Seasonal Fishery for Swords?

[Broadbill-Pro]

Originally Posted by Ron.38 Special

Ever wonder why they call them Highly Migratory Species???????
All indications from th gulf PLL reports, and the action on the Charlseton Bump indicate that there are plenty of fish.

Ollie nd BP had great comments, but I do take exception to BP's inference that the fish were always here and we just quit fishing for them.
I have fished everyyear from 1976 to present, and BP, while you were traveling the worlds oceans, the fish were almost non existent off our coast for the quantities necessary to have a decent recreational interaction. Other competent anglers have verified my experience with similar stories. I know you think we have just one bad night in a tournament and quit fishing, but even Hogarth himself admitted that fishing pressue was the reason for the reduced catches.

Why do you think all you PLL's left the area in mass...It wasn't over the 30,000 lb trip limit.

Ron,

I'm a bit confused. If fishing was so poor on the FEC, then why was it necessary to ban PLL? I would think that losing $3000 per night would be enough incentive to elimanate the commercial sector?

"Decent Recreational Interaction" is that 6 to 10 strikes per night or 1 to 2 strikes per night? In my mind the later seems "Decent".

It would be very possible to believe that the sword population is "decimated" based on the FEC production the past 3 months and a pefect example of that being untrue is the fact that last July and August we saw the same poor fishing and then experience good times from Sept. to Jan 2008.

Fact is that there was not enough recreational effort post 1978 to make a determination on the stock, but the fact that PLL survived until the closure in proof that it was not all gloom and doom.

Yes, many did leave for greener pastures. Keep in mind that is was a developing fishery and those pastures were always greener than the FEC in regard to swordfish abundance before and after the FEC PLL fishery.

[rollon]

Originally Posted by frigate chaser

After getting skunked, without even a slashed bait, or a line cut by sharks for the past four months, I have been wondering about the state of the fishery off Dade County. It concerns me because our sets for swordfish have not seen a drought like this, and I am starting to wonder what variables have changed. Adjusting bait depths, glow light placement, drift lines in the gulf stream - starting to go mad. All this gear, strategy, and sonar technology is not being used by longliners in the Caribbean, yet they seem to be catching fair numbers (maybe using 900 hooks off Suriname gives them a better chance). The point is that my theory of a seasonal movement - more or less - may be a possibility. If that is not the case, it worries me that the entire fishery is being overexploited.
Is there anyone on the forum that could possibly point to some data indicating that this is not the case? It seems to me that swordfish are heavily harvested in many areas of the Western Atlantic such as Georges Bank and the Hatteras area. Anectodal reports indicate that some large size swordfish have been harvested in these places in the last few years, which would make me guess that the average size of landed swords has not been skewed downwards due to intense fishing. Does anybody know if the swordfishing off of Cuba has contributed to the decline (is anbody monitoring the quota)? Or maybe I am just a damn poor fisherman?

its not you bro - its the commercial fishermen fishing them to the brink again - happens when they can make a buck or 2.
R

[tunaman81]

Originally Posted by rollon

its not you bro - its the commercial fishermen fishing them to the brink again - happens when they can make a buck or 2.
R

Not quite. Fish just aren't in the area at the moment. Fishing was hot this past fall/winter.