Wild Striped Bass

[ngatti]

Why must NJ be the only state that still bans the commercial fishing and sale for consumption of Wild Striped Bass. No Problem in Conn, RI and NY.

Why us?

Fishmongers can have their liscenses pulled for selling it in NJ. Restaurants acn be fined for serving it. But the same fish vendors can sell the fish out of their Jersey warehouses to restaurants in NY!

Unconfirmed rumor has it that the ban, implemented with good reason during the Whitman administration, is still on the books due to the powerful sportfishing lobby in Trenton. The fishery has returned in spades. Why can we not still serve this fish?? At least let us serve fish tagged from out of state.

I have served it. But my stock is coming tagged from RI. I think the fish police are probably too stretched to bother raiding the kitchen of a club Chef in a small town in the far Northeast of the state.

Nick

[Fat Guy]

Why don't we have a West Side Highway running the entire length of Manhattan?

[ngatti]

Why don't we have a West Side Highway running the entire length of Manhattan?

What did I tell you about not sharing

Nick

[chopjwu12]

That all comes from bruce springstein. He is a huge actavist when it comes to game fishing. Since strippers are one of our number one game fishes he lobbied for the fish not to be served in restaurants and that it not be commercially fished. So they put a ban on it for bruce and others who were with him on the matter. i dont know how long ago it was but those are the reasons i heard.

[Rail Paul]

I thought some of the restriction problem was derived from dioxin findings in fish off Long Beach Island and Seaside.

There was a lot of offshore dumping from a chem plant near Toms River back in the 1970s leading to restrictions on commercial catches.

It's good to hear a species has replenished itself, given a few decades.

[Liza]

Nick, I'd be happy to serve as getaway driver...Can I put you in touch with Alex Villani of Blue Moon Fish? He catches it in the Sound and sells it in NYC. I'll gladly bring some out for you this Saturday...

[ngatti]

Nick, I'd be happy to serve as getaway driver...Can I put you in touch with Alex Villani of Blue Moon Fish? He catches it in the Sound and sells it in NYC. I'll gladly bring some out for you this Saturday...

Liza, I'm always on the lookout for great fish people. Thanks for the info. PM a number and I'll give a call.

Right now I'm using Pierless out of Maine. I also use True World, a japanese company out of Elizabeth NJ. I also buy some (very carefully) from Slavin.

Say chop,

The Slavin people say that they sell to the Ryland Inn. Is this true?

PM if you've a chance.

railpaul,

The statutes won't let you serve the fish, even if tagged from pristine out of state waters. It's what i find so irksome.

Thanks all

Nick

[tautog]

Actually it is a matter of economic maximization. A sport fisherman pays about $55 a lb for the striped bass they harvest and commercial fishing puts much less money into local business and state and local governments. Hundreds of charter and party boats emply people. Fisherman buy lots of expensive gear, buy coffee, newspapers, sandwiches, etc. Striped bass were destroyed by commercial overfishing and thus few sportfisherman ever want to see this fishery opened up again in New Jersey. Don't think Bruce Springstein was ever much of a factor, never saw him at any of the meetings, nor has he donated to any of the NJ sportsman's groups. The fact that NJ restaurants cannot serve wild bass originating from other states is troubling to me.

However I understand the reasoning behind the decision, i.e. commercial fisherman will cheat and catch bass here and say it came from Rhode Island. Since NJ has little manpower to check out the origin of the stripers, they banned it all to protect against cheating. Nevertheless there is plenty of wild striped bass being served in Chinatown and New Jersey shore restaurants that comes from illegal sales by hook and line fisherman. What ultimately should be done is the creation of artisanally farmed fish like producers are doing with produce and meats. That way a higher end product can be created for the few Americans who like flavor in their fish, w/o harming the multi-billion dollar recreational fishing industry. If they fed farmed fish more natural feed, they would taste wild.

[chopjwu12]

Actually one of the biggest reasons farmed fish taste like shit isn't only from what they are fed. The whole fishes life cycle comes into play of why it tastes so dam good. Why is farmed fish flesh so freakin soft people ask. Its because a farmed fish has no real room to swim and develop muscle and flavor. That my friend is one of the biggest reasons farmed fish taste like shit not because of what they feed it. Dont get me wrong either im sure that plays into one of teh factors i wont argue with you there. But its not even close to the biggest factor. That is why some farms are changing the way the farm raise salmon. They are starting to build mock rivers and such to develop this flavor and texture. But with all that comes a preety penny on the fish.

[ngatti]

    However I understand the reasoning behind the decision, i.e. commercial fisherman will cheat and catch bass here and say it came from Rhode Island.  Since NJ has little manpower to check out the origin of the stripers, they banned it all to protect against cheating.

So now the poachers can sell their illegal catch *everywhere* but New Jersey.

It's a silly law with very little reasoning behind it. Quite unenforceable from the supply side also. That is unless the NJ fish police have figured out a way to stop and inspect all the FEDEX and UPS trucks at the GWB *before* they enter the state to deliver their contraband RI, LI, CT, and Mass striper.

All wild stripers I've seen have been tagged by the states of origin.

Nick