It is time to CULL THE SEALS. Without doing this, the striper fishery north of CT and RI is doomed.
I have seen seals ball up, then attack, schools of striped bass. Made me cry.
I have found drowned harbor seals with bite marks from gray seals. There are no more harbor seals.
I used to fry flounder on the beach with my Dad. There are no more flounder.
The Outer Cape is being fouled, and its ecology destroyed by these protected marine mammals. Until something is done, all other regulations are meaningless

I have made 20 plus fishing trips out in CC Bay this year from Barnstable Harbor. I have caught a good number of small keeper stripers. A few have been in the 35 plus inch range. Given the amount of time I have been on the water this year it is apparent there are not a lot of large commercial fish in the Bay. Based on that I would suggest keeping the same 2 day per week commercial schedule and let the season play out as is. There just aren’t a lot of large fish around.

Why is it the quota isn’t filled it’s not because we are not catching fish it’s because the fish aren’t there sure the better fishermen are catching but my opinion is that the sticks are declining at a terrible rate and the quota should be lowered and not add more days we went thru this before

Quota is not getting filled because 90% of the striper guys are fishing for sea bass in the summer time. It’s a lot easier to get your limit of sea bass than to get your striper limit. 50 to 70 boats behind Nomans this summer pounding on sea bass while the striped bass was open. I’m willing to bet a lot of those boats are striper guys as well.

Working in a small fish market on long island bass sell retail at 24-30 dollars a pound bone out. Its high but it is a reasonable margin for the return we need to see to keep the bills and staff paid. It moves at that price and fast. Price is up this year on whole fish in NY markets a pound by a significant margin
(to lazy to crunch numbers).
Allot of this fish is coming from mass and montauk fisherman. I hope they are seeing some of this increase on the dock, it’s possible no but not very likely. If the quota is not met by this date, then leave it alone. the market responds to catch on a daily basis, if the price is up as much as it is they are out there fishing hard for a payout. We had salmon and cod readily available in the northeast, and it seems like soon enough you will be able to say the same about the bass. If we dont protect our fisheries
Aquaculture will be our only supply for freshwater fish, and wild narkets woukd essentially run

Soon there will be no stripe bass to catch.

Rules are rules, why change them ? You set them in place for a reason and now you want to bend the rules. Keep taking and there will be no stripers to take.

Im sure there is a financial impact of not meeting the quota but every business has bad years. Kinda obvious the fish need a break, this should be the sign to cut the season short and let the fish try and rebound for next season. As said above we will be talking about the good old days of bass fishing soon.

More commercial days plain stupid. Don’t forget all the poaching numbers not collected

Everyone, email your thoughts to the email linked above. Maybe they will cut the fishery off

Eat more bacon

Now that the summer has come to an end, people have to work more and go to school for the younger commercial fisherman. If they were to extend the quota, they should make the day on the weekend. Adding it on a Saturday or Sunday allows for the many kids who have their liscense to help fulfill this slow growing quota. Now that summer is over, this leaves only the professionals to try and catch 250,000 pounds of fish in a short amount of time. Making it over the weekend will bring more fisherman to help get the extra 250,000 pounds of bass.

When was the last time a massachusetts was a striped bass fishing destination. More and more mass boats are fishing out of state to catch large stripers. things need to change because fishing in mass in a waste of money when all the fish are tiny.

Good Day Fellow Fishermen,

I have written letters to my congressmen saying that the use of treble hooks when live lining mackerel and pogies should be outlawed. It is disgusting to see the numbers of floating fish between 24-33 inches on days when all the boats have loads of mackerel and the bite is on. As a commercial fishermen who is on the water quite a bit I see this as the biggest problem, people cutting their lines and throwing a fish with a treble inside or ripping the guts and hooks out, very sad and hurtful to the future fish populations.

Help, we’re in a deep hole, send more shovels asap!

Are you kidding me? Is there no common sense out there? We have a lack of fish out there so we want to take more? Do they listen to this garbage that they are saying? This is why the fish population is spiraling downward!! We have idiots running the fisheries. They should all be fired. So sad!!

Quoting a reply – “So typical of this day and age. If the rules that are in place for a reason don’t work then adjust them so they do. Maybe there aren’t as many big bass around because it’s take, take, take. Everyone has a hand in this. Commercial, charters and recreational alike. We had better do something sooner than later or this will be a pointless discussion. Why have set days then if your just going to do whatever needs to be done to get X weight. When it involves money all bets are off I see. I also think that the understaffed EPO’s should be required to seize all assets when poaching is noted. Boats, cars etc. whatever is used in the activity. Sell it and use the money for further enforcement. And this is on the first offense. Not the BS 5,6 or 10 th time. Lay down the law hard Just like when boats are caught fishing inside the canal. One and done”

To extend the commercial season and add more days is not the Dept. of fish and games best idea. Don’t let GREED get in the way of common sense. Maybe we should allow limited commercial fishing every other year or introduce a slot limit rule…Oh, we also need better enforcement from the game wardens they are non existent! Saw many big stripers hauled away by non commercial fisherman at the canal, one dude wanted to fight when i said, “1 fish”. Guys at the top need to get the lead out and get a plan that is good for everyone.

Yup! Let’s make the striper go the same way the cod went! I gave up striper commercial fishing because 1) I could see the plight of the striper going down hill, and 2) I was getting $2.50-$3.25 a pound for my catch and striper selling for $12 a pound in the market. That was years ago.
I started doing charters and preached to my clients the importance of saving the striper by releasing the big fish and keeping the 28-32 inch fish for the table. That was when we had a two fish limit. Now with just being able to keep one fish people want the biggest they can catch which is our breeders. I can see the striper going the way of the cod if commercials get their way. This should be a sign that the striper is in trouble, not a time to increase the commercial season!

End the commercial harvest of stripers and implement a slot limit, maybe 28-36 inches. Those interventions saved the redfish and snook fisheries in Florida, and are needed here to prevent another collapse of the striper population, which is critically dependent on the big breeders

IMPORTANT MEETINGS COMING UP TO PREVENT MIDWATER TRAWLING ON STELLWAGEN, JEFFERIES and the BACKSIDE OF THE CAPE

All of Jeffreys, Ipswich Bay , Stellwagen Bank, and all the way to P-Town will be fair game for all the trawlers come Oct 1 if we don’t act

David Pierce, Doug Grout, and Council members need to know this is BS

The Council will also take a vote on a number of things at the next Council meeting. One of the Amendment 8 alternatives is to ban midwater trawlers in Area 1A for all 12 months. This is within our reach if enough of us weigh in.
NEFMC Herring Committee meeting @ Four Points Sheraton, Wakefield, MA @ 9 AM on Wed. September 18
NEFMC Council meeting to review the most recent herring assessment @ 9 AM and then the Herring Committee meeting @ 1:45 PM @ Hotel 1620 Plymouth Harbor, 180 Water St, Plymouth, MA on September 25.
It is very important that we all attend this Council meeting in Plymouth. This is our opportunity to get these trawlers out of 1A as well as establishing a buffer off the backside of the Cape and Islands. This meeting has been in the works for nearly a year and we need to fill the meeting room in Plymouth. If you can attend the committee meeting it will prep you for the Council meeting.

I have read all of these comments….GUESS WHAT? everyone is right! The key is to work as a team and stop pointing fingers. Sure mass fisheries is always too little , too late! But it seems everytime i ask tons of people to go to a pogy meeting etc.. and share their thoughts and their votes…NO ONE SHOWS UP! Pogy quota almost doubled this year from 2017 [ they are making millions and dont kid yourself ] Shut it down……all of it get the slot at 36 inches, that worked before in the 80’s right? You know, in my humble opinion, we need to give these fish a chance, practice more catch and release and remember a 40 lb bass has sooooo many more eggs than a 20 lber!!1 look that up. Just start calling and emailing mass fisheries ……..dont we stand a better chance as one big team demanding more and better restrictions/ actions? THINK ABOUT IT!! Thanks , Baitrunner

Stop commercial fishing forever and a day

They should have never had commercial fishing for stripers. I remember in the late 80,s stripers where hard to find in New England. It should go back to 1 fish per day over 36in no commercial fishing. Stripers bring a lot of people to the coast to fish them bring money to the area if they come and don’t get a keeper fish then the coastal towns will lose lots of money from them. I live in western Pa now was taking 3 or 4 trips a year to the coast to fish stripers the last yew years I see the fishing slowing down not as many big fish to catch. I never keep the fish but it is nice to get a big one. I took less trips to the coast this year only two times fishing not the same anymore. I surf cast for them and use kayaks not had a lot of big fish like I did in the past kids getting less into it as they did a few years ago when we where getting a lot of big fish. So if the east coast like the money coming in from people like me that spend thousands on fishing for stripers each year they will have to think about commercial fishing there it’s going to be the reason people like me will stop going there with there kids . And it’s good to keep the kids going then they will have there kids going and so on. So stop commercial fishing.