Hey Gutz - the 73" regulation is for commercial re-selling. If under that, they just keep the fish for personal consumption. Anything close gets the 'poon. If its not close - it gets cut off. The regulations come into play on the number of commercial licenses issued, season length and quota. Within those bounds, they just slaughter. It would be better to move to a slot size to protect the big breeders. The problem is that its impossible to accurately measure a pissed off fish along side the boat without hurting it or the crew.

Sporties are very well regulated. For example, North Carolina is one fish per angler per year and one fish per boat per day - regardless of number of fisherman on said boat. One and done!

We are still years ahead of most other countries when it comes to protecting the stocks. Its not a perfect system, but its getting better every year with more data and awareness.