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View Full Version : Who Stole The Bait?????????????


Screen Name
05-24-2004, 09:48 PM
This weekend, I enjoyed the company of one of my old dive buddys, Bruce Myers. Bruce is one of those detail oriented Engineer guys, who is pretty observant.

Experienced fishermen and divers know that a big bait show on your spot most often means the big fish will be there, since bait is what they eat.

Our conversation on the way back from the Grounds was "where is the bait"? It is obvious that there is a lot less bait now than there was ten and twenty years ago, which would of course mean there will be fewer fish..........unless someone thinks that the bait follow the fish rather than the fish follow the bait.

So, anyway, as I drove to the weighin on Sunday AM I listened to a fishing show, and sure enough, diving came up, and.......the captain cited an experience where a bad diver had jumped his spot........which is bad for the image of diving, but as we know there are cones that dive as well as fish. But shortly thereafter, they talked about bait, and how you can buy 50 pounds for cheap and so on, and always take a bunch of bait, and be sure and chum........and on and on.

Which brought rise to these questions........where does that bait come from, what effect does it have on fishing, and what are the scientists and regulators doing about it?

Does the bycatch from shrimping affect this? Are there any efforts to reduce this? Are there any efforts to get fishermen to conserve bait?

Screen Name
05-25-2004, 06:45 PM
So, then John asked everybody, where do you think all the bait went? Do you think it would be a good idea for our conservation minded folks to focus on that, since..........that is what fish eat? :D

Denny
05-26-2004, 08:01 AM
The frozen bait is coming in from foreign sources. It aint local.

Spear One
05-26-2004, 08:18 AM
Unrestricted use of Purse Seins all through the 1970's and 1980's decimated the local schools of Thread Herring and Sardines. It was finally shut down with the net ban (at least in state waters). I believe it (purse sein) has been eliminated in federal waters as well. The bait scools have yet to recover IMO.

Spearooo
05-26-2004, 09:00 AM
I think those nets play a huge role. Larval fish must be desamated while still in the grass bed by the shrimpers. I think the US would do a huge service to the world by tightening the net bans and doing ouur best that unsafe practices like all the ones that are illegal be stopped. ie, adivise contries that allow dynamite and crow bar and rape netting type harvesting to outlaw these pratices. and go after illegal netters not dive boats. It would be great to extend the current net ban to the whole hemesphere. The far eastern fleets are rapping the ocean at an alarming rate and less developed countries don't have the resources to stop them from coming within miles of the coast. The global weather patterns are also crazy. Wonder if all that $&it big sugar dumps in the gulf has anything to do with all the gumbo....
Im joining FRA shortly....
after all we are the ones who sees first hand the state of the ocean, not all that Dr. Ault bull...