Coming back from a longline trip, Capt. X spotted a trawler with his gear down in a IPHC listed hotspot for juvenile halibut. Capt. X knew the operator of the trawler, so he called him on the VHF. Asked what he was doing dragging in such a place, he replied, "The sooner we clean these f'ing halibut up, the sooner this place won't be off limits."
Capt. Z sets his trawl down hard, real hard, on his way in from unobserved trips regularly. His crew says he has a taste for scallops.
A midwater (pelagic) trawler was in Kiliuda Bay. Capt. Y called him on the VHF to ask why he was leaving. He relied, "I just tore the hell out of my trawl on a crab pot." Midwater crab pots should be illegal?
Why shouldn't regulations make chafing gear illegal on midwater (pelagic) trawls?
Why are the pelagic doors on the F/V Golden Fleece wear polished and why did they go through the expense of having them hardfaced if they aren't digging into the bottom on a regular basis?
(ii) Amendment 80 vessels in the GOA processors. Except for the F/V GOLDEN FLEECE (USCG Documentation Number 609951), all Amendment 80 vessels, except when directed fishing for scallops using dredge gear, in the GOA must have onboard at least one NMFS-certified observer for each day that the vessel is used to harvest, receive, or process groundfish in the GOA management areas or adjacent waters open by the State of Alaska for which it adopts a Federal fishing season. Why? Who arranged that exception, and for how much cash?
Why shouldn't "accidentally" "kissing the bottom" with "pelagic" trawl gear be just as illegal as "accidentally" setting a seine or gillnet over the line?
Why did the USCG have such an issue with using a tape measure to figure Simplified Gross Tonnage? Don't tell me that didn't come from on high. Why?
Why are simple measures to ensure our fishing future so "impossible" for our regulators?
Keep yer flippers wet.
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2 comments:
It worked for them with sea lions everywhere but the western aleutians so why not with halibut?
Can't beat a proven plan.
Once they are gone it won't be an issue...More importantly, trawlers made it work with crab, king crab first and then tanners. If the crab bottom were off limits to trawlers, there would be few places for them to rape and pillage. Or they would really have to go pelagic. Crab bottom, as you are well aware, is also preferable trawl bottom...fewer snags. So once that crab were gone, the crab bottom became a free fire zone for trawlers. Now they are moving on the halibut...another pesky species that restricts trawlers. This must be made public, and it must be stopped.
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