Maryland to shorten 2024 rockfish season

[Enfield303]

All that money to "save the bay" hasn't done all that much, except line some pockets.

I feel like the "Save the Bay" money has been as useful as the money Baltimore City spends on schools. Nothing in the Bay will improve until they put a moratorium on catching oysters. They are the real keystone species.

 

[Slackdaddy]

True, but game management is a very involved notion.
On a side note, ever watch underwater cams of Maine lobster fisherman culling their catch? The stripers follow the boats and gobble down lobster bi-catch.

Not saying that. I want to see a coastal moratorium.
If you don't understand that, then I can't help you.

No, I agree with you.
But I find it amusing that their 1st step does not involve the commercial charter operations.

 

[Slackdaddy]

All that money to "save the bay" hasn't done all that much, except line some pockets.

I am involved with a few of the "River Keepers" that watch over main rivers that dump into the Bay.
I can tell you for a fact the Maryland MGA does not give a rats A$$ about water pollution or the Bay.

 

[Slackdaddy]

I feel like the "Save the Bay" money has been as useful as the money Baltimore City spends on schools. Nothing in the Bay will improve until they put a moratorium on catching oysters. They are the real keystone species.

We have to fix the pollution 1st (or at the same time),
Ag run off, out dated sewage treatment plants and to a lesser degree residential runoff.

 

[outrider58]

No, I agree with you.
But I find it amusing that their 1st step does not involve the commercial charter operations.

That is true. It should be a wide sweeping reduction in harvests and not pin it all on the charter fishing industry.

 

[Slackdaddy]

That is true. It should be a wide sweeping reduction in harvests and not pin it all on the charter fishing industry.

Agreed, WIDE sweeping, everyone.
We will very soon have to re-think the way we view the fisheries.
They are not an endless supply, to many people, to little resources.

 

[gtodave]

Yup,,
I can see who DNR gets their marching orders from.
Those dang sport fisherman with their one fish limit are the problem!!

They actually get their orders from the governor's office. A lot of people don't realize that.

 

[kstone803]

Once again, the problem is not the fisherman, but the Omega company taking all the baitfish.
And as said, poaching.

This is the key. And until VA does something about it at the mouth of the bay we won't see large fish numbers rebound.

 

[ChrisD]

All that money to "save the bay" hasn't done all that much, except line some pockets.

Water quality issues can never be given an ”A” by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. If so, they won’t be able to fundraise and lobby lawmakers off of the issue.
PART of the problem of low YOY index, IMO, is the increase in the invasives - blue cats and snakeheads.

 

[remrug]

IIRC, that rockfish moratorium brought on an overabundance of rockfish spawn that decimated the young blue crab population and led to a crisis in the blue crab population.

Funny how we sometimes don't foresee the foreseeable results of our actions.

Remember the 70's ? There were small rockfish and crabs everywhere.

Technology made catching them easy for everyone. Families had more money to spend on toys .Profits were to be made. Over fishing became a problem. The construction runoff began and water quality and underwater grasses suffered. The bay will never be the same unless our population takes a nosedive.

 

[lazarus]

All that money to "save the bay" hasn't done all that much, except line some pockets.

It’s done a heck of a lot in terms of pollution in the bay. I am sure some has gone to line pockets, but both fertilizer run off and straight toxic crap is all down significantly compared to 20, 30 years ago.

 

[dist1646]

It’s done a heck of a lot in terms of pollution in the bay. I am sure some has gone to line pockets, but both fertilizer run off and straight toxic crap is all down significantly compared to 20, 30 years ago.

Done through legislation and regulation, both of which did not warrant increased taxation. The legislature gets paid to do this already.

 

[44man]

People are quick to point fingers

It’s Omega!!
It’s the watermen!!
It’s the charter boats!’
It’s the recreational fishermen!!
It’s the farmers!!

I am not saying the above groups have nothing to do with it

But in reality it’s the fact that there are to many people. To many people.

Period

They need jobs. They need to eat. They crap every day. That crap ends up in the bay treated or not, or thru the soil or as nitrogen. They drive and oils and salt and extra water runoff from the roads end up in the bay. They build hoses and more sediment and runoff. They grow super green grass, more nitrogen and nutrients. The boat and lose oil and fuels and garbage into the bay.

It’s to many people.

Too bad Covid didn’t kill two thirds of us. That would have helped tremendously.

Short of that the bay and the fish and crabs and oysters are gonna have a hard time turning around and being like “ the use to be” whatever that means.

I grew up listening to stories of the ebb and flow cycles of fishing and crabbing and oystering. How great it was before the oyster wars and how bad it was after wwII. personally I believe in the cycles and I also believe the bay being full of sewage and chemicals is fvcking everything up. And I have heard numbers as high as 90+% of the nitrogen in the bay coming from the Susquehanna coming down from Pennsylvania. Who knows for sure but one would think it would really be easy to figure out, if they wanted to do it. But they don’t really, not in my opinion anyway.

Did the moratorium in 85 help? I don’t think it hurt. We were catching more rock in 85 in hill nets than we had in 20 years but that didn’t matter. There were a LOT of small rock in 85. I am sure they grew up and I saw with my own eye big rock that we cleaned and filleted for sale full of small crabs so yeah they sure didn’t help the drop in crab numbers but no more than the blue cats and snakeheads are eating now.

What’s the answer? Get rid of 2/3rds of the people? Cut out farming? That might get rid of enough people. Get rid of watermen and charter boats? A 100% moratorium for ten years?? Maybe a 5 or 10 year moratorium on anyone using the bay or rivers or estuaries?

Or maybe we somehow make those north of the Mason Dixon line clean up their runoff??

Maybe we quit sending money overseas and we fix the sewage treatment plants do they actually work and don’t have spills or release effluent.

One thing is for sure, picking one group of people to point fingers and blame on won’t fix anything.

I wish I knew exactly how to fix it and fix it quickly but I do not. And neither does the government. Nothing that the government comes up with is likely to work.

I do predict the fish will do worse and then do better and then worse again no matter what. And I predict the government puts more and more restrictions on us and then takes credit if it works or points fingers at others when it doesn’t.

Well that’s enough from me.

End of rant

 

[John from MD]

Wow! Take a hot bath and a shot of Jack Daniels and call Doctor Hair in the morning. I'm sure it will all turn out ok.

 

[44man]

Wow! Take a hot bath and a shot of Jack Daniels and call Doctor Hair in the morning. I'm sure it will all turn out ok.

Maybe the problem is I have been sober for a long time lol

I really shouldn’t care anymore. I quit working the water, I don’t farm anymore and we closed up our shucking house and quit selling crabs and fish so I shouldn’t give two shytes, but I do. Deep down I do.

But it’s everyone’s fault, not anyone’s fault, if you know what I mean.

But I think I will take a hot bath and ease my pain a bit and look at pictures of the old days on my phone and rest up for work tomorrow and think about deer hunting Saturday and try not to think about stuff I can’t fix

 

[John from MD]

Maybe the problem is I have been sober for a long time lol

I really shouldn’t care anymore. I quit working the water, I don’t farm anymore and we closed up our shucking house and quit selling crabs and fish so I shouldn’t give two shytes, but I do. Deep down I do.

But it’s everyone’s fault, not anyone’s fault, if you know what I mean.

But I think I will take a hot bath and ease my pain a bit and look at pictures of the old days on my phone and rest up for work tomorrow and think about deer hunting Saturday and try not to think about stuff I can’t fix

That's the secret to sleeping better.

 

[Enfield303]

People are quick to point fingers

It’s Omega!!
It’s the watermen!!
It’s the charter boats!’
It’s the recreational fishermen!!
It’s the farmers!!

I am not saying the above groups have nothing to do with it

But in reality it’s the fact that there are to many people. To many people.

Period

They need jobs. They need to eat. They crap every day. That crap ends up in the bay treated or not, or thru the soil or as nitrogen. They drive and oils and salt and extra water runoff from the roads end up in the bay. They build hoses and more sediment and runoff. They grow super green grass, more nitrogen and nutrients. The boat and lose oil and fuels and garbage into the bay.

It’s to many people.

Too bad Covid didn’t kill two thirds of us. That would have helped tremendously.

Short of that the bay and the fish and crabs and oysters are gonna have a hard time turning around and being like “ the use to be” whatever that means.

I grew up listening to stories of the ebb and flow cycles of fishing and crabbing and oystering. How great it was before the oyster wars and how bad it was after wwII. personally I believe in the cycles and I also believe the bay being full of sewage and chemicals is fvcking everything up. And I have heard numbers as high as 90+% of the nitrogen in the bay coming from the Susquehanna coming down from Pennsylvania. Who knows for sure but one would think it would really be easy to figure out, if they wanted to do it. But they don’t really, not in my opinion anyway.

Did the moratorium in 85 help? I don’t think it hurt. We were catching more rock in 85 in hill nets than we had in 20 years but that didn’t matter. There were a LOT of small rock in 85. I am sure they grew up and I saw with my own eye big rock that we cleaned and filleted for sale full of small crabs so yeah they sure didn’t help the drop in crab numbers but no more than the blue cats and snakeheads are eating now.

What’s the answer? Get rid of 2/3rds of the people? Cut out farming? That might get rid of enough people. Get rid of watermen and charter boats? A 100% moratorium for ten years?? Maybe a 5 or 10 year moratorium on anyone using the bay or rivers or estuaries?

Or maybe we somehow make those north of the Mason Dixon line clean up their runoff??

Maybe we quit sending money overseas and we fix the sewage treatment plants do they actually work and don’t have spills or release effluent.

One thing is for sure, picking one group of people to point fingers and blame on won’t fix anything.

I wish I knew exactly how to fix it and fix it quickly but I do not. And neither does the government. Nothing that the government comes up with is likely to work.

I do predict the fish will do worse and then do better and then worse again no matter what. And I predict the government puts more and more restrictions on us and then takes credit if it works or points fingers at others when it doesn’t.

Well that’s enough from me.

End of rant

Quite a well spoken rant. I couldn't agree more. Nothing will get done until we decide just how many people can live in Maryland or on the earth. We don't know what the carrying capacity of the planet is but I think that it is obvious that 8 billion people is too high if everyone wants the standard of living that we enjoy in America. It's also human nature that no one is going to accept less in the future so everyone is going to want to come up to our level. I don't believe that is possible.

 

[44man]

That's the secret to sleeping better.

Thanks but rockfish ain’t causing these nightmares

But again the health of the bay is a nightmare all on its own.

Sometimes I wonder what the bay was like when my ancestors got here in the 1600. I have read about it but I bet what they wrote didn’t even come close to the beauty and splendor of it before all these people screwed it up.

 

[44man]

Quite a well spoken rant. I couldn't agree more. Nothing will get done until we decide just how many people can live in Maryland or on the earth. We don't know what the carrying capacity of the planet is but I think that it is obvious that 8 billion people is too high if everyone wants the standard of living that we enjoy in America. It's also human nature that no one is going to accept less in the future so everyone is going to want to come up to our level. I don't believe that is possible.

People are like fleas on this planet

Just like fleas on a dog, well a few don’t really bother the dog to much but at one point the snout of fleas gets high enough that it’s far more than a bother and at another point the number of fleas drags the dog down to a point where it’s hair falls out and it gets sicker and sicker. But if you put medicine on the dog that gets rid of most of the fleas then the dog makes a full recovery.

Just sayin

Now I have often wondered, if we continue shouting up the rivers and bays, will the people leave and go live other places? There’s plenty of land in this country and world but most people live within what? 100 miles of the coast or something like that? If we completely ruin the water will these people move away?

And if so, then will the rivers and bays recover?

Ain’t it weird what the crazy mind thinks about

 

[44man]

You guys are beginning to scare me. You're sounding like liberal lefties. Let's find a different direction in which to turn.

Which direction should I turn?

I thought having an opinion on something was ok? I guess not

I have been called a
MAGA republican nut
A right wing gun nut
A redneck nut
A filth farmer
Trade trash
An uneducated laborer who won’t turn out to be anything
A stupid hick
A drunk
A filthy waterman
A nazi
A fascist
A sovereign citizen
And a lotta things that I don’t repeat

But I have never been called a liberal leftist

So please explain, I really want to know what you mean

I am always touchy about farmers and watermen and charter boat captains and construction workers getting the blame for the health of the bay. I have spent my entire life working on the water and on farms and in construction. I have watched the health of the bay take a shyte during my short life, I have seen the decline, no decimation, of the small family farmer and I have seen construction jobs bogged down by the Maryland department of the environment making us do all sorts of things to prevent erosion and sediment control all the while I know towns where the old sanitary sewer and storm sewer are combined and that discharge overboard.

Yep

If there were less people we would have less problems and the bay would be better off.

If that makes me a liberal lefty to you, well I guess there’s nothing I can do about that.

Oh well