Commercial FishingBy Jen Davis and Ryan Diamond

Cape Cod sports some of the finest fishing in the country. North Atlantic fishing includes stripers (bass), blues, tuna and its namesake, cod fish. Cape Cod also offers great fresh water fishing, especially small mouth bass. You MUST have a license to fish on the Cape. In addition, ice fishing is also popular in the winter.

Chatham Fishery

Wellfleet Town Marina

Chatham Harbor

Cape Cod Fishing Facts

Bass Fishing: Best time of year – June through Sept. Bass range from 20 to 45 pounds with an occasional 50 - 60 pounder.

Bluefish Fishing: Best time of year – June through Sept. Bluefish range from 5 to 20 pounds.

Blue fin Tuna Fishing: Best time of year – July through October Largest Blue fin Tuna caught on record – 1228 lbs. caught in the Boston, Mass. area. Fish average 750 - 900 pounds with many over 1000 pounds and some over 1100 pounds. If you’re charter fishing, fish over 73 inches long belong to the boat you charter with. However, with Big Fish II, 1/3 of the money from the sale of the fish is returned to you.

Fish under 73 inches long may be kept by the charter customer, but they CANNOT be sold.

Cod Fishing: Best time of year – March through October. Largest Cod caught on a Big Fish Charter - 79 lbs. The average catch for the past 20 years for 6 people has been between 500 lbs. and 1,000 lbs. of Cod, Pollock, Haddock, Halibut, Wolffish and Monkfish.

Shark Fishing: Best time of year – late July through Oct. Blue Sharks are the predominant species in our area in Massachusetts, near Boston and Plymouth. Mako’s Porbeagle and Threshers also frequent in Cape Cod waters and are excellent to eat. Sharks range from 100 to over 1,300 pounds, but most range from 100 to 350 pounds.

Commercial Permit Types:

• Coastal Lobster Permit allows the taking, landing and sale of lobsters (to a licensed dealer) harvested from within the coastal waters of the Commonwealth. There is a maximum of 800 lobster pots per vessel that may be set in state waters. The permit may be endorsed to take and sell shellfish and finfish at no additional cost. In the case of skin or scuba divers, only the licensee is covered.

• Offshore Lobster Permit allows the landing and sale of lobsters (to a licensed dealer) taken outside of the coastal waters of the commonwealth only; pursuant to a federal lobster permit. The permit may be endorsed to take and sell shellfish and finfish at no additional cost.

• Seasonal Lobster Permit is issued to full-time students only (verification required), and allows the licensee only to take and sell lobsters (to a licensed dealer) from June 15 - Sept. 15. A maximum of 25 pots may be used. Diving is not permitted, sale of fish and/or shellfish in not permitted.

• Boat Permits allows the taking, landing and sale of fish (to a licensed dealer) and may be endorsed for shellfish. The permit covers everyone aboard the vessel. Price varies with vessel size. No lobsters may be taken.

• Individual Permit allows the holder only to take, land and sell fish (to a licensed dealer) and may be endorsed for shellfish. No lobster may be taken.

• Shellfish Permit allows an individual to take, land and sell (to a licensed dealer) shellfish and seaworms. A shellfish ID card, from the Division, and town permit are also required.

• Rod & Reel Permit allows the holder only, to catch and sell finfish (to a licensed dealer) caught by Rod & Reel only. No other gear types may be used.

COMMERCIAL FINFISH REGULATIONS (AS OF MAY 2009)

Species Fishery Season Size Limit Possession Limit

Cod (3) North of Cape Cod

East & South of Cape Cod

Jan 1st – Dec 31st

Jan 1st – Dec 31st

22 in.

22 in.

800lb

1,000lb

Most Common Fish on Cape Cod:-Cod-Haddock-Striped Bass-Bluefish-Blue Fin Tuna-Mako Shark-Porbeagle Shark-Thresher Shark-Blue Shark

Cod, Cape Cod’s namesake, is Cape Cod’s most common finfish.The most prized catches, however, are the striped bass and the bluefish.

Sea Herring and Ecosystem Restoration Projects Herring are the cornerstone of the New England ocean food web. Herring are a vital resource for everything from larger marine predators like cod and striped bass to long liners and tuna fishermen who need it for bait. Excessive fishing caused a huge decline in Herring population. In 2007 the CCCHFA initiated the Ecosystem Restoration Program with the goal of restoring and maintaining Herring habitats in freshwater systems, estuaries, and the ocean. Since the initiation of this program, there has been an increase in Herring numbers. This is extremely important to the environment because Herring play a pivotal part in the food web. Without Herring, fishermen would see a large decrease in many fish populations which would result in job losses, and fish prices increasing. Ground fish Sectors and Monitoring Local fishermen prefer sectors to outdated days-at-sea and daily trip limits These measures which failed to rebuild fish populations, caused economic harm and created wasteful by catch. This is unnecessary hunting of fish which may severely devastate a population. In sectors, fishermen have vested interests in rebuilding fish stocks, because of resulting profits and assurances of their ongoing stake in the fishery. CCCFHA has focused on ground fish sectors in the past but today smaller organizations are working to rebuild habitats in order to maintain skate, monkfish and scallop populations. Nantucket Soundkeeper The Nantucket Soundkeeper is a newly created program which works to protect communities, ecosystems and water quality. The Nantucket Soundkeeper program will link fishermen’s interests in water quality and habitat protection to protection of marine resources. Water quality was once ignored by commercial fishermen until they realized that the quality of water greatly impacts fish population. Today, commercial fishermen are much more concerned with the quality of the water then ever before. Although their reasons of concern may be faulty, there efforts have still benefited the environment.

Programs, Projects, and Organizations

OYSTER OPERATION - BREWSTER    The Brewster Oyster is a sea farm raised American oyster that is grown from a small seed oyster, 3-5 mm (1/8-1/4 inch), to a robust 76+ mm (3+ inches). The seed oysters are obtained from state approved hatcheries and grown to market size under carefully monitored aquaculture methods in the pristine waters of Cape Cod Bay in Brewster, Massachusetts. Aquaculture methods presently in use provide secure sites for oysters to grow. Contained in cages firmly anchored against wind, wave and current, the oysters are protected from predators while being bathed in Cape Cod Bay. It takes about three years of continuous effort, sorting, sizing and transplanting to produce an oyster for market.

While visiting Brewster, we heard about a new project proposal called the “oyster operation,” which will ideally operate with two employees and one volunteer who will be readily available for harvesting oysters for with and for the public each Sunday. Organizers hope to gain funds for the operation with federal grants.

Resources

- Capecod.com- Fishingthecape.com- Bigfishcharters.com- http://www.fisheries.org/afs/index.html- http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dmf/index.html