Commercial fishermen trawling off of the Outer Banks of North Carolina are slaughtering thousands of striped bass in “culling” operations and tossing them overboard trying to keep larger stripers and remain under their 50 fish limit.
Both recreational anglers and smaller operation commercial fishermen have been aghast at the actions of the trawlers who are wiping out massive schools of stripers and discarding smaller fish to stay under the state 50 fish creel but maximize their profits.
A video of the striper carnage has been posted on You Tube showing some of the thousands of floating dead fish left in the wake of the trawlers. Outer Banks fishermen who are witnessing the fish kill have been taking to message boards and calling authorities to protest this striped bass massacre.
“It’s an atrocity,” said Captain Aaron Kelly, a top striper guide with over 15 years of experience on the Outer Banks. “It’s gone on before but I think this was the first time it was in front of such a large crowd.”
Captain Kelly said that the day before the video was shot he and the members of his charter followed one trawler for five miles leaving a long wake of dead stripers.
“It’s like they have an endless quota,” he said. “Under the actual numbers are so many dead fish. It’s a frightful waste.”
The striper trawling season is not set to close until this Saturday, January 20. The fishery can be closed earlier if a certain quota is reached, but the quota does not count the thousands of dead discards.
Captain JH Miller was on the water the day the video was made and called the scene “disturbing.”
“I’m not anti-commercial fishing in the least bit, but there is no justification for leaving miles and miles of dead fish out there,” said Captain Miller. “These were legal-sized fish just thrown away to die.”
Striped bass have to be 28 inches in size to be kept legally, and all of the charter captains confirmed that among the thousands of dead stripers were many that were over 28 inches and in the 15 pound range and higher.
Captain Ray grew up in the area and has fished the Outer Banks for decades.
“It’s happened before but this year is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said Captain Ray. “I saw three huge masses of dead stripers from Nags Head to Kitty Hawk. It would be so much simpler if they were allowed a certain amount of pounds and would come in when they caught that many. I have no clue about why they allow this kind of sickening discard.”
Because the trawlers are inside the federal 3 mile limit and not keeping over 50 stripers they may not be technically breaking the law by killing scores of dead fish and throwing them overboard in order to keep netting.
Both Captain Kelly and Captain Ray said the Coast Guard was flying planes and helicopters very low over the area and must have seen the carnage. The Coast Guard has been closely monitoring recreational and smaller commercial fishing boats during the striper season.
Captain Miller said he called the Division of Marine Fisheries hotline for violations today and was told no one was working.
“Even if they are not breaking the law you’d think the Coast Guard could get on for just the pollution like they do the menhaden boats,” said Captain Ray.
The charter captains said that some recreational boats simply gaffed some of the legal stripers and took them aboard to count towards their limits so the fish would not be wasted.
“Commercial fishermen talk about protecting their livelihood all the time,” said Captain Kelly. “But these big stripers they’re throwing out dead, that’s their livelihood right there.”
For more fishing articles see my blog A Dash of Salty and my website Surf and Salt
Comments
They have been doing trout this way for years!!!! That's why the limit is like it is. Will never get anything done w/fisheries or our politicians due to threats and money they get.
Amazing the recreational fishermen have NO NO voice or power in NC
The solution is as obvious as a dead fish. Change the limits to pounds and be done with it. This is poorly thought out government regulation at its finest.
Great story. I hope it gets the point across to the right people.
I agree that a weigh limit would work, make it so #1. I have seen this before where thousands of dead fish litter the sea, while many of us recreational fishermen and women would love to have caught just one of these beauties.
we see the bycatch of stripers offshore on cape cod. no fault of the draggers fishing for other species, but just as painful to see. I think you should lobby for gear changes and weight quotas. let the mesh size or some other gear modification cull live fish and let them keep the rest till quota is full.
The hook fishery here is working well, 40 fish limit. No high grading allowed but if your in the fish and like to gamble, catch and release in favor of heavier fish can work out good.
Please put a stop to this horrible 50 largest fish that they catch in a day law
Thank your Congressmen for making such laws. It's not the fault of the fishermen, they are just like the rest of you trying to make a living. Working harder than the average American.
It is the fault of the dumb*ss fisherman that take advantage of the law. If it was legal to run pedestrians over on the road, would you do it? And then blame someone else for it? gtfo
this is a slap in the rec anglers face they distoryed more in a few hours than charter and privite anglers caught in the good week we had . Band the 50 fish a day . Keep the vidio cams rolling this is the only way to even the score
What a bunch of short sighted morons--both the fishermen and the legislators. The state legislature needs to step in and overturn their misdirected laws. Rockfish should not be harvested commercially at all. The commercial fishermen should switch to guiding recreational fishermen who only get to keep 2 to 3 rockfish . Guiding fees range from $300 to $500 a day for driving a boat--now that's an honest living!
Now that's smart, take away a great eating fish for the masses that don't go fishing.
I don't like the fish kill either, but just so you are aware, recreational caught fish outnumber commercially caught fish 4 to 1.
ncdmf know how many rock are killed and estimate how many are discarded by commerical fisherman they also know in the course of a year hook and line fisherman kill twice as many thats one reason they still have a commerical season. the rockfish is a recovered fish and will continue to recover mainly because of the 3 mile line where 75% of the fish stay and are not caught. they stay on the outside of that line mainly because on weekends theres 300 to 400 boats chasing them around and they cant handle the outboard noise and sonar noise. the biggest bulk of the fish will stay on the side thats (safe) and the fish will continue to do well a grow. be carefull about what you wish for on the trawlers if they shut it down the hook and line will follow!
These are the General Assembly reps for the NC coastal counties. Send them messages and fill their inboxes with our concerns. They represent the places we spend our money on fishing,
can be found at http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/
Tim.Spear@ncleg.net
Bill.Owens@ncleg.net
Bill.Cook@ncleg.net
Norman.Sanderson@ncleg.net
Jean.Preston@ncleg.net
Pat.McElraft@ncleg.net
Harry.Brown@ncleg.net
George.Cleveland@ncleg.net
Bill.Rabon@ncleg.net
Susi.Hamilton@ncleg.net
Thom.Goolsby@ncleg.net
Dewey.Hill@ncleg.net
Just emailed them all! THANKS!!!!
I've had my suspicions of what was causing the flounder and sea trout numbers in the middle bay area to so terrible....now I see why. The size limits and creel limits are rediculous...19" flounder and 1 trout a day....give me a break!!! The fish never make it up far enough in the bay with these Commercial bozo's practice of fishing....
Thanks for breaking this important story. Keep on top of it and changes will come to better protect our beloved stripers and all fish and animals. I picked up this story reading The Fisherman. I agree with the comments that common sense should prevail over law and no reasonable or rational person can defend the slaughter of so many precious fish - a great American resource, the Striped Bass (or Rock Fish as y'all like to call them down there in the South). The argument that excuses these men because they are trying to make a living makes no sense at all. They are destroying the seeds of a future living by murdering so many fish that will not be there in years to come. What in the wide world of sports is going on here? It's kind of scary my fellow Americans.
I live in Massachusetts and frequent the coast for stripers regularly in the summer. At the northern end of their migratory route the effects are starting to really show. I've watched the draggers and gill netters destroy one of the best cod fisheries in the world, and the stripers are next. I won"t even start with The Blue Fins. Protest in any way you can. We obviously Know our government can't be trusted to help when money and corporations are at the table. Prize every fish you catch and be sure to get a picture, so your grandchildren can see they actually did exist.
Unbelievable! I can not believe how bad the commercials have gotten. It is bad enough we are the only state still gill netting and now this. There won't be one fish left if we let the commercials have their way. Email the governor and the other worthless politicians.
governor.office@nc.gov; tim.spear@ncleg.net; bill.owens@ncleg.net; bill.cook@ncleg.net; norman.sanderson@ncleg.net; jean.preston@ncleg.net; pat.mcelraft@ncleg.net; harry.brown@ncleg.net; george.cleveland@ncleg.net; bill.rabon@ncleg.net; susi.hamilton@ncleg.net; thom.goolsby@ncleg.net; dewey.hill@ncleg.net; louis.daniel@ncdenr.gov
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