Saving Seafood

Offshore Wind Opponents Sue NJDEP Over Planned Project

May 8, 2024 — A local grassroots organization opposed to the current offshore wind farm planned off the coast of Long Beach Island is among three groups to sue the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection over its approval of the Atlantic Shores project.

Save LBI is joined by Protect Our Coast New Jersey and Defend Brigantine Beach, said Bruce Afran, who is the attorney of record in the legal proceeding.

“DEP’s approval flies in the face of federal regulators’ environmental impact statement that says the Atlantic Shores project will damage marine habitat, compress and harden the seafloor, damage marine communities, compromise migration corridors for endangered species and cause commercial fishing stocks to decline,” he said.

Saying the current scope of the Atlantic Shores project would be fully visible from beaches;  crush and destroy the seabed; interfere with the mitigation of the endangered blue whale and right whale; result in the loss of native species and cause economic damage to the state’s prime fishing grounds and tourist regions, the groups filed suit in appellate court on April 26.

The blue whale is the largest animal on the planet, according to NOAA Fisheries. Blue whales, which are found in every ocean except the Arctic, are listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act and are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Read the full article at The Sand Paper

New Jersey ruled out of compliance on summer flounder, moratorium possible

June 5, 2017 — If New Jersey doesn’t bring its summer flounder limits in line with federal regulations, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said it may result in a moratorium on fluke fishing.

When summer flounder season began May 25, New Jersey decided to keep in place an 18-inch limit it felt was a fair compromise to the 19-inch limit federal regulators were requiring.

The Marine Fisheries Commission did not agree and voted earlier that week not to accept New Jersey’s rules. On Thursday, the federal agency found New Jersey out of compliance with the mandatory management measures for summer flounder, scup and black sea bass.

The commission believes the 19-inch limit achieves conservation goals and helps to end overfishing of summer flounder. The state argues the larger minimum size would result in more dead fish. Other opponents of the federal rules, including many local anglers, say the rules directly target female spawning flounder.

“We’re disappointed the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission continues to myopically distance itself from sound fisheries management and advocates for a 19-inch size limit that kills more fish through dead discards than the actual harvesting of fluke,” N.J. Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin said. “This would result in an overall higher mortality rate and be more detrimental to the fish stock that we are sworn to protect.”

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City