Nat'l Saltwater Angler Registry

[Rainmaker]

As much as I hate when they add tax to my fun, I welcome this change. I have been complaining about the way the resources have been managed in the past. The closures, the slot limits, the closure of specific areas of the ocean. The data was not available to support all of this activity, and still is not. My complaint has been "find a better way to research".

I have seen folks at the boat ramp taking surveys and measuring peoples catch. (not to give out fines, although I see the too sometimes)

This looks like a chance for us to have some input into the data or for our data to be gathered.

I like the idea, I agree with the above comment. Anglers will tell fish stories. I hope they built in a fudge factor in the data processing. I also worry about what else they are doing with the data in the registry, but not so much.

Before we hang anyone, lets see what kind of results and what comes out of this change. I think we can all agree that some changes are needed. Maybe this will be a positive change and can be adjusted as needed to be something that helps manage the fish stocks. In nothing else it is something that will help the elected officials keep an accurate count on the fisherman and the votes thay may loose when they make a poor decision that affects us.

[MasterBaiter]

Here in the northeast there isn't much research that gets done before regs. are changed. It seems more times than not it is the recreational guys that get stuck.

For example, the Sea Bass season was cut short this year because someone "believed" the quota was met. There is no way to keep track or check on amount caught but apparently it was met. Funny thing though, I was out on the last day and the commercial fish traps were being pulled and re-set. So the quota was met for the recreational guys and not for the commercial guys.

[Rainmaker]

Thats exactly the point. It seems like the regs. have gotten changed by a guess for years. I don't think this will be the end all solution, but it shows that they are trying to make some changes to the way things are done. I welcome the effort, and will wait and see what the result is. Hopefully they continue to find ways to include the recreational anglers data and input more in the future.

I really think that the recreational and commercial limits and regulations need to somehow get put in line. How can anyone justify limiting the recreational guy to 1 fish and letting the commercial fisherman take thousands of pounds of the same species...