Ill tell you why the commercial guys get to keep most of the catch.... Because they stick together... And most of them claim the fluke as by catch. What's their reason for being hurt if the regs change? Lose of income to everyone (employees, business and state collecting taxes on all three)
The state knows that if you Pee on the commercial guys, the entire state of commercial guys will complain. If you Pee on the rec guys, only a select few will attend the meetings and complain. The way the state sees it, if there are 5 million rec fisherman and only 1/2% show up to complain then the other 99.5% must agree with the state.
Until we can prove that the rec fishing industry can hurt the state's pockets if we boycot fishing then we will never be heard.