Ray...... you don't agree that the fact that the TAC for the whole coast going down the last 3 years isn't a conservation issue?
Totally get that the biomass we can pool from is reduced. I also get that the IPHC takes care of the necessary conservation by managing the overall TAC.
What I am trying to convey here is that Nothing we are doing after our TAC has been allocated provides any positive influence on fixing that. We are still forming a season around taking as much of our TAC as we can.
Sport caught average WPU is way below that of almost any size on that options sheet. At the end of the day it is a small percentage of our all ready small 15 percent that is in the BIG ( over 80lbs lets say)range anyway. Hardly measurable in amongst 4-7million lb TAC
All we are doing is manipulating numbers here. At the end of the day the numbers come out to be the same anyway (If the right choices are made). None of this dose any measurable good toward rebuilding the biomass beyond the IPHC restricting the TAC in the first place. It dose however kick the crap out of rec fishers and rec businesses by making it so heavily restricted that the enjoyment for many is being taken out of it.
All I can say is. I have spoken to as many casual sport fishers as I can. When I ask them what they think of all this ,the overwhelming majority has told me the same thing.
" You guys are making it way too complicated. If there is less fish available then lets take less fish. Just open it up, tell me how many fish I can keep and close it wen it runs out. Quit making it so complicated that it makes me not even want to go through the hassle anymore."
This is what I get almost every time I ask . And these are folks who love to fish.These are the folks we need to keep introducing fishing to the next generation as a wholesome and good form of recreation. Oh and these ever more less interested folks are the same ones we will be trying to recruit to help fight for more of the TAC when we finally get back to the actual cause of all of this.
Anyway that' s what the average Joe tells me.