flounder Archives - Page 16 of 23

NEW JERSEY: Fluke situation looking better

March 6, 2017 — The new Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, has been confirmed — and the path to a fluke season during which the public will have a reasonable chance at catching a legal fish seems a little clearer.

The following release from the governor’s office emphasizes the Christie administration’s commitment to maintaining status quo regulations rather then the 19-inch minimum which the ASMFC has imposed:

“The Christie Administration has formally requested the new U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, to put a hold on severe restrictions on recreational summer flounder fishing adopted recently by a regional fisheries commission, a move that would effectively cripple the state’s fishing industry and have far-reaching impacts on the shore tourism economy, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin announced today.

Read the full story at NJ.com

New Jersey asks new Commerce boss to stop fluke cut

March 3, 2017 — Wilbur Ross meet New Jersey’s summer flounder fishermen.

Ross is the newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Commerce. As the department’s boss, he oversees management of fisheries through its Fisheries Office and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service.

He’s the person the Christie Administration, and state delegates are now trying to hook, and win over to their side on the summer flounder issue.

They wasted no time to petition Ross this week and ask him to put a hold on the new summer flounder regulations approved by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission on Feb. 2.

The regulations call for a 30-percent reduction in the coastwide harvest of summer flounder on the Atlantic Coast. The regs were voted on after federal regulators reported the coastwide summer flounder population from Maine to North Carolina declined and fishermen overfished their quota last year.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

New Jersey lawmakers ask Trump’s new Commerce secretary to stop flounder cuts

March 2, 2017 — It’s not clear how much Wilbur L. Ross Jr. knows about fishing or the complex world of marine regulations.

But members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation hope Ross, who was sworn in as secretary of commerce Tuesday, will step into an intense fight over summer flounder catch guidelines.

The delegation wasted no time in appealing to Ross, who now oversees the agencies tasked with regulating the fishing industry. A bipartisan letter sent Tuesday and signed by 12 New Jersey lawmakers, including both U.S. senators and U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd, asked the former billionaire businessman to considering putting approved flounder reductions on hold.

Last month, a federal regulatory commission voted in favor of an option to cut fluke limits for recreational and commercial fishermen by 28 percent to 32 percent for 2017.

Example measures presented in the approved document suggest recreational limits for keepers could be set to three fish at 19 inches in the Atlantic Ocean and three at 18 inches in the Delaware Bay for a 128-day season.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

States Seek Input on Scup Commercial Quota Management

March 2, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board announces the availability of Draft Addendum XXIX to the Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan for public comment. The document, approved by the Board in early February, presents alternatives for shortening the length of the commercial scup summer period and extending length of the winter period(s) to better allocate the commercial quota. The Atlantic coastal states of Massachusetts through New York have scheduled public hearings to gather public comment. The details of those scheduled hearings follow:

Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries

March 23, 2017 at 5:30 PM

Maritime Academy Admiral’s Hall

101 Academy Drive

Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts

Contact: David Pierce at 617.626.1532

Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife

March 21, 2017; 6 PM
University of Rhode Island Bay Campus

Corliss Auditorium

South Ferry Road

Narragansett, Rhode Island
Contact: Robert Ballou at 401.222.4700 ext. 4420

Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

March 20, 2017 at 7 PM

Boating Education Center

333 Ferry Road

Old Lyme, Connecticut

Contact: Mark Alexander at 860.447.4322

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

March 28, 2017 at 6:30 PM

Division of Marine Resources

205 North Belle Mead Road, Suite 1

East Setauket, New York

Contact: Steve Heins at 631.444.0430

Draft Addendum XXIX was initiated jointly with the Mid‐Atlantic Fishery Management Council to address concerns raised by Advisory Panel members that commercial landings have been lower than the annual limits in recent years and the quota periods could be better utilized. Specifically, the draft document proposes alternatives to shorten the Summer quota period by 31 or 46 days and increasing the Winter I and Winter II quota periods. These changes are intended to allow higher possession limits for a longer period of time each year, thus increasing the likelihood the commercial fishery will fully harvest the annual quota.

The Draft Addendum also proposes options to continue allowing state permitted fishermen to begin fishing prior to the start of the summer period in state waters when the Winter I quota closes early. These options include extending the number of days the earlier fishing can occur as well as the start date when earlier fishing can occur. Allowing access prior to the start of the Summer period to state permitted fishermen provides access to the resource when scup are highly available to nearshore (state) fisheries.

Fishermen and interested stakeholders are encouraged to provide input on Draft Addendum XXIX either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. The Draft Addendum can be obtained here or via the Commission’s website,www.asmfc.org, under Public Input. Public comment will be accepted until 5 PM (EST) on March 31, 2017 and should be forwarded to Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or atcomments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Draft Addendum XXIX).

The Board will review submitted public comment and consider final action on the Draft Addendum at the Commission’s Spring Meeting in May 2017. For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

New Jersey lawmakers: Drop limits on how many fish you can catch off Atlantic Coast

February 27, 2017 — Two New Jersey lawmakers are trying to block the federal government from setting lower quotas for summer flounder off the Atlantic Coast.

Reps. Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd Dist.) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-9th Dist.) said their bill would prevent the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from reducing the fishing quota.

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said it would limit those who fish to just three summer flounders at least 19 inches long, compared with the 2016 limits of five fish at least 18 inches in length.

“These cuts are a body blow to the recreational fishing industry in New Jersey and that is why Congress needs to take action,” Pallone said. “The cuts for New Jersey are greater than what NOAA had required for the region, and too many anglers and their families are going to suffer because of them.”

Read the full story at NJ.com

SOUTH CAROLINA: Bag limit reduction added to flounder bill

February 27, 2017 — Changes are afoot with a bill that has designs on changing limits for South Carolina’s population of flounder.

Bill H 3665 in its original form was set to increase the minimum size limit for flounder from the current 14 inches to 15 inches in Palmetto State waters.

But on Wednesday in the house’s Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee, reductions to the daily bag limit were added to the bill. The current limits are 15 per person per day with a boat limit of 30 per day.

The bill now includes reducing the bag limits to 10 per person with a boat limit of 20 per boat per day, along with the one-inch increase in minimum size limit.

Rep. Lee Hewitt, R-Georgetown, a member of the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee and co-signer of the legislation, said feedback from anglers fueled the addition of bag limit reduction to the bill.

Hewitt has heard from flounder fishermen in the Little River area who are concerned with anglers from North Carolina fishing South Carolina waters to take advantage of the more lenient limits. North Carolina currently has a daily bag limit of six flounder per person and a minimum size limit of 15 inches.

Read the full story at Myrtle Beach Online

NEW JERSEY: LoBiondo, Pallone announce legislation to prevent tougher summer flounder quotas

February 24, 2017 — Reps. Frank LoBiondo and Frank Pallone on Thursday, Feb. 23 announced plans to introduce new legislation to prevent the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2017 and 2018 summer flounder quotas for recreational and commercial fishing from going into effect.

In a press release, Pallone and LoBiondo said the rules would do damage to the economies of coastal communities and the state.

Under the NOAA quotas, the allowed summer flounder catch for recreational and commercial fishing were both reduced by approximately 30 percent in 2017 and 16 percent in 2018.

The Pallone-LoBiondo legislation would maintain the 2016 quota levels and require that NOAA conduct a new assessment before issuing new quotas.

New Jersey fishermen united against 2017 flounder regulations

February 21, 2017 — That Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission winter meeting this month was surely a bummer for summer flounder fans.

The delegates went through hours of sometimes confusing debate and somehow authorized an unpopular reduction in daily possession limit and an increase in size minimum for a keeper to help achieve a 28 percent to 32 percent cut in in the flounder quota along the Atlantic Coast.

The New Jersey presence was strong at the flounder, sea bass and scup board meeting Tuesday morning at The Westin in Alexandria, Virginia.

Adam Nowalsky headed a three-man delegation that voted in opposition to the measure — Option 5 if anybody is counting — that passed by a 7-3 vote. He also spoke in favor of delaying adoption of any restrictive measures.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

Summer flounder size increases 1 inch

February 11, 2017 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has selected Option 5 of the Summer Flounder Management Plan for the 2017 summer flounder season. This option allows Delaware, Maryland and Virginia to have a 17-inch minimum size with a four-fish bag limit and a 365-day season. New Jersey will have a 19-inch minimum size limit, a three-fish bag and a 128-day season along the Atlantic Coast. In Jersey’s portion of the Delaware Bay, the minimum size drops to 18 inches with the same three-fish bag and 128-day season.

All things considered, this is the best we could hope for. We did have to go up 1 inch in size, but we maintain our four-fish bag and 365-day season.

These new regulations will have to be approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service, signed by the secretary of Commerce and adopted by the state before they become law. While anything can happen during this process, I suspect we will have a 17-inch minimum size limit in place before the first flounder of 2017 is caught out of the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal.

Read the full story at the Cape Gazette

Proposed legislation could lead to larger flounder population in S.C. waters

February 10, 2017 — A bump up in the size limit could be on the horizon for South Carolina’s population of flounder, and nowhere on the Palmetto State coast is flounder fishing more popular than along the Grand Strand from Georgetown to Little River.

The current minimum size limit for flounder is 14 inches, and proposed legislation calls for a 1-inch increase to 15 inches.

South Carolina House of Representatives Bill H 3665, which proposes the increase in size limit, was introduced and first read on Feb. 2 and was referred to the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee.

In recent years, flounder in local estuaries have received unprecedented pressure from hook-and-line anglers and giggers as the coastal population has exploded.

Long-term trammel net sampling by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources in eight major estuaries along the coast, including Georgetown County’s Winyah Bay, has revealed a steady decline in the southern flounder population since 1994. Also, according to the agency, reported charter boat catch rates have declined over the same time frame.

Read the full story at MyrtleBeachOnline.com