The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, which regulates summer flounder, recommended increasing the 2012 harvest by 1.6 million pounds to 35.55 million pounds, at a meeting this week.
The proposed harvest for 2012 is a 125 percent increase over the lowest year, the 2008 quota of 15.77 million pounds.
The recommendation, which still has to be approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service, would set the commercial harvest at 19.59 million pounds and the recreational harvest at 15.96 million pounds. The actual catches would be lower as some fish are reserved for a program called "research set asides." There can also be an allowance for dead fish that are discarded. The actual catch is projected to be 12.63 million pounds for anglers and 18.95 million pounds for commercial net fishermen in 2012.
The news was welcomed by an environmental group that had pushed for strict flounder regulations as a way to increase stocks. Lee Crockett, of the Pew Charitable Trusts' Federal Fisheries Reform Project, called it a "success story" for policies put in place to stop overfishing and rebuild depleted stocks.
"If we get the fishing rate set at sustainable levels, or with depleted stocks reduce catches so they can rebuild, they will. What's good about this is it means more fish rather than cuts. This is what we hope happens with sound management," Crockett said.
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