How much longer till its demise?

[BroadBillin]

longtime lurker but had to ask a ?....how much longer do you really think our incredible swordfish fishery will sustain itself this time around? with a measly 47 inch min size, mud darts for a stupid pic, recs allowed up to 4 per boat, charters 6, headboats 15, buoys idk?, and now constant 24/7 pressure with electric reels (ps- the boys in the keys are hand cranking not pushing buttons)...seriously this cant be good on the stock. I for one love sword fishing and want it to be around for a long long time but I just cant see it surviving much longer. does anyone else feel this way or is it just me?

[ContenderWays]

nice first post buddy

If you think the recreational sector in South Florida will be responsible for the demise of swordfishing, you need to do some reading around here first. No offense, but we are just tooooooo small a number in the pond, no matter how many fish we kill on electric reels or whatever.

Hell why dont we kill mako's because they are killing our sword stocks. thats joke btw

However I do agree with your post where 4 per boat is stupid. I think it should be 1 per boat (but again the 4 per boat is avail for quota purposes). I'd like to see the headboat do 15 with rod/reel

[Capt'n Shane]

The only reason I can see putting 4 fish in the boat is if it were a larger head boat like the C.M.D.. You can only store and eat so much fish. No reason to be a pig.

[RiskTaker]

Originally Posted by BroadBillin

longtime lurker but had to ask a ?....how much longer do you really think our incredible swordfish fishery will sustain itself this time around? with a measly 47 inch min size, mud darts for a stupid pic, recs allowed up to 4 per boat, charters 6, headboats 15, buoys idk?, and now constant 24/7 pressure with electric reels (ps- the boys in the keys are hand cranking not pushing buttons)...seriously this cant be good on the stock. I for one love sword fishing and want it to be around for a long long time but I just cant see it surviving much longer. does anyone else feel this way or is it just me?

Broadbillin:

I feel your same concern and would very much like to avoid the roller coaster ride for swordfish supply. This may be a good table topic for future discussion but the amount of pressure that the recreational sector as well as the Commercial buoy sector, as we know it today or in the past year or two, does not amount to more than 10% of the North Atlantic (USA) harvest, nor does it yet fulfill the quota.

Yes, we must keep a careful eye as to what is going on, and make adjustments as necessary. So many of these fishing pressures are so new, that we have no idea as to the REAL ramifications. They do seem daunting: but bear in mind that the FEC is not currently pressured with PLL style fishing: as that style alone puts the greatest dent into Biomass removal and/or dead discards. But keep in mind the amount of biomass that is being removed from the ocean. If that exceeds historical records, then we have an immediate red flag. Otherwise, it seems like the momentum is compelling us to catch a quota this year or next. (Frankly, that would be some good news to bring to the table at the ICCAT meetings, because we could possibly preserve our historic share.)

But then the Onus is on us to petition that ICCAT reform in some of its ways. It is only too obvious with their example of the Blue fin Tuna management, that there lies some significant opportunities to improve their awareness and judgments.

One other thing, the recreational fishery is generally geared to a per person limit. Consequently, I have no objections, at this point in time, with a 1 fish per person limit, up to 4 per vessel. With this limit every angler can catch one, or at least get a lot more fish than otherwise possible. I have been offshore fishing quite a few times in the past 3 years and the days/nights when you can put more than two fish in the boat are rare indeed. You may as well enjoy when the lucky trip does happen and you can get up to 1 per person. Personally, I like to practice the "let the littler ones go once you have a fish in the boat already", philosophy. But bigger ones than you already have are welcome to come aboard at any time.

As a suggestion, we should also get into the habit by trying to release a very large fish if there is already fish in the boat. We know that the large swordfish over 200# are mostly female fish and they produce larger quantities of eggs. But it is very difficult to say No when you have a big fish on the line. With that said, I think that when tighter restrictions do come again: we should back off to 3 fish again as well as limit a vessel to only one fish over 70" per day. Additional fish would have to be between 47"- 70". I like this concept: I do not like a slot regulation, for all swordfish.

Broadbillin, now that you have come out of the closet, or lurker mode if you will, you may as well stick around and share some of your posts with the rest of the gang. There is nothing worse than being a fly on the wall when you can help stir the pot of stuff that attracts flies: just like everyone else.

[Jesslyn]

Just wait until that rec fleet can buy a permit for $20.00 to sell there swordfish, YOU AINT SEEN NOTHING YET.

[Another Grand]

Originally Posted by Jesslyn

Just wait until that rec fleet can buy a permit for $20.00 to sell there swordfish, YOU AINT SEEN NOTHING YET.

Originally Posted by Ron.38 Special

I think NMFS should open up rec sales of fish and let us all cash in on this money swimming by..............

Gotta be careful what you wish for......

[Tal-Jen]

How did O come up with these numbers? If the average number of bouy guys fish 12 to 24 hooks, then that would be a number of 83 to 42 bouy guys a night. I do not honestly think that there are that many guys bouy fishing. The way he makes it seem, is that there is a small armada of bouy guys every single night.

[quack quack]

Tal even if it is 10 times the true num it still shows how small the num is compared to full on long line operations.

[Uncle Buck]

RT... I don't like the slot idea for swords either. A big enough fish can fight ya for hours. And when they finally come boatside, it's because they're spent. That can't make for an optimal healthy release. Plus, who really wants to drag a 200lb+ fish around by the bill, waiting for it to "come back to life". That can't be too safe either.

[Tal-Jen]

Quack, Agreed. But it seems that everyone is always trying to make the worst case what everyone sees. I can't see 50 to 80 bouy guys fishing in such a little area. They would have all sorts of problems just trying to keep up with THEIR gear, let alone trying to fish them effectively. As the beast says, I am just trying to get people to think for themselves, and not be told what to think.

[quack quack]

I agree with ya.Even though we can't see 50 buoy guys out front NMFS would like to.This Geo political quota crap is the driving force behind this carnival.At this point we are a bunch of puppets and our strings are getting pulled in a way we do not want to go.So we need to find a big pair of scissors to help us out.