January 7, 2014 — New Jersey anglers will have a chance to have their voices heard when the state’s Division of Fish and Wildlife will hold a public hearing on Draft Addendum XXV, which proposes regional management measures for summer flounder for the 2014 season.
The meeting will be held on Monday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. at the Ocean County Administration Building, Public Hearing Room 119, 101 Hooper Avenue in Toms River.
The Draft Addendum was initiated to address a growing concern that current summer flounder management measures (as established under the Fishery Management Plan) are not providing recreational fishermen along the coast with equitable harvest opportunities to the resource.
New York has been the major force behind the proposed changes. According to New York’s fishery managers, the current system of conservation equivalency, which allows states to set their own size, season and bag limits, does not provide for an equitable distribution of the resource.
One reason behind the proposal is the change in the fishery itself. The health, size and location of the stock has changed dramatically since since 1998, the year that was set as the basis for individual state targets. The stock is considered recovered, yet New York’s minimum size was 19 inches in 2013 , at least one inch higher than any other state and one and a half inch higher than bordering states.
Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press