that the devil’s in the details. Our DNR is broke. Our DNR is dependent on federal grant money and other “discretionary” type funding that can easily go to other states or programs. This influences DNR’s willingness to act independently from NOAA if I had to guess…

Then, you will have money/power grabbing problems to deal with.

I would definately support our DNR taking the reigns, but to do so they will need to be in a very different financial and political position I’m afraid.

The people who make a living off manipulating the federal management process now, will also not sit around with their arms crossed as we try something like this.

I can think of many more excuses why it couldn’t work, but none are as compelling for the reasons why it SHOULD work. Unfortunately, that rarely how rules and regulations are made, and of course my opinion is going to be different from many others.

Some groups like the way things are now. They have control. They have the ability to manipulate the system and maintain or enlarge their political or financial power.

The deeper you dig into it all, as you know, the more disgusting are the things you discover. How do we deal with all of those things to get to a simplified system like what you propose?

I think it’s a good idea if done correctly, and IF the recreational fishermen support it. If they don’t support it, it will lead to even bigger problems because people won’t participate or take the time to learn how to participate.

I don’t think it has to be that complicated. It can be web based.

As someone said above, though, they throw out high quality stuff that’s out there right now when it isn’t randomized or done by people on the right payrolls. Imagine how people would react if this hypothetical reporting system was dis

6

The only way to get good data is some sort of rec reporting program online.

Let’s go fishin

www.onlyinthecarolinas.com

7

I can see where it would work, and yes it could become a highly accurate data stream representing the private recreational component. These ‘ghost fish’ hurt us, from inaccurate landings of prohibited species to hypothetical ‘discards’ (Black Sea Bass is a perfect example of the discards).

For-Hire sectors must fill out a trip ticket/logbook for every trip, as mandate by SC law. These commerical businesses give individual’s an access to their recreational bag limit. SC is the only state in the South Atlantic that reguires reporting by law. I bring this up because between commerical and for-hire landings data from SC, the confindence level on the information is very high.

As far as the reporting, why not incorparate allied businesses? Tackle shops, Marinias, and Seafood Dealers? They can weigh and record the fish and also conduct the online reporting, similar to Count My Fish but in a system that is developed by SCDNR and track it to your recreational license. The third party reporting would be essential. What about people who land fish at odd hours? Well, keep the fish packed on ice, then report them within 48 hours. I really don’t see where the ‘paper work’ issue is an issue since recreational license sales are done on a computer and would intially reguire checking an extra box when making your license purchase.

If you have the time to fuel up the boat, hunt bait, rig tackle, and stare at the ceiling while laying in bed the night before, then you can make time to make sure that what is being recorded and reported is accurate. Apparently from a legal point of view, fishing is a privilege and not an inherit right to sustainability.

I am too lazy, don’t care, or its not worth it are poor logical points of view for opposition to such.

Now, I do believe some planning in the development of such a system needs to exist and this isn’t just a convince the Gen Assembly to pass the same law.

Funding issues…oh wait…doesn’t our saltwater license sales stay directed to saltwater? So if we were to re

8

Tilefish was a main stay along with Snowy Grouper for the late Seventies and Early Eighties headboats out of Charleston.

Just because you haven’t caught them doesn’t mean they don’t exist or other people may have been successful in catching such.

Just Saying…