Not to throw oil on the fire, but keep in mind that catching baitfish, ie. perch, smelt, brownbaits, sardines and chovies is often done by a 'snag-rig'.

Many people do not buy bait, or have the option of buying bait, and catch bait for fishing off small craft. Keep this in mind when you start looking at restricting methods of catch.

Before jumping to start closing down things, we need to establish if A. the species can support the current pressure
B. the method of take in proportion to the other methods of take (ie. 10% via snag rigs, 40% via bait, 50% via flies/lures)

Keep in mind that we have many, many different agencies trying to shut everything we do down, so I think that we need to be careful when proposing closures.

Marco Farrell
Santa Barbara, CA

PS I am all for conservation of species at optimal take levels, and not for promoting non-sportive methods of take.