At this point I view the killing of any fish as “legalized poaching”.It’s a hard position to “sell”, especially to the locals who have killed fish for generations, but it’s as clear as the nose on your face….if you don’t do something now, it might just be too late. With the extremely low returns, EVERY fish is important to increase spawning numbers.
It is clearly time for a manditory catch and release on all salmon AND GRILSE in your system. It’s not just about the dollars and cents that trouble me, it’s the apparent lack of respect people have for a failing fishery to do what is necessary to try to save it. You have a hard decision to make to keep people like me from finding another place to spend their money. Think how it makes a visitor feel when he spends his hard earned dollars, buys a “catch and release” license, and watches locals kill their alotted fish, along with their entire families allocation while the numbers of fish are seeming to disappear. Without good numbers of fish in the river, visitor numbers will follow. It is clear to me that the numbers of salmon (and grilse) in the system have dropped to perilous levels. Having travelled the roads to the Miramichi for 30+ years from N.J., the past two years have been a troubling ride home. It’s not justifiable and as such we shouldn’t have to concede. If history is any indication, once closed…it’s closed. I would only caution that one wants to be very careful with what they ask for. I remain adamantly opposed to any closures for this reason but fully support the efforts being made to protect our trout and salmon stocks.Īlways difficult to try and find some middle ground and I certainly respect your position on this. Difficult to argue the fact that recreational angling for other species in these waters has had a negative impact on this population…(I for one would dearly love to see the hard data that exists to support such a claim).
I would have seen it as being far more appropriate to suggest the current practice of no angling or targeting of the species during this time frame. This would appear to be almost contradictory to some of the earlier and very well made points including that of a thriving population with more spawning fish than “ever before in living memory.” This with no such closure having previously been in place.
Why a recommendation for closure of any part of the river to recreational angling for other species as part of a proposed management plan for striped bass? Great comments and suggestions on gear restriction(use of barbless hooks), gill and trap net fishery impacts, etc…
0 kommentar(er)
