They were up until three to five years ago.

After tooling out to just inside the limit line, who's going to be satisfied with the first fish they catch especially if it happens ten minutes after they get there? They hold that one until they get a larger one and then the smaller one goes back, worse for wear.

There will always be jerks who care more for their own personal benefit than for the law or the species. Many of those catches supposed to be inside the three mile limit are actually from around ten miles out, because that is where the fish are.

Some stuff is disgusting. I was a guest on a charter boat out of North Carolina a few years ago. They fished about ten miles out and had sash weights on board and looped rope through the sash weights and the fish's mouth/gills. If the Coast Guard approached they would throw the fish and attached sash weights over the stern.

Who needs to bring a fish to the dock that bad?