Massachusetts fisheries officials want to close a loophole in state regulations that resulted in w
hat they believe were illegal landings of striped bass last year.
At a public hearing at Massachusetts Maritime Academy Wednesday night, Division of Marine Fisheries Deputy Director Dan McKiernan said the state is looking to reduce the number of striped bass that commercial fishermen could land from 15 down to two, if they're fishing from shore."What happened last year was disgusting," said Patrick Paquette of the Massachusetts Striped Bass Association, which is composed of both commercial and recreational fishermen. "There was a rampant black market at the (Cape Cod) canal. Plenty of guys were taking fish from friends, putting them in coolers, and selling them under their boat permit."
Under state striped bass fishing regulations, a commercial fisherman can buy a boat permit that allows him or her to catch and sell up to 15 fish a day. There is also a less expensive individual permit under which he or she can land two fish a day from shore. The state limited commercial fishing to two days a week. In bad weather, some fishermen with boat permits fished from shore, and could technically land their 15 fish.
"I never caught over five," said commercial fisherman Myron Chamberlain, of North Dartmouth, who said he has a 21-foot boat that can't always take the rough weather so he has to fish from shore sometimes. "I never witnessed people catching more than four or five fish. Not saying it's not happening, but I never saw it."
Several commercial fishermen with boat permits spoke against the proposed regulation, agreeing with Chamberlain that they need the option of being able to fish from shore and land 15 fish to make a living.
"To catch only two fish?" Chamberlain said. "You can't make a living on that."
The problem, according to fishermen and state officials, is that recreational fishermen, who are only allowed to keep one fish, were allegedly passing bass to commercial fishermen who then sold them as part of their 15-fish limit.
"It is common knowledge there were people with boat permits catching fish from recreational fishermen and landing them as commercial fish," said Paquette.
"We had a bunch of complaints about it last year," said Massachusetts Environmental Police Major Patrick Moran, adding that nobody was prosecuted. "We do a lot of early morning, late night patrols, and it's really hard unless someone points it out to you."
With the new regulation, any commercial fisherman fishing from shore could only land two striped bass, which would make it easier to enforce since anyone with more than two fish would be in violation.
"It does make enforcement easier," Moran said. "Simpler is better"
The public hearing Wednesday night was one of four in a week, with the last planned for Monday night on Nantucket. There were 13n proposed regulations on the agenda, an unusually large number grouped in one hearing. The state Division of Marine Fisheries had a backlog of regulatory work to complete following a year during which much of its focus was on complying with Gov. Charlie Baker's requirement that agencies review their existing regulations for duplication and clarity before promulgating new ones, said David Pierce, the agency's deputy director.
Source; Doug Fraser Cape Cod Times
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