January 16, 2013 — New Jersey anglers attending Monday night’s meeting on proposed regional management measures for summer flounder unanimously rejected the plan.
Yet, depending on how states vote on the issue, the measures may still be put in place.
The meeting was held to collect public comment on Draft Addendum XXV, which proposes three options for the management of summer flounder.
Option 1 is to keep the status quo, which is conservation equivalency and allows states to set their own size, season and bag limits. Option 2, which is designed to be used in conjunction with Option 1, allows for the sharing of under-utilized quota.
Option 3, Adaptive Regional Management, proposes managing the stock on a regional basis. The two regions proposed are (1)Massachusetts; Rhode Island to New Jersey; Delaware to Viginia; and North Carolina or (2) Massachusetts and Rhode Island; Connecticut to New Jersey; Delware to Virginia and North Carolina.
The ASMFC’s rational behind the plan is to provide a more equitable access to a shared fishery. However, the regional push is widely recognized as New York’s effort to get more fish to catch.