[bd-]

I was talking to one of the TWRA biologists the other night and he raised an interesting issue that was bothering him a bit.

Apparently, it's becoming more widespread for out-of-staters to come to Tennessee in order to harvest skipjack to sell in other states. These guys are coming from other states further north, like Indiana, and catching coolers full of skipjack for sale as catfish bait.

I'm told that the volume of skipjack they're harvesting is pretty huge - one guy is allegedly paying his way through college solely by selling skipjack as bait. Catfishermen in states where skipjack are rare will apparently pay $5-$6 a pound for them.

Here's the dilemma: If someone from Tennessee caught skipjack here and sold them here, they'd have to buy a commercial fishing license. They'd also be limited on what kind of gear they could use - can't use hook and line for commercial fishing, and that's the most effective way to catch skipjack. But when an out-of-stater comes in and catches a cooler full of skipjack, it's impossible for our game wardens to prove in court what that person is going to do with the skipjack after leaving the state. So the out-of-staters can get away with commercially harvesting skipjack for the price of an out-of-state sportfishing license, even though someone from Tennessee would need a commercial license, and they can do it with non-commercial gear in a way that someone from Tennessee couldn't do.

Luckily, there are millions upon millions of skipjack out there, so the harvest hasn't had any measurable impact, at least yet. It's possible that if word spreads on this being profitable, you could have enough harvest for it to affect the population. What bothers me more is that out-of-staters are exploiting a resource commercially without paying an out-of-state commercial license.

I was kind of struck by this because I wonder if I've accidentally helped out these commercial operations in the past. A few times, I've had people from out of state contact me, very interested in knowing where to go for skipjack. I assumed they wanted them for their own bait - it never occurred to me that they might be selling them. So I may have given directions and help to these commercial guys without even knowing it - I'm not sure.

What's the answer? Harvest and possession limits on skipjack to make it inefficient for people to drive down from Indiana to catch them for sale? Or is this even an issue worth worrying about?

It just interested me, so I thought I'd throw it out there and see what other folks fishing in Tennessee think.

bd