Don't understand the ban on shooting some fish species

[waynel]

No. Still no decent size fish (as Chris alluded to with Red Snapper) and very few overall, certainly not enough to make a trawl worthwhile.

As an aside, I fished the last season of cod where you could make any money. 1980/1981. I chose to go in the navy instead of continuing my life as a commercial fisherman. That year my uncle rigged his boat for purse seining for pogey and herring. That kept him going for another 8 years. They are now mostly gone too. When I started in 1976/7, we gill netted, long lined, and rock hopper trawled. We killed species one by one. As was stated above, Lobster are doing fine, and are regulated by the fishermen themselves rather than the government. Dogfish are likely OK, but I'm not sure anyone is sure about that. We used to throw them away when I was fishing. Now, it's probably in your fish and chips.

Good point about Lobster fishermen. That's why you can't walk into just about any supermarket and see a Lobster tank.

 

[fmerkel]

When I was a kid and still fished, the catch was hopefully salmon. Mostly we caught dogfish. We were taught by the older men that the dogfish were to be killed because they ate the salmon. So we did.That was back in the 60's. Salmon were well on the way out by then. It turns out the older men didn't know what they were talking about.But, back then I'm not sure if too many people did.

I've been diving in Puget Sound and the Salish Sea all the way up to God's Pocket 20 years, probably 1000+ dives. I can count the number of dogfish sightings on my hands, I don't need my toes. Another species with slow growth and a very low reproductive rate. About the only fish that has kinda bounced back here is Ling Cod, and the season is so short its a joke. There is a very specific size range, kind of 'middle' to spare the juveniles and large female spawners. As has been pointed out a lunker female can be multiples more effective at reproduction than as many smaller ones. I've personally seen that with egg mass sizes.

Rockfish are showing some promise, but that local fishery has been closed a long time. It takes the fast growing species 20-30 years to reach reproductive maturity....barely. I've yet to see an adult Yelloweye Rockfish on scuba. Apparently you could get huge ones free diving back in the 40-50's. Now you pretty much have to be a deep tech diver.

 

[waynel]

When I was a kid and still fished, the catch was hopefully salmon. Mostly we caught dogfish. We were taught by the older men that the dogfish were to be killed because they ate the salmon. So we did.That was back in the 60's. Salmon were well on there way out by then, and it turns out the older men didn't know what they were talking about.

I've been diving in Puget Sound 20 years, probably 1000+ dives. I can count the number of dogfish sightings on my hands, I don't need my toes. Another species with slow growth and a very low reproductive rate. About the only fish that has kinda bounced back here is Ling Cod, and the season is so short its kind of a joke, plus there is a very specific size range, kind of 'middle' to spare the juveniles and large female spawners. As has been pointed out a lunker female can be multiples more effective at reproduction than as many smaller ones.
Rockfish are showing some promise, but that fishery has been closed a long time. It takes the fast growers 20-30 years to reach reproductive maturity. I've yet to see an adult Yelloweye Rockfish on scuba. Apparently you could get huge ones free diving back in the 40-50's. Now you pretty much have to be a deep tech diver.

I can relate. Back in 1969 when I played linebacker for our local middle school team, the coaches would come around and make us eat salt tablets. At practice that afternoon, during the water break they would feed us more salt tablets. Man, we've come a long way.

 

[cgmaster]

I feel that if you don't catch it yourself you don't need to eat it. The problem is all the commercial fishing people in the mid west eating snapper and other fish. If you want sustainability make the price so high for storebought seafood people cant afford it.

A local ecosystem can't support all the commercial that supplies to the rest of the world.

There is no good answers except less demand

 

[bamafan]

I have a home in Panama City Beach, Fl. even though I travel for work. I am in PCB dodging the lack of power in South, Fl. I went to a local beach bar and they were advertising Parrot Fish Tacos. I have shot a lot of fish over the years but Parrott Fisg isn t one of them. Anyone else encountered eating Parrott Fish?

 

[sea_ledford]

I have a home in Panama City Beach, Fl. even though I travel for work. I am in PCB dodging the lack of power in South, Fl. I went to a local beach bar and they were advertising Parrot Fish Tacos. I have shot a lot of fish over the years but Parrott Fisg isn t one of them. Anyone else encountered eating Parrott Fish?

Hugely popular in Hawaii. To the point you very rarely see parrot fish there.

It's funny in Hawaii they love parrot fish, but won't take snapper. In the Bahamas they love snapper, but don't take parrots.

 

[SouthFloridaMermaid]