NE Lobster Population

[ScubaNorth]

My two issues are :
I have seen lots of people spearfish "shorts" of other species that had a minimum size limit. "Well, it looked big enough underwater".
The other was various poster's apparent lack of knowledge concerning the current plight of Striped Bass. I have worked very hard for the last six years with SF and other organizations in an effort to help protect and manage the Stripers for recreational fishermen. I guess it hit a nerve. I will be quiet now and will not post again about this subject.

Oh now I get it you are super striper save guy. Of course like most self proclaimed conservationist you would like everyone to subscribe to your limit and uneducated point of view. I guess since you are incapable of doing something right that of course no one else would be able to do it, because of course you are super striper guy.Various posters? Stew or M seem to be very up on the topic of local marine life. You saw a chance to make yourself feel superior and you took it, no shame in that, oh wait yes there is.

 

[ScubaNorth]

oops!

 

[pointdiver]

Wow, do you guys always snipe at each other like this on this board or is there history here?

My first big striper encounters were very cool as well, hope my kids and new divers all get to experience seeing this species, that were a rare sight when I first started diving in the 70's. But then I stopped spearfishing in the 80's as well, lost my taste for the kill. I just go to the fish market.

 

[Vtdiver2]

Personally, I have nothing against spear fishing, and see learning to judge a fish's size no different than having hunters judge antler size prior to shooting. Here in Vermont, a buck has to have a minimum of 3" antlers with at least one fork ( 3 pointer or larger). If you're not sure, don't shoot. Applies to hunting and spear fishing.
Another point, I think a previous poster has a good point, and a study should be done. Are fish learning to take advantage of lobstermen throwing back their small lobsters? Sharks have learned a boat motor means a chumsicle in the tropics, and rays know a boat motor means food at Stingray Alley, so it seems to me the fish in NE know a lobsterboat means a free meal. Perhaps lostermen need to change tactics and return small loster via a trap that can be opened and emptied at the bottom, to give the lobster a chance to get to cover. Considering how lobstermen are saying they are having harder and harder times making a living, it seems a no-brainer for them to want to look into this. Perhaps it's something that lobstermen and divers could work on jointly, helping to repair relations.
As for the personal attacks in this thread....let's keep it civil. You may not agree with the other posts, but it doesn't mean they are wrong. More often than not, the truth lies somewhere in between both of your views. Just my 2 psi.
C-Dawg

 

[ScubaSarus]

"Wow, do you guys always snipe at each other like this on this board or is there history here?"

Thats not really the case. Ever hear the expression.

"By being too right, you can be wrong" Well actually I made that up. And I'm guilty of it a lot of times.

By being too self righteous, its a turn off to most people becasue some times we act as if our stuff is the only stuff that doesnt stink ever and believe me it does.

Like I said I wont be throwing the first stone.

 

[pointdiver]

Forgive me if this was mentioned before, but the increase in the seal population must be an additional stress on the lobster harvest. I have never seen so many seals in the 30yrs I've dived New England.
I would think they are eating both the stripers and the lobsters when they can.

 

[ScubaNorth]

Wow, do you guys always snipe at each other like this on this board or is there history here?

I never throw the first punch but I also never roll over and play dead. Rent-a-reactionaries are plentiful on the board and tend to think that only the method that suits them is OK to use to grab a meal. Me I don't spear fish, fish with a pole only with my kids at the local pond and we catch and release. Lobsters have no real fear when I am in the water and I even catch and release sand dollars after showing them to the kids. I have heard many times that lobster were so plentiful in the past that they jumped into the boats and then cooked themselves or what have you. I don't see SSSG giving up lobster hunting even though we agree there is a decline to the point of it being an issue in the local waters.

 

[ScubaNorth]

Forgive me if this was mentioned before, but the increase in the seal population must be an additional stress on the lobster harvest. I have never seen so many seals in the 30yrs I've dived New England.
I would think they are eating both the stripers and the lobsters when they can.

Maybe we need a spearfishing season for seal also. How do they taste? Of course I am not serious. Wonder if this goes back to my original comment of a variety of factors being at work here. M is correct about the sea critters learning to react to boat motors. In Grand Bahama the sharks show up to almost any boat in the area of shark junction mostly when a motor is cut and then they hear divers enter the water. That of course is another thread.

 

[pdive]

Maybe it's worth a "grant" to study that?

Maybe you can write "The Secret Life of Lobsters Part II: Attack of the The Stripers"

 

[mfalco]

What would be the fun in spearfishing for stripers? At least using a fishing pole there is a challenge. It seems like stripers will swim righ up to divers.

I have never spearfished, so I don't know what it's like.