Fish advocates: Capt. Dave Monti of Warwick, RI and Patrick
Paquette of Hyannis, MA visited Capitol Hill last week to advocate for the fish
and recreational fishing.
Bills in Congress put fish at risk
I was in Washington, DC this week
with fishermen throughout the country advocating for the fish. The fishermen I was with met with Rhode
Island and Massachusetts senate and congressional offices to gain their insight
and update them on important fisheries issues.
The Rhode Island senators and
congressmen do a good job when it comes to fisheries. In fact Senators Reed and Whitehouse have
been on the forefront of not only fisheries issues but important related
climate change issues such as rising water and erosion of our coastline,
warming water and its impact on fish and fishing. We are in good hands in
Washington.
Key issues discussed included the
impact of recreational fishing.
According to a NOAA study, recreational fishing has a $200-million
dollar annual economic impact on the State of Rhode Island. However, three bills introduced in congress
(with versions soon to be introduced in the senate) would have a major long
term impact on both commercial and recreational fishing.
House bill H.R. 200, introduced by Representative Young (Alaska) and
H.R. 2023, introduced by Representative Graves (Louisiana) would both
liberalize the Magnuson-Stevens Act (the fishing law of this nation) allowing
more fish to be taken out of the ocean for the short term financial gain of
some.
These short term gains would be
possible by eliminating the need for Allowable Catch Limits (ACLs) on rebuilt
fish stocks. A quick assessment shows
that if these bills passed, possibly all but 30 of 400 species would have Allowable
Catch Limits. Fish stocks have been
rebuilt in this nation in part due to Allowable Catch Limits. To eliminate them on stocks that have rebuilt
could take away the gains we have made to rebuild stocks and allow species to
become overfished before catch limits can be put back in place.
These bills do not put fish first,
they do not grow fish to abundance for all to catch and eat but rather put fish
stocks at risk for overfishing making them available for short term gain for
some.
New Jersey summer flounder bill
New Jersey Congressmen LoBiondo and Pallone sponsored
a bill H.R. 1411 that would prevent NOAA Fisheries (NMFS) from implementing
regulations that would reduce summer flounder harvest limits.
Summer flounder spawning stock has
been down for six years in a row and coastwide anglers have overfished. With
this declining biomass and overfishing the Atlantic Marine Fisheries Commission
(ASMFC) that regulates summer flounder coastwide found it necessary to reduce
commercial and recreational harvest levels by about 30% in 2017.
The Magnusson-Stevens Act has given
NOAA Fisheries the authority to manage the fish to grow them to abundance for
all. Under this federal fishing law over
40 fish stocks have been rebuilt. Weakening Federal fishing laws would allow
states motivated by self-interests and short term gains to manage fish with
their best interest at heart and not the best interest of the country or the
fish.
More to come as these Bills and
others if they develop further in Congress.
Snug
Harbor used tackle sale this weekend
Rods, reels, combos, gaffs and
lures are just some of the equipment you are likely to find at the Sale. Sell or buy used gear or update your tackle
with new equipment. Elisa Cahill of Sung
Harbor said, “It’s a great opportunity to sell items and upgrade to some new
technology. The way the sale works is that if you sell your used tackle at our
sale you give us a 20% commission, or you can use 100% of the sale price
towards new equipment you buy from us.
We ask that anglers ideally get their “for sale gear” to us before
Saturday so we have ample time to get it ready for the Sale.”
For information call
401.783.7766. Snug Harbor Marina is at
410 Gooseberry Road, South Kingstown.
Where’s
the bite
“Freshwater
fishing
for trout is starting to taper off as ponds and lakes stocked by DEM are
starting to get fished out a bit like Willet Avenue in Riverside.” said John
Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle.
DEM is scheduled to restock select ponds with trout (and golden Gold
Trout) in time for Free Fishing Weekend
May 6th and 7th. However,
fishing for other species such as largemouth and smallmouth bass has been good.
Angler Dareus Boragine fished the Stafford Pond, Tiverton this week and landed
a three pound smallmouth bass using a Dirty Jig. He fished Spectacle Lake near his home and
landed a nice carp this week too.” Dave
Henault of Ocean State Tackle said, “Trout fishing continues to be good with
large fish 17 to 20 “ being caught at Only Pond, Lincoln and Silver Spring Lake
in South County.”
Tautog
fishing
is receiving mixed reviews. Most anglers
and bait shop owners are reporting a very slow bite. However, some customers of the Tackle Box in
Warwick are landing fish. Dareus
Boragine of Cranston, a sales associate at the Tackle Box, said, “We have had
keeper tautog caught in the upper reaches of the Providence River and at
Jamestown and Newport.” Elisa Cahill of
Snug Harbor Marina said, “We have sold some crabs but have no reports of fish
being landed.” Ken Landry of Ray’s Bait
& Tackle said, “Customers have had negative results tautog fishing, no one
has reported catching anything.” John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle
said, “Three customers fished the Conimicut Light area this week and had no
luck. They caught one short fish. Others fishing the Wharf Tavern from shore
got no bites at all.” The hope is that
the tautog bite will improve with the warm weather this week.
Striped bass fishing
for school striped bass has been fair.
John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle, said, “Customers have
caught striped bass in the upper portions of the Providence River.” “School striped bass are in the lower Bay,
just north of the bridges out in front to Allen’s Harbor but the fish have not
worked their way in mass into Apponaug or East Greenwich Coves yet.” said Ken
Landry of Ray’s Bait & Tackle. Elisa
Cahill said, “There have been more fish on the West Wall (of the Harbor of
Refuge) this week and they have been getting larger but it is still hit or miss
depending on the day that you fish.” This week Csin and Omar Curi hooked up with
school bass to 25” in Greenwich Cove this week.
They were using jumping minnow lures.” said Dave Henault of Ocean State
Tackle. Fly fishing expert Joe Lombardo
said, “We fished the Narrow River Saturday and Sunday and found good
numbers of striped bass. These fish where not resident fish but fresh ocean
bass. Not only good numbers of fish but some of these bass where in the
20” class, very nice on 7 & 8wt fly rods. We also caught white perch
anywhere from 8” to 12” great bait for the bass along with the blueback herring
and alewife’s running the river now. I used a streamer that was a good 5 to 6”
long to mimic the white perch. This fly was tied with yellow over olive colored
craft fur with a little gold flashabou between both colors. Intermediate fly
lines work well.”
Cod fishing was off this week. Still a lot of bait on the fishing grounds so
party boat captains fishing for cod are optimistic.
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