Casting blame in striper dispute

The wily striped bass - admired by New England fishermen for centuries - nearly disappeared from East Coast waters in the early 1980s. A series of fishing moratoriums restored the stocks, and today a Cape Cod scene is not complete without surfcasters trying their hand against the powerful fish.

http://tinyurl.com/ygqjmun

Those damn selfish catch and release fisherman are trying to KEEP all the fish for themselves!

i'd agree with both

commercial fishing SHOULD be stopped AND recreational fisherman need far more accountability

They're quibbling over crumbs people.The issue is not commercial vs. recreational fishermen,its all of us against the main contributors to the decline of the striper.Omega and Perdue.If the overall population of immature stripers is shrinking in the Chesapeake these two companies are DIRECTLY responsible.
Omega scoops up most of the pogies which clean the bay of microbiologics such as algae.Perdue dumps untold tons of chicken waste into the bay which promotes algae blooms and the spread of disease.Its a two fisted punch to the survival of yoy stripers.
Recreational fishermen must band together with commercial fishermen to fight the true evil here, which is the destruction of OUR stripers in the Chesapeake.Otherwise we're just whipping a dead horse.
Please take the time to E-mail our senators and representatives in Congress.Believe me it makes a big difference in how they'll vote on further striper regulations.If we don't act now,we will more than likely lose OUR striper fishery within the next decade.

while i tend to agree that both of those practices need to be changed, in the short term we CAN control commercial harvest, recreational harvest & incidental take

do what we can do as quickly as possible to deal with short term, then go after the big boys for long term

I totally disagree tim s. We must stop the killing of the Chesapeake now.There will be NO long term fight because the striper will be extinct if we don't act now.To do that we have to form up and demand the Chesapeake be treated as it should.As the biggest and most prolific breeding ground for stripers and other important fish,like menhaden.Its the life blood of the entire east coast fishery and we as stewards of OUR fishery are dropping the ball.Granted we don't have big money to throw at the politicians like Omega and Perdue,but if we can unite and force our legislators to act (by telling them to do so or not get re-elected) for the protection of the bay,we must do so NOW!!!!!

i agree we need to jump on the chessie issues now, but you know those wheels will take time....legislation does not happen overnight, especially with that much money being spread around....the effort to combat those two giants needs to start now, but we CAN impact fishing regulations immediately, more or less....that is change we can get done quickly, i think

both need to happen, but one is going to take time, one i think we can jump on quickly

i am not disagreeing with you that we need to try and force change in the chessie.....i just don't see that happening soon (and i think salwater licenses up & down the east coast CAN help foment that change......real data as to the economic impact of recreational fishing for stripers is one of the few things legislators will listen to when taking on two giants like that)....doesn't mean we shouldn't jump on the effort now, but regs can be changed rather quickly.....

I see your argument and agree that we can help by initiating tougher regs. but we must work on the overall health of the fishery and that starts at the Chesapeake.Somehow we've got to get national support for our ideals,how I don't know.

money talks to politicians

need to show that recreational fishing is a huge economic boom for states up & down the coast, and that regulating those businesses will actually be an economic plus