Maryland to shorten 2024 rockfish season

[outrider58]

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

But the solution is/can't be killing people.
Don't take it to heart.
We definitely need to rethink population solutions.
The Chynese are fine with mass extermination. It's their only solution. Life is cheap to commies.
There has to be a better way...

 

[Muleskinner]

The Chynese are fine with mass extermination. It's their only solution. Life is cheap to commies.

It is absolutely not their only solution. They have their eye on expansion..think

Lebensraum​

 

[Melnic]

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

Not sure how much of the extra $20? for my save the bay goes to it but i"m a fan of the Oyster replenishment program.
I give a yearly donation to them

Oyster Restoration

In support of re-establishing this keystone species, CBF has established facilities and programs in Maryland and Virginia devoted to restoration of Crassostrea virginica.

www.cbf.org

Not sure how much of the $ goes directly to action or not.

I give more $ to OCRF cause I KNOW a large % goes to dumping reef materials. I read the guys facebook posts and see the photos of it happening almost daily in the summer. That program I have seen the effects and the fish (Sea Bass) are PLENTIFUL out there.

Ocean City Reef Foundation

www.ocreefs.org

 

[outrider58]

It is absolutely not their only solution. They have their eye on expansion..think

Lebensraum​

Well FJB has provided an open door for them...and their disease.

 

[44man]

But the solution is/can't be killing people.
Don't take it to heart.
We definitely need to rethink population solutions.
The Chynese are fine with mass extermination. It's their only solution. Life is cheap to commies.
There has to be a better way...

Yeah, well they can all just get the hell away from me lol.

Once upon a time we had epidemics like smallpox and the plague naturally removing very large numbers of people out of the ecosystem. We have “progressed” so that doesn’t happen. It’s unnatural.

So this is what we get.

Shitty water and dying marine life.

Now, if the states around the bay , and especially north of the bay all fvcked their farmers and watermen ( and I know most northern tributaries don’t have watermen) like md does and all the sewage treatment plants were forced to actually produce their released water so it was good for the bay and all these small towns who dump sewage overboard were forced to fix that problem, then maybe the bay would actually get cleaner and the oyster and crabs and rockfish would all come back and thrive. Maybe.

But I have no faith in that ever happening. So I wait for the natural reset.

But don’t worry, I never take what others say to heart. I have been told I have no feelings. I don’t believe that to be completely true. I would be sad to see 2/3rds of the population gone but I would know it would leave the world a better place. Especially if I were not in it.

But I will try and think about deer hunting Saturday. But alas our 275 acre farm is now surrounded on 3 sides by houses. Not so long gone are the family farms that once surrounded us. Those farmers were pushed out by developers and the tobacco buyout.

It seems I can’t get away from all these people lol

 

[Mark75H]

I agree, the actual bay health depends on the woods, grasslands and marshes that are being filled in and paved.

Accidental sewage spills that occur on monumental scale from the POPULATED side of the bay are ignored, but AG runoff is always a headline. AG is so tightly regulated that runoff from it essentially no longer is possible outside of relatively minor accidents.

 

[Jim12]

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

Most insightful post of the day.

 

[Worsley]

I just want to be able to go off roading in Maryland like I can in Arizona.

 

[Park ranger]

Dude, 44man- please don’t believe everything you read. They will lie to you.

 

[44man]

Dude, 44man- please don’t believe everything you read. They will lie to you.

Dude, I read specification’s, drawings, MDS, and a tiny bit of news. I assume it’s the news which I am reading and believing lies. Please help me out and tell me what lies I am reading and believing.

 

[Slackdaddy]

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.

You nailed it,, The Elephant in the corner no one wants to talk about.
The earth can not absorb the pollution/by products of the number of people on the globe.

Besides the pollution aspect,, the quality of life.
You can no longer throw a canoe on the cartop and get away from it all, the rivers look like carnivals there are so many people. Many nice rivers require permits that have a 10+ year waiting list or a 2-3% chance drawing. Many wilderness areas require limited permits, etc, etc.
30 some years ago a man could sell his suburban house and buy some land in the mountains out west,, those days are over unless you are mega millionaire.

 

[Muleskinner]

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

It's none of those things and it's all of those things. Bottom line is it's the DNR that is suppose to keep up with the conservancy of the state's ecosystems and as always they have failed miserably. I belong to a Striped Bass conservancy called Stripers Forever. They keep tabs on the harvest and biomass in all of the migratory states from NC to ME and monitor the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commision's actions on the subject and every year report on the annual meetings. Every year it's the same. ASMFC makes regulation that all the affected states must adopt and every year Maryland complains about the new regs and tries to weasel their way out of changing their regs, most of the time the commercial regulations. More than 60% of rockfish are spawned in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake and it's tribs. The last 5 years the spawn numbers were negligible and yet Maryland did very little to try to "fix" the problem. Now they are going to be forced into enforcing strict regulation because they failed to act. It's EXACTLY the same scenario that caused the moratorium back in the 80s.

The issue as I see it is the Commerial Watermen's Association has a strong lobby in Annapolis and they need to be ignored...but that's not going to happen..

So bottom line, Maryland isn't going to do much beyond what the ASMFC forces them to and they will try everything they can get away with to ignore those regs..There is a VERY simple method for fixing this and it may come down to it..

MAKED STRIPED BASS A GAMEFISH So there can be no commercial harvest..

Stripers Forever

www.stripersforever.org

 

[44man]

It's none of those things and it's all of those things. Bottom line is it's the DNR that is suppose to keep up with the conservancy of the state's ecosystems and as always they have failed miserably. I belong to a Striped Bass conservancy called Stripers Forever. They keep tabs on the harvest and biomass in all of the migratory states from NC to ME and monitor the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commision's actions on the subject and every year report on the annual meetings. Every year it's the same. ASMFC makes regulation that all the affected states must adopt and every year Maryland complains about the new regs and tries to weasel their way out of changing their regs, most of the time the commercial regulations. More than 60% of rockfish are spawned in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake and it's tribs. The last 5 years the spawn numbers were negligible and yet Maryland did very little to try to "fix" the problem. Now they are going to be forced into enforcing strict regulation because they failed to act. It's EXACTLY the same scenario that caused the moratorium back in the 80s.

The issue as I see it is the Commerial Watermen's Association has a strong lobby in Annapolis and they need to be ignored...but that's not going to happen..

So bottom line, Maryland isn't going to do much beyond what the ASMFC forces them to and they will try everything they can get away with to ignore those regs..There is a VERY simple method for fixing this and it may come down to it..

MAKED STRIPED BASS A GAMEFISH So there can be no commercial harvest..

Stripers Forever

www.stripersforever.org

We could just make possession of a rock fish punishable by death and hope they make it. That way it’s 100% fair. The watermen and the sportsmen can’t have them. You know a 100% real moratorium.

While we are at it let’s put a 100% moratorium on all fish, crabs and oysters.

That’ll show those horrible watermen. And it will surely bring all marine life back to historic levels. And that way there’s no reason to clean up the sewage treatment plants.

Let’s ban farming too. Those nasty shytes that do that ruin the water and have fields of mono crops and cows and pigs and they pollute the water and stink.

Let’s ban hunting and trapping too.

Those mean old hunters and trappers. They don’t deserve to be allowed to harm nor eat those animals.

I say let’s ban and put moratoriums on everything someone doesn’t like to see happening.

Oh wait, leftist liberals don’t like my guns or my truck.

Oh well, I guess it’s for the common good.

Ohhh, I know what to do!!

Let’s make snakeheads and blue cats the official game fishes of md and then we can make believe everything turned out the way we wished it would be.

I am starting to really believe knocking 2 out of every 3 Marylanders in the head with a hammer would make things better. I volunteer to be first in line.

I no longer actually care what the government does because I am just gonna do what I want for the little bit of time I have left anyway.

The above is the sarcasm, kinda.

 

[LAC_MD]

We all saw the warning lights on the dashboard… the trophy size kept getting smaller without a slot, better technology to target them, more information sharing to find them, more culinary pressure to harvest wild ones and the list goes on.. and nothing really done to protect their prim food source( menhaden)

 

[joppaj]

One related side note... I keep hearing that snakeheads are major competition. That said, I've never seen snakehead available in any market. It's only served in a few restaurants, none of which I'm going out of my way for. If this thing is competition for our natives and as tasty as most people say, why aren't we fishing it commercially?

 

[LAC_MD]

One related side note... I keep hearing that snakeheads are major competition. That said, I've never seen snakehead available in any market. It's only served in a few restaurants, none of which I'm going out of my way for. If this thing is competition for our natives and as tasty as most people say, why aren't we fishing it commercially?

I see them in the high end grocery stores in Baltimore County. They are quite good once you fillet them and get past the python looking skin…

 

[Sampson]

I see them in the high end grocery stores in Baltimore County. They are quite good once you fillet them and get past the python looking skin…

Wegmans and Conrad's Seafood have them.

 

[joppaj]

I see them in the high end grocery stores in Baltimore County. They are quite good once you fillet them and get past the python looking skin…

Wegmans and Conrad's Seafood have them.

Interesting, guess I need to go further afield.

 

[gtodave]

It's none of those things and it's all of those things. Bottom line is it's the DNR that is suppose to keep up with the conservancy of the state's ecosystems and as always they have failed miserably.

The issue as I see it is the Commerial Watermen's Association has a strong lobby in Annapolis and they need to be ignored...but that's not going to happen..

So, who do you think they are lobbying to in Annapolis? To DNR? No, they are lobbying to the governor. As I said before, DNR does NOT pick which regs to enforce...the governor does. If DNR were truly in charge of sustainability of our resources, they'd be in a lot better shape. And they're be a lot more pissed off watermen and commercial enterprises.

 

[ChannelCat]

I can tell you for a fact the Maryland MGA does not give a rats A$$ about water pollution or the Bay.

This!!

The Kremlin on the Severn is much more obsessed with snuffing unborn babies in the womb and infringing on God given rights than it is with conservation of natural resources.