Good news!!

[Flatsfish B]

Just got my confirmation on my last fish and her's what is good.

From 10/14/05-10/30/05 there were only 11 fish reported
we all know that that is way off from what was caught!

from 10/30/05 - 12/18/05 there were 60 fish reported!!!!!!!!

I think the help of this forum and others is helping people report fish and realize the importance!! Keep up the good work!

Barry

[RiskTaker]

Flatsfish B:

I guess you got your current number from a fish landed this weekend. What is your reporting number?

I was curious to know whether tournament reports of fish get assigned reporting numbers the same as the typical call-in reports.

[sleepwalker]

I just reported my fist fish. The Noaa guy calls back and asks a few questions, gives you a confirm number and and that's it. He did offer some insight as to what could happen with these reported numbers. He indicated that at some point, the rec catch and the com catch could each be given an allocation. If they allocate the rec catch on the numbers that have been reported, it will probably be a very short season.

I'm new to swordfishing, but not willing to give it up. I've been out on several nights on other boats. We all know that everyone is catching and not reporting. Those that are not reporting are stealing from us in the future.

Repot, it's easy!

MKM

[NightCrawler]

well I have to admit i don't do a good job at reporting ops: ...on this site but i do report to NOAA
here's my number from sundays catch 12/18 2005 #FL741

[Nick C]

That new is not good IMHO!
There were over 50 fish Boated on the night of December 10th correct?

PLEASE report your catch!

[bakerboy]

Damn that is a load of swordies

[Flatsfish B]

Yea but do the tourtament fish that get reported to the tourtament get numbered? if so that totally sucks and i take i back i was not thinking of the tourtment.

[Flatsfish B]

Originally Posted by RiskTaker

Flatsfish B:

I guess you got your current number from a fish landed this weekend. What is your reporting number?

I was curious to know whether tournament reports of fish get assigned reporting numbers the same as the typical call-in reports.

Yea i posted the report on the FS forum. I went 1-3 lost 1 big fish boatside sunday night.

[Broadbill]

All of the fish landed in the tournament were accounted for. When I called mine in he asked if they were caught in the tournament and didn't assign me a number. That is why you called in the length of your fish to the committe boat once boated.

[Flatsfish B]

Originally Posted by Broadbill

All of the fish landed in the tournament were accounted for. When I called mine in he asked if they were caught in the tournament and didn't assign me a number. That is why you called in the length of your fish to the committe boat once boated.

Ok, so that is good news, that means all the tourtament fish did not recieve numbers so that would be a increase since last month! We didn't get to call in a fish, we had no line left :twisted:

[RiskTaker]

Flatsfish B:

Yes, I suppose that there is some good news here. But if we had an allocation based on these numbers, that would not be so good at all! But I tell you what, if an allocation were ever assigned that would certainly clam up all voluntary reporting about as fast as you can say "ALLOCATION". After all who would report their fish if you could only take 500 or a 1000 in a year (FL), unless they were compelled to do so, ie. being checked on the way in or it is now December and the quota is not completely filled.

But if you look at an average number of individual reports around 30 per month for 2005, 40 in December is above average but does not seem very exciting. So it is hard to say if more people are really reporting due to better "advertising to report".

~341 Swordfish reported this year to date (2005), excluding Tournaments
40 Swordfish reported in December, 2005, to date, excluding Tournaments.

SWO12042005FL701 - SWO12182005FL741 = 40 fish reported in December, to date by individual anglers not fishing in a tournament.

Plus, there were another 54 fish reported from the "properly sanctioned" Hydroglow Swordfest Tournament.

This amounts to 94 fish reported in December so far, not to mention all those fish that will be caught on "the EVE before Christmas Eve".

From the number sequencing, it is obvious that tournament reported fish do not take up and SWO reporting position. I send Drew a PM to inquire just to be sure.

From the beginning of the year to date:

~SWO01??2005FL400 - SWO12182005FL741, there were approximately 341 swordfish reported, to date, excluding Tournaments.

Last year in 2004:
(xxx fish reported in 2004), I am fishing for a piece of data that will provide that number (SWO01??2004FL???). Will update post if that data can be obtained from somebody. My guestimate is about 200 as a SWAG.

I do not have access to the actual data directly (what NMFS possesses), but am able to come up with some very close approximations with spotty data points that is posted from time to time.

So posting an occassional reporting number from time to time will help with this information. Perhaps that is public record but I do not know at this time.

[Ron.38 Special]

Tournaments and their catches are reported separate from our recreational catch and are actually classified differently because they were in a tournament.

They all go against the quota, and are all recognized as non-commercial catches by NMFS. I believe right now we are still reported under the incidental catch.

In one way, the tournament reporting is much better since it counts and reports all releases. Our recreational reporting does not include evidence of the continued release of pups in these waters.

While the 50+ fish reported was a great night, the important fact is that you can't catch these keeper fish without releasing a bunch of pups, and Drews tournament actually had more releases than catches when you put in the unreported releases that many boats had.

Its important that NMFS recognizes this fact because the reason we have all these bigger fish is the several years of longline closure to reduce the juvenile fish kill.

Great News, the closure is working and we better remember that if commercial longline gear was ever let back in, it would wipe out the juvenile fish again.

When you report your fish, ask Greg to put the number of your undersize releases in the comment column.

We must make sure they realize that its not just an Ocean full of keepers.

[Ambitious]

Good idea Cpt Ron, we will also mention our releases to Greg on reporting our landings.

I know I will get s**t for this idea but what about requiring the NMFS catch number before posting up pics Mike? Probably a bad idea but it would certainly hold everyone accountable that wants to post their catch.

Anyways, glad if the peer pressure is helping and if we some day are faced with a recreational allocation (like I belive bluefins have) we are gonna need to get the numbers closer to reality or see our season reduced to not much of one (as the previous posts suggest).

[Flatsfish B]

Originally Posted by Ambitious

Good idea Cpt Ron, we will also mention our releases to Greg on reporting our landings.

I know I will get s**t for this idea but what about requiring the NMFS catch number before posting up pics Mike? Probably a bad idea but it would certainly hold everyone accountable that wants to post their catch.

Anyways, glad if the peer pressure is helping and if we some day are faced with a recreational allocation (like I belive bluefins have) we are gonna need to get the numbers closer to reality or see our season reduced to not much of one (as the previous posts suggest).

I agree, but problem is you don't get your number until a day ro sometimes 2 later. I usually post a report when i get home. But i think you are onto something

[RiskTaker]

Ron:

As usual, you made some very good points that expand beyond the importance of simply reporting, to the higher-order and more important aspect of maintaining a healthy sword-fishery.

And yes, some VERY GOOD NEWS, if we see the average swordfish landing weight slowing increasing, along with a healthy supply of release numbers ta-boot.

Certainly, there must be some correlation to the number of keepers (landed) and the number of juveniles released, if only that data could somehow be deemed important enough to obtain and properly managed.

Your example of the last Hydroglow Sword WinterFest drives that point home very concisely: 54 fish were boated yet another 59 of them were released. Hopefully, a very high percentage of those released have fully recovered and are continuing on their way, for another day. I suppose that would be a completely different story if the shorts were hooked up on a long line set.

Note: I have tried offering release data, along with actual landing(s), to (Greg at the Tampa NMFS office) and he has not been eager to take that information. But that was about a year ago that I last tried. Perhaps now it may be catching on a bit more.

The number of reported releases may actually be more significant than whether a fish was caught with a Circle-hook or a J-hook if the assessment of the health of the swordfish stock is a legitimate objective. Or maybe the recording of released fish is a mute point as long as the formidable longlines don't fish theses waters.