Why Commercial Fishermen Allowed More Lobsters Than Sport Fishermen

March 6, 2014

Question: Why are a small number of commercial lobster fishermen allowed to use thousands of large enclosed metal traps to catch lobsters to sell for money? This doesn’t seem fair when sport fishermen who just want to catch some lobsters to eat are restricted to either open hoop nets or diving for them. It seems like commercial fishermen are allowed to compete unfairly with local sport fishermen? (Rod D.)

Answer: Questions regarding allocation between the commercial and recreational lobster fishing sectors is a common one, and there are reasons why the resource is shared between the two sectors in the manner that it is.
CDFW is mandated by law to allow for the sustainable use of lobster by both the commercial and recreational fishing sectors. While our laws say that recreational fishermen are entitled to harvest for sport (not subsistence), commercial fishermen must make a living off the resource.

Currently, there are less than 195 commercial lobster operator permits in existence and there were approximately 37,000 recreational lobster report cards sold this season, according to the CDFW Marine Invertebrate Project. More than 50 of the commercial lobster operator permits are non-transferable and will cease to exist when these fishermen quit fishing.

Commercial fishermen are required to use traps with strict regulations concerning mesh size and escape ports that allow large numbers of sublegal-sized lobsters to come and go freely from traps. Recent CDFW surveys show that the recreational sector is now dominated by hoop netters, whereas it previously was dominated by divers.

Finally, there are large, productive areas that are closed to commercial lobster fishing but open to recreational lobster fishing, such as Santa Monica Bay, San Pedro Bay, San Diego Bay, the lee side of Catalina Island and many breakwaters and jetties.

While our laws say that recreational fishermen are entitled to harvest for sport (not subsistence), commercial fishermen must make a living off the resource.

Off topic ...

This one is for you BMB.

en·ti·tle  [en-tahyt-l]
verb (used with object), en·ti·tled, en·ti·tling.
1. to give (a person or thing) a title, right, or claim to something; furnish with grounds for laying claim: His executive position entitled him to certain courtesies rarely accorded others.

Fishing is a right, not a privilege!

Although the part about "not subsistence" kind of irks me.

-Allen

While our laws say that recreational fishermen are entitled to harvest for sport (not subsistence), commercial fishermen must make a living off the resource.

Although the part about "not subsistence" kind of irks me.

It's been a privilege to provide you with the right to harvest for recreational purposes sir.   

While our laws say that recreational fishermen are entitled to harvest for sport (not subsistence), commercial fishermen must make a living off the resource.

Although the part about "not subsistence" kind of irks me.

It's been a privilege to provide you with the right to harvest for recreational purposes sir.   

Argh, the semantics of it all. I like the way the guy who sold me my commercial boat puts it.
It goes something like this: The seafood in the ocean is a public resource, not unlike water. Not all of is can build dams and lay pipes, so we employ water authorities and plumbers to get it to our houses. Similarly not everyone can go out and harvest the seafood that belongs to them, so they employ me to do it. When you come down to my boat and buy a salmon you're not really paying me for the salmon. It already belongs to you. You're paying me for the cost and labour it took to harvest that fish and bring it to market.
That's just the way I like to look at it. I don't like the term "sports fishing". That's not what I'm doing when I fish under the authority of my spots licence. I'm harvesting targeted species for personal use and trying to minimize bycatch. To me, anything else is wildlife harassment. I don't pass judgement on fisherfolk who practice c&r for fun, it's just isn't where my personal moral compass points.
I mean how do they justify "sports" crabbing. How many people do you know that go crabbing for the thrill of pulling up crab alone? Do they c&r legal size crab? How can it be called anything other than harvesting?