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Old 05-16-2012, 11:37 AM   #59
kmoose
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Slowcala, FL
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Re: Goliath Jewfish Redux

Quote:
Originally Posted by noles97 View Post
Jewfish do eat other "gamefish" species. I have seen it with my own eyes. I can not tell you what they eat when I am not there, because well quite simply I am not there. My guess would be that they do not normally eat grouper, snapper etc. and that they are a scavenger so to speak but that doesn't change the fact that they do infact eat "some" grouper and snapper. Please dont use the argument for the Jewfish's size on the fact that he must eat bigger fish to attain that size. This is a retarded argument! The Blue Whale is the largest creature on earth, look up what he eats in the Funk & Wagnall.

What they eat is not the question that should be asked however in my opinion. The question should be be, "can the species endure a limited harvest and still sustain a healthy population"? I believe the answer to this is a resounding YES! It is also a faulse statement to say that it is too difficult to track the number of "legally harvested fish" because a tag system similar to that of the alligator quota and permit system can regulate when, where, how, and how many Jewfish are harvested. There is no way to convince anyone with a brain that this could not be instituted in regards to Jewfish as well. If your concern is the illegal harvest of Jewfish that is different. There is no amount of regulation that will change some people's will to be an outlaw and all the Roy Crabtree's in the world wont change that.

As for the perceived decline in Gag and Snapper on these wrecks, I believe it is 100% the responsibility of HUMANS! I don't know that the following 2 statements constitutes proof but I challenge anyone to refute it:

I consider myself to be a very good fisherman. I have a commercial license, I am a licensed captain, I have made money selling fish and I have won money in several fishing tournaments. Regardless of how good a fisherman I am, I still can not find a spot by dead reckoning. The problem with wrecks is "they don't move", and once someone finds and marks it on GPS is is very easy to get back to. Ths was not the case prior to Loran A and C. In the 60's and into the 70's these wrecks did not get hit as much because morons like me could not find them without the assistance of electronics. Why do you think that it is that fisherman will not give out the numbers to "their" best spots?

So here is the statement, If you don't believe that it is humans that take the majority on the fish off of these immovable wrecks, please send me a pm with the GPS coordinates and if it is within 120nm of Carrabelle, Florida I will personally show you what a 36' boat full of motivated anglers can do in about 3 or 4 trips to "your" wreck!

In closing, I hope that the SE Fisheries folks move to adpot a tag system for Jewfish in the near future but I don't believe they will. I am also don't believe that I will get any PM's with coordinates because "we" are the ones cleaning the artificial reefs off. And finally I refuse to call them Goliath grouper, not because I don't like the name but because I am so sick of political correctness changing the way we have to treat every little aspect of our lives including something so stupid as the non scientific name of a damn fish!
Good post Noles, you and I are pretty eye to eye on this and we fish alot of the same stuff. I don't really care if they open up a harvest or not as long as it's limited to hook and line gear.

Do we need a harvest, I'm not sold on it so much as they are poached or deliberately killed and left for crab food more often then most would care to confirm. Do they impact the fishery.... compared to humans? I don't even think it's measurable... even if you counted the fish they steal or consume after release.

Due to the world we live in we must carefully consider what species we choose to target for harvest. One could say that porpoise or sea turtles could withstand a "limited" harvest. And through good scientific analysis a case could be made for such....... would pursuing such perpetuate spearfishing in a possitive light to the voting public? I would think not.

I believe I have more than a few years left to spearfish on this big spinning ball and would like my children and grandchildren to have the opportunity to do the same. Pursuing the harvest of a once exploited species doesn't fit into propogating that directive.
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