Fish Report 2/1/12

Fish Report 2/1/12

Couple More Trips

"..a brain in their head.."

Marine Ecology's Nadir

..............................................

Hi All,

Sunday's tog trip was very OK for some. Others got their head handed to them. Biggest was 13 1/2..

Awesome winter weather but the water is chilling..

.................................

Going again on Sunday 2/5/12 - Tog - 12 sells out - $100.00 - 6 AM to 2 PM (which allows clients to get home in time for the game.)

Monday too - Tog - 2/6/12 - $125 - 6 to 4 - 14 sells out.

.................................

At the joint ASMFC & MAFMC fisheries meeting in Williamsburg, VA. the Chair of the Stock Assessment Workgroup (SAW) told me "no one with a brain in their head would believe that estimate" in reference to the NJ shore-caught Mar/Apr 2010 tog recreational catch estimate of 71,756 fish -- from shore, in late winter, in New Jersey.

That's more tog caught from shore in weeks than all the party/charter boats along the entire coast caught in all of 2010.

In the new & improved MRIP recreational catch estimating system, those same shore fishers are now credited with 173,092 tog in Mar/Apr 2010.

One Hundred Thousand More Fish ..where they probably caught a few hundred at most before waters warmed in May.

There's going to be a "Listening Session" at the next MAFMC meeting in mid-February. This time the guy in charge of MRIP will be available to answer questions.

I have a few..

You can read more about it at http://www.mafmc.org/ - see press release titled "February 15th..."

...............................................

Then too there is the issue of Habitat.

This From Delaware's Artificial Reef Website: Artificial reef construction is especially important in the Mid-Atlantic region, where near shore bottom is usually featureless sand or mud. We have neither the natural rocky outcrops common in New England or the coral reefs of our Southeastern Atlantic Coast.

I wish Maryland had 1/3 as many 'rocky outcrops' as Delaware -- If you've ever fished the South East Grounds or the Old Grounds; You've fished rocks.

Some of the oldest fishers in DE have told me they lost good fishing spots during the clam boom that was finally brought under control by early regulatory actions of the 1980s.

I suppose its true, technically, that we don't have coral reefs like the Southeastern Atlantic - Our Corals Are Different ..but fish don't seem to mind. (search 'Maryland Corals' on YouTube for video of our corals)

Delaware has an incredible artificial reef program: Probably the best in the nation for its length of coast.

With such incredible habitat-based fishery production I expect Capt. John on the Karen Sue to catch a new world record tog any day: but I bet Capt. John knows more natural bottom than artificial reef; I'd bet Capt. Eddie & Capt Rick do too..

......................................

I'm told new artificial reef units at Site 11 are grown over in sea-whip, a soft coral, in about 4 years.
That's extremely fast compared to my experiences with natural reef and likely owes to many other whips spawning nearby - its a larval rich environment with high-profile substrates..

.....................................

Delaware has a rich & long history of reef-fish catches before any reef program was ever thought of. At sea those reef fish were caught on natural bottoms.

Given the extensive list of accomplishments & scientific gear available to staff, it would seem a simple thing to find out where all those sea bass came from before Delaware's reef permits started filling up with materiel.

Just as we recently lost Capt. Bob Gower & Irv Mumford, Delaware too will soon be losing its deepest, richest sources of fishing's history..

........................................

How did Mid-Atlantic commercial fishers catch more sea bass in the 1950s than in all decades since combined?

I think this steep decline results from 'slash & burn' fishing, where the least robust reef-growths were lost in early trawling.

I think after that we had the unregulated rise of surf-clamming; Where not only was growth removed from rocks but entire bottoms were altered in such fashion that no regrowth of reef --the Mid-Atlantic's temperate corals-- was possible.

........................................

I think the late 1980s were reef-fish & habitat's lowest point, their nadir; That continued heavy fishing pressure combined with steep habitat declines resulted in near collapse; That claims of 'restored' sea bass & tautog made by modern management are more to the credit of artificial reef builders--with catch restriction certainly important too.

And I think recreational catch restriction based on MRIP's new data will be as effective as habitat restoration based on the poorly researched assertions of the "All Sand & Mud, There's No Natural Reef In The Mid-Atlantic" crowd..

...................................

Habitat fidelity in fish is such a crucial factor. We see it now with shads & sturgeons, know of it in striped bass & weakfish, have long known of it in the salmons; It's also found in sea bass & tautog..

Because management is tasked with restoring fish with habitat fidelity --our sea bass & tautog-- then habitat should be a primary component of fishery restoration.

Instead, even today, the work of Wigley & Theroux who first declared there were no hard-bottoms here in 1981 remains "Our Best Available Science."

.........................................

Currently our recreational marine fishery restoration burden is based solely on catch estimates--high estimates which always seem to result in further catch restriction.

Yet we've just had a 4 week recreational cod catch estimate lowered by 1,307,935 fewer cod -- that's just in Massachusetts, just that state's private boat catch & just in the month of April, 2010..

Lowered by well over a million fish while that miserable NJ tog estimate was raised by 100,000 fish: How Can We Possibly Create Foundational Science With This Data?

................................................

My point: Yes, we need catch restriction---but we need it applied with more common sense and less of these insane catch estimates. However, catch restriction can not shoulder the entire burden of restoration; managing extraction alone will never restore habitat.

And we'll never concern ourselves with restoring habitat if we can not be troubled to look at our region's seabed and compare it to fishing's history.

................................................

I believe catch restriction has done about all it can for the reef fish; That much of those species' current restoration success should be credited instead to the reef builders; I believe discovering habitat's past is vital to fishing's future and that no forward motion will come of "sand & mud" thinking.

Regards,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/