In Reply to: Re: Re: Killing these breeders should be illegal posted by Stuart on October 16, 2007 at 07:55:41:

its my dyslexia kicking in.
overfishing and a decline of certain species is a problem. but I don't think sport fishing is the culprit. look at the salmon run up in nor cal for instance. its in a world of hurt. but its not the fault of the sport fisherman. and the salmon fishers is about to be destroyed for good. check out this article I found on usafishing.com

I'm not ignorant nor rude. I agree in some ways what you speak about. I catch and release. and pass on some species. I had a chance to kill a trophy lingcod up in seattle a few months ago. it was 5+ feet. but I took a pass. why you ask... it was the right thing to do.. this is different in my eyes.. its a new record for christ sakes.. ho and I don't appreciate being attacked over this matter. its ok to disagree. you all are smart. using big words and proper grammer. think you can make a point without attacking. my god what have I dun. just trying to make conversation in our community. state my opionion. dont you think a better way of communicating would be to explain rether than attack.. whatever!!!

The PFMC did rule to close the rockfishing season from Pigeon Point to the Oregon border on October 1st ahead of the scheduled season closure of November 31st. Due to the slow salmon action the PFMC said that with the high fishing effort the sport quotas for many nearshore rockfish had been exceeded and that a high mortality rate of yelloweye rockfish was the reason for the closure. This will impact a lot of boats and anglers plans in the waters north of Pigeon Pt but not in Monterey bay where the season is to stay open.
In a nutshell this is NOT due to recreational angling effort but due to over pumping of the Delta waters by the Bureau and Wrecklaimation and the fact that Cal DFG is a spineless entity that only plays politics and does little to protect our fisheries. They spend countless hours and PR about the "latest poacher bust" but the reality is that the true reason our salmon fisheries are declining at such an alarming rate is the Feds and the State are over pumping our water recourses and do far more damage every day compared to what any poaching ring could do in years. Basically they bust the little guys and the king pins at BOR and DWR walk into retirement.
We should have plenty of salmon and many successfully hatched way back in 2003 and 2004 before this current drought when the river flows were plentiful. What has happened is that the over pumping of the Delta for the past five years has caused the food chain to collapse. "Naturally produced salmon" a term used for salmon that actually hatch in the river cannot make it to sea. With a 100 mile literal desert void of plankton that these little 3 to 6 inch fry rely on for food doesn't exist anymore and they can't survive such a long journey without these food sources. (just look at what has happened to the delta smelt numbers a species that depends on the same food sources the past few years and once one of the most common fish in the delta.) The over-pumping of the Delta has caused the entire food web to disappear and baby salmon with no fat stores can't make it through the confusing flows of the Delta and literally stave to death.
The salmon raised in hatcheries get a free truck ride to the Bay but are in such bad shape or over drugged that estimates are that 25% or more arrive DOA and the vast amount of the rest are eaten by predators such as striped bass and birds due to the poor release methods used by Cal DFG.
In the mean time the State lets environmentalists fund the studies for the MLPAs and were now surprised that recreational anglers have exceeded the sport rockfish quotas just ahead of the MLPAS coming into existence in our local waters?
Cal Fish and Games is run by a bunch of (mis) managers looking to get ahead, not rock the boat and keep their career's in an upward track. They don't manage fisheries, they manage their careers and they have mismanaged everything from the huge salmon kill on the Klamath (why didn't the state sue BOR for the largest fish kill on the west coast?) to the collapse of the Delta food chain and have done NOTHING to ensure at least minimal flows in our rivers and through the largest estuary on the west coast? One word.... POLITICS. The official word from DFG about the collapse of the Delta "we just aren't exactly sure but we are studying the problem. " They know EXACTLY what the problem is but the governor has tied their hands from doing anything about the increased water exports of the past few years. Isn't it strange that the Delta collapsed during the same period?
It's only through groups like the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance or the Friends of the River that any meaningful changes have been made. While sport anglers squabble and write letters for fishing seasons true leaders like the CSPA have won major lawsuits ensuring that water flows are reestablished. There is no sense in fighting for a "season" if that season doesn't have any fish. Our salmon fisheries are collapsing right in front of our eyes and the worse is yet to come.
There are NO shakers or undersize salmon anywhere along the Central coast this year and if you think that this season or 2006 was bad wait until next year. The only reason we caught any salmon at all this year and last was that the majority were migratory fish that moved through the local waters looking for food during the spring and early summer months. I expect that we will see a shortened recreational salmon season and more severe cutbacks to the commercial fleet in 2008.
In 2008 sport anglers will be targeting rockfish more often and in turn you can expect a short rockfish season again next year.
It's not recreational anglers that are to blame for reduced seasons but the complete mismanagement by Cal Fish and Games and the over pumping of the Delta that our fisheries are collapsing. I urge you to support groups like the CSPA and FoR.
We can no longer rely on Cal Fish and Game to manage, much less protect our fisheries. If they want to really save our fisheries they should hire a few lawyers because they sure don't let their wardens chase any of the true poachers like those sitting in over in the offices of the Bureau of Reclamation.
I'm done venting for now, I hope our reader's are not. Please feel free to post this editorial anywhere you wish.
Mike Aughney

guess we should stop taking showers and washing our cars!!! you wont catch me in a pissing contest @ here again!! reminds me of scubaboard. lots of that going on there.