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Originally Posted by Broadbill
I still tend to believe Rec. fisherman can put a signifigant dent in certain fish populations.
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I agree with the "certain fish populations" but I dont think swordfish fall into that category. I mean Kingfish and any fish on the reef certainly do because anybody could and does make it out to the reef. And these fish get hammered everyday as they are condensed into a small area and genrally dont travel to far outside of their "boundaries". Swordfish however could be encountered anywhere from a mile outside the inlet all the way to the Bahamas and anywhere from the top of the water column to the very bottom of the ocean all the way up the coast and all the way down the coast......this is an immense amount of territory for the recreational fleet to cover and taking into account weather and the distance to the stream being out farther N and S of us, I just dont see the rec fleet as having to ability to seriously put any sort of measurable dent in the population of fish
I know not everybody has reported every fish over time........but has anybody reported a fish lately.......what was the number at???? I believe that number represents all recreational kill catches since 2002..........not a very big number considering all the boats that are out there fishing the entire length of the coastline. 1-3 fish per boat is not happening even on the best of nights and even of those 1-3 fish per boat alot of them are released and hopefully swim on to eat a squid on my hook another day. In fact our kill number is so small that prior to the last year or so the governement didnt think we exhist.......until they started seeing the economic side of things and not just the catch data.
Dolphin get absolutely hammered down in S. America and Central America.....there is no mystery to that. Being that they are a migratory fish as well, it goes to show that overfishing an area that a migratory species travels through defnitely does have an effect on the species.
In the end, I believe nature is so complex that it has an answer to alot of what man throws at it. If regulations are put in place in S. Amrica and Central America dolphin fishing would recover in a short matter of time the same as swords, mullet, redfish, ect........and would nearly always be capable of taking the recreational fishing pressure to an extent. It when man comes up with something like Gill nets, long lines, ect that there is a problem.
Anyways.....just my .02. I have enjoyed hearing the other viewpoints, helps me to shape mine.
Johnny