flounder Archives - Page 17 of 24

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

Could New Jersey defy summer flounder cuts?

February 6, 2017 — It didn’t take long after the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to slash summer flounder harvest quotas for the rumblings of anglers calling for New Jersey to defy the regulations to pick up.

The ASMFC ordered the harvest cut by 40-percent based on science that indicates the fish is declining in abundance and survey data that reports anglers overreached their quotas last year.

The science and angling surveys are at the center of the issue. Many lawmakers in New Jersey and its environmental chief have expressed concern about its accuracy because it relies on random sampling.

“We understand the long-term impacts of overfishing a species. But we also know for a fact that fluke are abundant and the population is stable off New Jersey,” said Bob Martin, the Commissioner of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Fish Fight With Feds Getting Underway In New Jersey

February 3, 2017 — Newly imposed limits on New Jersey fishermen have a South Jersey congressman leading a fight to have them lifted.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission established limits for the harvest of flounder in the ocean and waterways like Delaware Bay. Last year, you could take home five fish at least a foot-and-a-half long. The new limit will be three with a minimum length of 19 inches.

Fishermen from states further south will see limits far more favorable, according to South Jersey Congressman Frank LoBiondo.

“New Jersey fishermen are going to be arbitrarily subjected to draconian cuts when boats from Delaware or Maryland can fish in our waters and not have the same restrictions our fishermen have,” LoBiondo told KYW Newsradio. “I mean it is absurd.”

Read the full story at CBS Philly

ASMFC Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board Approves Regional Management for 2017 Recreational Summer Flounder Fisheries

February 3, 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 approved Addendum XXVIII to the Summer Flounder and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan, maintaining regional management for the 2017 recreational summer flounder fishery. Specifically, the Addendum requires a one-inch increase in size limit and reduced possession limits to stay within the 2017 recreational harvest limit (RHL). These measures are broadly applied across all states to reduce harvest and provide for more coastwide consistency in regulations. The summer flounder regions, which are continued from 2016, are: Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Connecticut through New York; New Jersey; Delaware through Virginia; and North Carolina.

In August 2016, the Board and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council approved an approximate 30% reduction in catch limits for both the commercial and recreational fisheries in response to the 2016 stock assessment update, which indicated the resource is experiencing overfishing but is not overfished. In order to not exceed the reduced 2017 RHL, a 41% reduction relative to the 2016 preliminary harvest estimates is needed. To achieve the reduction, the Addendum implements a one-inch increase in size limit from 2016 measures for all regions with the exception of North Carolina. Additionally, all regions are required to constrain their possession limits to 4 fish or less and maintain 2016 season lengths. The approved management program also allows for the continuation of the Delaware Bay specific management measures for New Jersey anglers west of the COLREGS line. In 2016, New Jersey had separate management measures for anglers east and west of the Delaware Bay COLREGs line.

“The Board’s decision took into account the findings of the 2015 and 2016 stock assessment updates, both of which found summer flounder abundance is declining and is experiencing overfishing; the need to take harvest reductions to end overfishing immediately through our joint management process with the Mid-Atlantic Council and as prescribed by the Magnuson-Stevens Act; and with the recognition that the confidence intervals around the harvest estimates limit our ability to precisely project the impacts of differing management measures,” stated Mike Luisi, Board Chair. “By our action, we struck a balance between the need to reduce harvest, while taking into account the socioeconomic impacts to our stakeholders. “

In its report to the Board, the Technical Committee (TC) supported the 2013 summer flounder benchmark stock assessment and its updates through 2016 as the best available science. Further, it agreed with the findings of the recent stock assessments, indicating the resource is declining in abundance and that associated management changes are needed to address this issue; in this case, a reduction in the RHL. The TC recommended uniform adjustments from 2016 management measures (as were approved in the Addendum) to reduce harvest and fishing mortality in an equitable manner.

Once the states have selected final management measures, the Commission will submit a letter to NOAA Fisheries detailing how the measures will constrain fishing to the 2017 RHL. The Commission annually submits this letter as part of the conservation equivalency process that allows for federal coastwide management measures to be waived and for state management measures to be applied in both state and federal waters.

Addendum XXVIII will be available on the Commission website, www.asmfc.org. For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

New flounder regulations proposed in South Carolina

February 3, 2017 — The first step was taken this week to increase the size limit for flounder in South Carolina’s waters. H 3665 General Bill was introduced into the South Carolina State House by Rep. Bill Hixon of District 83.

The new bill proposes to move the flounder size limit from the current 14 inches to 15 inches. The creel limit remains unchanged by this proposal (15 per angler, not to exceed 30 per boat).

The bill also does not mention any changes to gigging regulations.

Capt. Englis Glover of Murrells Inlet is in support of the new proposal.

“With the growing number of anglers targeting flounder on our water, it is a proactive movement to protect our fish for future generations,” said Glover, who also encourages others to reach out to their legislators for support of the bill.

Read the full story at the Carolina Sportsman