Striped bass fishermen on the New Hampshire Seacoast have been having fun with an incredible summer time striper fishery due to large faculties of baitfish referred to as pogies (menhaden) which have drawn in striped bass to 50 kilos. Sadly, the wonderful fishing has additionally attracted poachers from throughout the border seeking to promote striped bass in Massachusetts.
On Monday, July 15, New Hampshire Fish and Sport Conservation Officers teamed up on the coast with Massachusetts Environmental Police Officers to research suspicious exercise in New Hampshire waters. New Hampshire has laws that enable for the leisure take of striped bass (at the moment 1 fish per angler, 28 to lower than 31 inches), however Massachusetts additionally has a industrial quota that enables permitted vessels to reap extra and bigger striped bass (15 fish over 35 inches per vessel) of their state’s waters.
Officers labored all through the night time, and by Tuesday morning, a number of offenders have been apprehended in New Hampshire waters with proof of taking striped bass to fill quotas in Massachusetts.
On account of the efforts, officers seized proof, together with fish and gear, to prosecute the pending expenses which embrace overlimits of fish, outsized fish, and the usage of gaffs. Additional investigation is underway as the 2 states work collectively.
Though the bust was effectively publicized on social media to discourage would-be violators, at round 3 pm on Tuesday, July 23, suggestions began flooding in via direct calls to New Hampshire’s coastal conservation officers and thru the NH Operation Sport Thief tip line reporting {that a} single boat with a Massachusetts hull quantity was catching and preserving outsized striped bass off the coast of New Fort and Rye.
The boat in query fled the world in an unknown course after a number of anglers yelled that they have been calling Fish and Sport. New Hampshire Fish and Sport Officers started trying to find the boat and included Maine Marine Patrol, Massachusetts Environmental Police, and native police to BOLO (be looking out) for the suspect vessel and operator. Portsmouth Police Division efficiently positioned him after he had loaded his boat onto a trailer and was within the act of ditching 14 outsized striped bass starting from 37 to 47 inches.
NH Fish and Sport officers carried out a radical investigation and prolonged interview with the person. Caught red-handed, he confessed that his intent was to promote his catch below his industrial striped bass allow within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Please report pure useful resource violations! In New Hampshire, contact Operation Sport Thief (OGT) at 800-344-4262 or use the app discovered at nhogt.org.
