July 7, 2017 — New Jersey will get an answer to the question of whether the state is out of compliance with its 18-inch summer flounder regulation next week.
State officials from the Department of Environmental Protection were able to plead their case to NOAA Fisheries on a June 27 conference call.
“We were able to go into great detail about the data behind New Jersey’s management measures that will conserve more fish and reduce the number of larger breeding females removed from the fishery, and therefore provide stronger recruitment for the future,” said NJDEP Spokesperson Bob Considine.
Biologists with the DEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife have provided NOAA information demonstrating that an 18-inch size limit would result in far fewer discard mortalities than the 19-inch limit, which was the regulation adopted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission on Feb. 2, in order to reduce the coastwide catch of summer flounder by 30 percent.
NJ adopted its own summer flounder rules in May. In June the ASMFC made a recommendation to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to find New Jersey out of compliance with those rules.
Toni Kerns, the ASMFC’s director of the interstate fisheries management plan, said the ruling is expected on or about July 12.