[Jfreeman]

We followed a commercial longline from nancen all the way towards widows peak while trolling. We never found either end after 9 miles of trolling along it. I'm wondering what the regs. are for longlines in the gulf, was it legal or not.

Everyone knows that the deep water fishing has been slower than usual this year, not even a weighable marlin brought in at the POCO. The tuna fishing has also been very slow. If longlining is taking place nearby, it could definitly be the reason.

 

[myprozac]

My parents made a trip out this weekend to boom/nansen and came back with one really really small yft. They caught a few nice hoos so that made the trip but the yft arnt there. We are planning on taking extra gas and running further out to auger or hoover next time.
Jeff

 

[Bret]

Man,thats sad to hear.. they kill lots of billfish!! did you report them???

 

[Mustake]

I say shoot 'em!!!

Longlining should be illegal world wide. That is the most wasteful way of fishing known. I laughed when I watched "The Perfect Storm". I know it sounds harsh, but it really ticks me off. Greed is the killer of most fisheries and longlining is nothing but greed.

 

[jt2hunt]

would be a shame if that line got cut, on accident!

 

[mahiseeker]

Hey Jeff, When I lived in Hawaii in the late 80's & early 90's, it was a real problem w/longliners. Far east boats, would come over & rape the Hawaiian waters for all the ahi's they could. These ripoff artists would have mother ships far enough offshore, where the lonlginers would offload to. The mother ships would gut em, ice em, & somehow have them in Japan, in a matter of hours. Hawaiians, as well as the fishing guys were all up in arms about it. It finally waned after there were no more fish, & the boats just moved to another fishery. It could be, that these longliners, are in the gulf, after seeing fishing reports out of Venice, & the longrange boats we have in Texas. If it's not stopped soon, it could ruin the gulf fishery real soon. Of course the NMFS, will blame the recs, & we'll end up with another fishery debacle.

 

[steve35]

If it's not stopped soon, it could ruin the gulf fishery real soon. Of course the NMFS, will blame the recs, & we'll end up with another fishery debacle.

Mahiseeker, you hit the nail on the head! That's exactly what's going to happen.

 

[BEER4BAIT]

Good point Wade.

 

[Ono Loco]

the year 2015 - I remember when there were tuna in the gulf, no way, yep it's true.. we could even catch billfish back in those days. Gee, dad that sounds like alot more fun than catching triggers and spades.. yep, them were the good ole days but you know we had to save the jobs so the fish had to go..

 

[SkeeterRonnie]

lets all go together and hire a foriegn militia to take them out!!

 

[texasjellyfish]

A single, large high-quality fish can be worth thousands of dollars on the Japanese market. http://www.fishingnj.org/techll.htm

 

[myprozac]

lets all go together and hire a foriegn militia to take them out!!

I like this idea
Jeff

 

[lite-liner]

Maybe high seas piracy does have a place; come next year Tx is gonna need another long-range boat after losing the BIG E! Lol!
Txjellyfish: I get your point, but I'm curious why you would post a link promoting/justifying the longliners, US-based or otherwise. I remember the
damage done on the Pacific coast & How many years it's taken to come back
after the Ban in the 80's
How does a regular rec. angler get a job as an "observer" on 1 of these boats. I"ll bet the bycatch is waaaaay worse than portrayed.
I hope I'm dead & gone by the time the oceans are delegated to nothing more than a giant fish-farming operation, but I"m afraid it's happening too fast.....
just my own stupid blind-arsed opinion
-Brian