May 10, 2018 — Fishermen critical of a recent deal to ease black-sea bass regulations demanded further state action at a fisheries meeting Tuesday, but officials said the interstate agreement was the best they could get this year.
Around a dozen angry party- and charter-boat captains attended a meeting of the Marine Resources Advisory Council in Setauket Tuesday night to raise objections to the deal, which effectively nixed a planned 12 percent reduction in the state’s recreational black sea bass quota this year. They and a supporting lawmaker cited a more lenient quota for competing New Jersey fishermen, saying anglers would favor the Garden State given its earlier season open and ability to keep more fish at a smaller size.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s original order would have pushed New York’s season opening to July, but a deal brokered by the state and led by Jim Gilmore, the commission’s chairman and head of the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s marine division, resulted in a season that will instead open on June 23 – four days earlier than last year.
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