Thread: NOAA News: Spanish Mackerel

Really?

Bye bye spanish Mackerel. This is getting out of hand. Pretty soon all we will have left to fish for are pinfish, then we would soon loose those to regulations.

I guess that means we can catch more Spanish off the pier???---!!!---???

Don't worry, y'all. They have our best interests in mind. Easter bunnies, tooth faeries, Santa Claus, unicorns, leprechauns, mermaids, elves, concerned bureaucrats and honest politicians are all real.

Originally Posted by Rockinchef88

Bye bye spanish Mackerel. This is getting out of hand. Pretty soon all we will have left to fish for are pinfish, then we would soon loose those to regulations.

You're right. What might look like an opportunity for recreational fisherman is an invitation to commercial fishermen to rig/plan/prepare to decimate the resource.

​Teach a kid to fish; and he will be bored out of his mind a few years from now!

Wow!
Initially it looks like huge increases overall, but Sector Separation will kill the recreational limits slowly but surely.
Our heritage is being stolen before our eyes.

Originally Posted by ChileRelleno

Wow!
Initially it looks like huge increases overall, but Sector Separation will kill the recreational limits slowly but surely.
Our heritage is being stolen before our eyes.

When they tell the commercial fishermen that they can double their take, they'll scoop 'em up by the whole school, then ship 'em off to -- whereever if the pricing supports go soft here. Of course, they're going to deplete the resource, then use the proceeds to buy them some new regulations for whatever species are left. Don't be surprised when, in a few years, the spanish mackerel population is depleted to the point of having to introduce austere limits on sizes and numbers to recover from commercial over-fishing.

That'sThat's depressing. Fishing for Spanish macks is one of the best parts of fishing the pier. Such bs.

If we increase the commercial and recreational catch from just over 5 million pounds to more than double that, which side can make the increase? How many of you are going to double up your catches week after week? Even your cat will get tired of spanish. Are you going to bring all your neighbors and friends? No, because the stock measures which say we have "surplus" spanish to allow quota increases are referring to what was seen from the pier this season. Fishing won't be twice as good next year, it will be about the same, although IF you catch and IF the limits are raised, you might be able to keep more. In short, the recreationals are not in a position to take advantage of doubling their share, because they almost never have to stop because their limit is met nor could they use what they caught if they could double it every day.

The people who can and will catch more and more are the commercials. They can sell it and glut the market, driving down the prices. They can export it out of state. They can build up future consumer demand for spanish. So when the recreational anglers cannot "fully utilize their share", it will only be natural to let there be a shift of some of their "unused" share to the commercials.

We can only hope.
But just ask yourself how many limits of spanish mackerel you caught last season...