The REAL trawl numbers

BACK COUNTRY HUNTERS AND ANGLERS ACTION ALERT - www.backcountryhunters.org/ta...
Call your legislators!! - www.ncleg.gov/findyourlegisla...
As always feel free to call/email me with any questions or concerns. This was done a bit hastily so please feel free to correct me if you see a typo.
[e-mail]
[phone]
If anyone would like a copy of the Brown study please e-mail me.
Commercial landings data - www.deq.nc.gov/about/division...
Southern Flounder FMP Amendment 3 - www.deq.nc.gov/marine-fisheri...
Amendment 3 overview - www.deq.nc.gov/marine-fisheri...
Weakfish stock status - www.deq.nc.gov/marine-fisheri....

[@9JordanTaylor3]

Net trawling is our #1 issue in NC with our fisheries!!!

[@ianperna2173]

I always wondered why we allow netting in a estuarie? That Is where our fishery breeds and we net it. Does not make sense to me at all.

[@jamiesmith4041]

Cus they argue that they are not damaging anything by using big holes in there net. The government isn’t much help because they take kickbacks from the fishing industry. And the fines for them doing it illegally are not severe enough. I think there should be a habitual violator ticket and they pull there liscence

[@ianperna2173]

@@jamiesmith4041 why net in a nursery? It makes zero sense.

[@FishingwithBrewski]

@ianperna2173 the same reason humans do all sorts of things. Money. They catch about 10 million dollars worth of shrimp in the estuary. I have no issue with that but they also kill around 700,000,000 untargeted fish in the process.

[@ianperna2173]

@@FishingwithBrewski oh I know. Just netting in a nursery for our local species is so short sighted and detrimental.

[@scarpadog155]

"I'm tired now, think I'll go home" ---Forrest Gump

[@karlfiebich6031]

Cheap imported shrimp is the recreational inshore fishermans best friend.

[@auggyboy284]

Great information as always. Netting is our #1 issue here on the Chesapeake bay. NC and VA desperately need to have the laws changed

[@FishingwithBrewski]

Was just reading about VA opening the crab dredge fishery again. It's a winter fishery and primarily harvests female crabs.

[@danc9440]

Another powerful video. Thanks for continuing to get the word out!

[@haroldwilson7285]

Thanks again for your work. Come on guys lets get this done.

[@summerboy1958]

Unfortunately, y'all in North Carolina are not alone. Virginia is everybit as bad. What with menhaden harvesting and winter blue crab dredging, you wonder whose pocket is getting lined.

[@FishingwithBrewski]

I was JUST reading about them reopening the dredge fishery. It's so crazy because VA comm fishermen are the ones that will hurt the most there. This will concentrate a lot of short term $$ into just a few pockets while stealing the future of the blue crab fishery from all the rest. VA made this mistake in the past and then corrected it and now they've already forgotten, apparently.

[@FrankLadd]

Wow, you sure made it EASY to reach out. Took me less than 30 seconds. Thanks for doing this!

[@FishingwithBrewski]

That part wasn't me. The action alert was all back country hunters and anglers. I'd still recommend going to NC find my legislators and directly calling your reps as well. They're just people, and they live in your area. Bother them enough, and they should be responsive. If they're not, it's easy to look up their competition as well.

[@fowlintent]

Put a three-five year ban on trawling inside and watch trout/flounder/croaker populations boom.

[@FishingwithBrewski]

I've always heard that just eliminating them inshore would be good enough, but looking at the data, these things shouldn't be anywhere. The waste is incredible in the ocean as well.

[@michaelbrady4698]

I have emailed all the representatives and speaker from one of the earlier videos. I have contacted via the Back Country Hunters and Anglers link. I have contacted my local reps and those that hopefully will be elected to office in November. No inshore trawling, no MFC, no gill netting in NC waters. I will follow up with phone calls to these folks. Perhaps NC flounder numbers have a BROADER impact than just here in NC???

[@FishingwithBrewski]

Thank you! Keep the pressure on! Weekly until something is done!

[@atlanticocean640]

Being a commercial guy up north, any time you let the government regulate your fisheries. Nobody wins. Trust me

[@FishingwithBrewski]

I find it hard to disagree that the govt will often make a mess of things. Having worked for the federal govt my entire life, I can attest to having seen that first hand more than once. However, we do need an agency that is getting the big picture as individual fishermen just aren't capable of detecting an issue with a stock. Northern cod would be a great example of that. By the time we really start to notice an issue, it's too late.

[@atlanticocean640]

@@FishingwithBrewski well believe what you want to but 45 years dealing with the government and what it has accomplished is not in the favor of commercial or recreational interests. As far as the codfish there numbers are relatively strong even though feds say they are not. For years the science being used as a regulatory weapon was found to be wrong. The vessel used for years by the feds was using gear that would not catch anything. Trawl wire was as much as 150 longer on one side.making science look bad for codfish. And computer generated spots for research was mostly areas where codfish could not survive due to fresh water in the river. All of this was implemented into rule making and projecting to the public that it is a doomed industry. There is more codfish in the Gulf of Maine and beyond not because of regulations it’s because of fishermen improving the gear to target species that are more profitable without bycatch. I can go anywhere up north and catch codfish even when feds said different

[@Big88Country]

Great job as usual Ski!! How do we know this is all about politics? Look at the numbers and give me another reason they are doing what they're doing.

[@FishingwithBrewski]

Yea, man. It's not even good from a food production standpoint. If all those discards grew to marketable size, the overall seafood available from NC would increase dramatically. 10s of millions of pounds.

[@michaelg8642]

similar problem in Louisiana.. keep raising size limits on recreational fishermen while poagie boats dump tons of bycatch fish.. legislators fix: make them dump the fish further offshore so people don’t see it

[@FishingwithBrewski]

Yep. I've been following LA as well. The problem isn't really the comm fishermen so much as the lack of engagement by the recs. Regular folks that fish outnumber the industry 1000 to 1.

[@secretjourney4815]

True or false “trawling in an estuary is good for the environment. Nuff said

[@FishingwithBrewski]

Lol. I assume you've heard them actually say that before. I've heard it several times. One will claim that they don't disturb the bottom, and the next will claim they are "tilling" the bottom and making it healthier. What's crazy is that the ones saying this often truly believe it.

[@secretjourney4815]

@@FishingwithBrewski it’s not a forest. They aren’t clear cutting and re seeding lol.

[@FishingwithBrewski]

@secretjourney4815 yea, there's zero actual logic in the arguments.

[@jimrichards9072]

Policies made years ago by a senator with strength! Are hard to overturne. At the time he made the correct decision. However, times have changed drastically ( 20 yrs.) The point being ; the good old days are over unless thy simple suggestion s should be . To many college educated people are on the board and have no ideas of what the hell is going on because it takes the time to understand what has gone on as well as what is currently going on . My opinion would be get as many old people that have seen seen at least sixty years of the pamlico sound and its estuaries experience . Not all comical fishermen.

[@FishingwithBrewski]

I honestly don't think there is any hope for the MFC at this point. Myself, and many others, are pushing to have WRC take over all of it.

[@Eric-tv5tw]

Our recreational fishing representation is now playing cum-bi-ya with the NCMDF, which is in the back pockets of the commercial fishing industry. " Blame, no one just screw the rod and reel guy's" They lie with their hi-tech haul calculations and overall catch statistics.

[@keithandrews4073]

While fishing roughly the same number of days on the Roanoke each year, I've noticed a tremendous increase of the number of flounder I've caught in the Williamston area. 10 years ago, it was one or two a year. Now, I'm averaging 5 or 6 a week. Usually, it was a low water, summertime event, but I've been catching em in the dead of winter when the flow is up. I'm not talking about 10-14" fish, but 17 and 18" fish.

[@FishingwithBrewski]

2014 was the low point from stock assessment data. We've definitely had some recovery over that time period, so that sort of makes sense. However, you shouldn't be catching too many in the dead of winter since they spawn offshore in winter. We know that not all fish participate every year, but if you're seeing a lot, you should take that info to DMF. There are still a lot of unknowns in their spawning and movement habits.

[@jamiesmith4041]

When you gonna run for office cus you know without some serious money or political influence this will be hard to get done. I’ll vote for it though I just have to use your address lol

[@FishingwithBrewski]

I got out of the Marines specifically because my rank forced me to start playing politics. I'll do it if I have to, but it will be a last resort.