Proposed 2024 Groundfish Regulation Change Summary (3/22/2024)

Every party boat I've been on in the past has had a descender on board.  The mates will descend a fish for the angler.  The majority of them use the simple upside down milk crate with 10-15 lbs of lead on it.

I have only been on one party boat in the Bay Area and while it did have a descender (one attached to a fishing pole), it sat unused as the boat left a wake of floating canary and other rockfish. I hope your experience is more typical than mine.

The mates on the Queen of Hearts out of Pillar Point were adamant about descending.  If someone tossed a small rockfish back with barotrauma, the mate would clearly express his displeasure with humans.  I, too, hope that's more typical.

Every party boat I've been on in the past has had a descender on board.  The mates will descend a fish for the angler.  The majority of them use the simple upside down milk crate with 10-15 lbs of lead on it.

I have only been on one party boat in the Bay Area and while it did have a descender (one attached to a fishing pole), it sat unused as the boat left a wake of floating canary and other rockfish. I hope your experience is more typical than mine.

The mates on the Queen of Hearts out of Pillar Point were adamant about descending.  If someone tossed a small rockfish back with barotrauma, the mate would clearly express his displeasure with humans.  I, too, hope that's more typical.

Some years back I remember the captain on the Queen of Hearts scolding some customers on the boat about letting gophers go. It seemed a little harsh when a moment of patient explanation could have accomplished the same thing.

Lots of freshwater folks are raised on catch and release as well as always letting the small ones go, and lots of those people don't realize the issues with barotrauma and floating fish from the briny depths. They are just understandably releasing small fish, since that's the ethic they were raised with, and trying to catch bigger ones.

If you shell out some hundreds of dollars for a rare party boat trip, it's kinda understandable you might not want to keep babies or get yelled at by the staff. Just another perspective.

Every party boat I've been on in the past has had a descender on board.  The mates will descend a fish for the angler.  The majority of them use the simple upside down milk crate with 10-15 lbs of lead on it.

I have only been on one party boat in the Bay Area and while it did have a descender (one attached to a fishing pole), it sat unused as the boat left a wake of floating canary and other rockfish. I hope your experience is more typical than mine.

The mates on the Queen of Hearts out of Pillar Point were adamant about descending.  If someone tossed a small rockfish back with barotrauma, the mate would clearly express his displeasure with humans.  I, too, hope that's more typical.

Some years back I remember the captain on the Queen of Hearts scolding some customers on the boat about letting gophers go. It seemed a little harsh when a moment of patient explanation could have accomplished the same thing.

Lots of freshwater folks are raised on catch and release as well as always letting the small ones go, and lots of those people don't realize the issues with barotrauma and floating fish from the briny depths. They are just understandably releasing small fish, since that's the ethic they were raised with, and trying to catch bigger ones.

If you shell out some hundreds of dollars for a rare party boat trip, it's kinda understandable you might not want to keep babies or get yelled at by the staff. Just another perspective.

In my experience, the mates briefed passengers on what to do if they threw one back and it floated.  I agree that education over anger is the right way.