Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: Belford Seafood Co-op boats idle after in-season closure

August 4, 2017 — MIDDLETOWN, N.J. — Fourteen fishing trawlers at Belford Seafood Cooperative are sitting idle after fishermen have met the commercial summer flounder quota a month ahead of schedule.

Roy Diehl, president of the cooperative, said the reason for the quick end to the season is strict conservation measures put in place this winter by a regional fishery commission.

“They say there’s no fish. Well, we caught our whole summer quota in two weeks, so there’s plenty of fish out there,” said Diehl.

In February the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission cut the coastwide summer flounder quota by 30 percent from Maine to Florida, citing a drop in the biomass of the stock.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Trump Administration Decision Signals Possible Shift In Fishing Regulations

August 1, 2017 — When it comes to regulatory issues, the fishing industry often finds itself facing off against environmentalists. And some recent moves by the Trump administration seem to be leaning more in the direction of siding with fishermen.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the regulatory body that sets the rules for the fishing industry, is meeting this week, and one of the topics of conversation is a recent decision regarding fishing in New Jersey.

The ASMFC said the population of summer flounder – also known as fluke –has been declining since 2010 and is at serious risk. So the commission reduced limits on how much could be caught. New Jersey came up with alternative plan which the state asserted would protect the fish, while still allowing more fishing. But the fisheries commission rejected the New Jersey plan, saying too many fish would be caught, and that it would be bad for the population.

Ordinarily, the federal government listens to the commission’s recommendations. But last week, the U.S. Department of Commerce rejected its recommendation, allowing New Jersey to go ahead with its plan. The ASMFC says this is the first time since passage of the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act in 1993 and the Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act in 1984 that the secretary of commerce rejected a noncompliance recommendation by the commission.

“I do think it’s healthy for the administration to not simply rubber stamp everything that is done by these commissions, but rather have an actual role in it,” said Bob Vanasse, executive director of an industry group called Saving Seafood. “And I do think that elections matter,” he said.

Vanasse said this is an example of Trump administration listening to the fishing industry.

“I think there’s definitely been a shift in how the commercial fishing industry, how their issues are being addressed by this administration,” he said. “And I think, frankly, it’s a mistake to think it’s some kind of right-wing, Trump administration, erroneous action. I think it’s actually, overall, positive.”

Vanasse said another example of that positive impact is the federal review that’s happening now of national monuments, including Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which is about 130 miles off the coast of Cape Cod. The Obama administration designated it an offshore monument near the end of his presidency, closing it off to a lot of fishermen.

Vanasse said the Trump administration’s review of that monument designation is an example of something that’s being handled responsibly by people who have careers in this area — not just political appointees.

Read and listen to the full story at WGBH

NEW JERSEY: Fluke-catching quota costing fishermen thousands

August 1, 2017 — BELFORD, N.J. — Dozens of commercial fishermen say they are losing out on pay after they reached their state-imposed limit on how many fluke they are allowed to catch.

Captain Roy Diehl says he and dozens of other commercial fluke fishermen are docked because they caught their allowed quota for the July-August season just two weeks after it opened. He says he blames the 30 percent quota reduction set by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission for this year.

“What it does is it takes seven weeks of income out of everybody’s paycheck for the year,” says Diehl. “It’s pretty tough because there’s a lot of fluke out there and we can’t have them.”

The coolers at the Belford Seafood Co-op are empty until fisherman are able to resume catching fluke Sept. 3.

Read and watch the full story at News 12 New Jersey

REP. LEE ZELDIN: Long Island fishermen in real need of relief

July 31, 2017 — On Long Island, so much of our economy and way of life are connected to the water around us. Fishing is a treasured part of our identities as Long Islanders. Yet today, the current flaws in the management of our fisheries isn’t just raising costs for commercial fishermen and charter boat captains- it also hurts all the small businesses in the coastal economy, including restaurants, bait & tackle shops, hotels, and gas stations. Quite candidly, it is also making this pastime just nowhere near as much fun as it used to be either. As the Representative for New York’s First Congressional District, which is almost entirely surrounded by water, I am committed to supporting our fishermen and ensuring this tradition is preserved for generations to come.

The current management of our fisheries has created a web of unnecessary restrictions on our local anglers. For example, just recently, regulators gave final approval to a confusing set of requirements that call for a one inch difference in the size limit for fluke, 18 inches for New Jersey anglers, but 19 inches for New York. There is also a proposed regulation that would create two separate sets of rules for blackfish, one for the North Shore, and one for the South Shore. Current rules in our state also limit anglers to only one striped bass and weakfish per day. A rule like this is very damaging to the fishing industry. Many people just aren’t going to spend all the money it costs to go out on a charter boat if they can only catch and keep one fish.

Using flawed, outdated data to justify that bad rule makes even less sense. New York representatives on regional councils have to do much more to fight for our fishermen because we continue to get rolled at the table by other coastal states that take a much more proactive role within these councils, getting better quotas for their states while New York anglers do not get their fair share.

Read the full opinion piece at Long Island Business News

Fishing managers to meet over Trump official’s flounder rule

July 31, 2017 — Interstate fishing regulators are meeting to discuss a Trump administration decision they say has the ability to jeopardize conservation of marine resources on the East Coast.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is meeting Tuesday in Alexandria, Virginia. The commission has disagreed recently with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross over a decision he made about summer flounder fishing.

The commission announced in June it had found New Jersey out of compliance with management of the fishery.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald

PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY: One way or another, NJ victory in flounder fight won’t last long

July 31, 2017 — Several months of fighting over catch restrictions for summer flounder, a.k.a. fluke, culminated earlier this month in a striking victory for New Jersey fishing interests and their representatives.

Federal regulators wanted to cut the catch 30 percent by increasing the size of keeper fish an inch (to 19 inches in the ocean and nearby waters, 18 in Delaware Bay), imposing a daily limit of three fish and setting a 128-day season.

Since January, fishing groups such as the Jersey Coast Anglers Association and federal representatives have pushed to avert the restrictions, at least until a fresh assessment of the flounder stock can be made.

Rep. Frank LoBiondo and fellow delegates from New Jersey in January sent the first of four letters against the restrictions to Obama administration Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. When that got nowhere, a letter went to her replacement in the Trump administration, Wilbur Ross … and then in April one to the chair of the House panel considering a LoBiondo-sponsored bill requiring a new stock assessment.

Read the full editorial at the Press of Atlantic City

NEW JERSEY: State distributes 20K free hooks to help protect summer flounder

July 27, 2017 — Fourteen county bait and tackle shops will participate in a state push to reduce summer flounder mortality by giving away large J-hooks supplied by the Department of Environmental Protection.

The larger hooks are part of a DEP campaign to educate the fishing public on how to safely release summer flounder that do not meet minimum size requirements, according to a statement.

“We are asking all anglers to help protect summer flounder for future generations,” DEP Commissioner Bob Martin said. “New Jersey is fully committed to doing the right thing by using science and public education to conserve a species that is critical to the fishing culture and economy of New Jersey.”

The “If You Can’t Keep It, Save It!” campaign focuses on the proper methods and gear to use to reduce unintentional mortalities that can occur when flounder that do not meet minimum length requirements are returned to the water, he said.

Read the full story at Shore News Today

Trump administration steps in on fishing limits, and the implications could ripple

July 25, 2017 — [Commerce Secretary Wilbur] Ross earlier this month dismissed the findings of the 75-year-old Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which concluded that New Jersey was violating a conservation plan for summer flounder that all the other states in the compact approved. Many conservationists thought that New Jersey, while following protocols, was bowing to the fishing industry.

The decision, which effectively allows New Jersey to harvest more summer flounder, marked the first time the federal government had disregarded such a recommendation by the commission, and it drew a swift rebuke from state officials along the East Coast.

Officials in New Jersey, which has one of the region’s largest fluke populations, had drafted an alternative plan that they said would do more to protect the fishery, but it was rejected by the commission, whose scientists concluded the plan would result in nearly 94,000 additional fish being caught. Ross, who oversees the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, overruled the commission, allowing New Jersey to proceed.

“New Jersey makes a compelling argument that the measures it implemented this year, despite increasing catch above the harvest target, will likely reduce total summer flounder mortality in New Jersey waters to a level consistent with the overall conservation objective,” Chris Oliver, assistant administrator of fisheries at NOAA, wrote the commission in a letter on behalf of Ross.

“This is the first time that no one asked me for a formal recommendation,” said John Bullard, NOAA’s Greater Atlantic regional administrator. “The secretary’s decision goes against long-standing protocol, and there’s a cost to that.”  He added: “There’s a reason to have regional administrators, because their experience and knowledge is valuable in making decisions like this one. This is an unfortunate precedent.”

“Ross was brilliant in his decision,” said Jim Donofrio, executive director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance in New Jersey, which represents thousands of recreational fishermen across the country. “The Trump administration has challenged a broken fishery management system in this country, and I applaud them for doing it.”

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

NEW JERSEY: Did a fishing crew catch the biggest shark in state history?

July 22, 2017 — A fishing boat named the Jenny Lee caught a 926-pound Mako shark Saturday morning and it could be the largest shark catch in New Jersey history.

The crew was fishing 100 miles off of the coast of New Jersey in an area known as Hudson Canyon. It took the crew a little over an hour to reel in the shark and hour and a half to get him into the boat, Kevin Gerrity, captain of the Jenny Lee, said.

“It’s a pretty awesome feeling,” Gerrity said. “We saw him swimming up to the boat. We didn’t think we were going to get him but we got him.”

“We were able to get him with a skipjack fillet with a squid combo as his last meal,” Gerrity added jokingly.

Read the full story at NJ.com

NEW JERSEY: Freeholders Praise Washington’s Approval Of Flounder Limits

July 22, 2017 — The federal government’s decision to cap flounder fishing limits at levels favored by the state, county and local fishermen is a win for the entire Jersey Shore, Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari said.

“We are very pleased with this decision that maintains the limits that the state already imposes on daily flounder catches,” Vicari said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) earlier this month affirmed New Jersey’s summer-flounder fishing size, bag limits and the length of the fishing season, meaning all rules adopted by the state earlier this year will remain in effect through early September.

The decision also won final approval from U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.

In approving the state plan, Ross rejected a proposal to reduce the annual flounder haul by 34 percent and instead found that New Jersey’s existing rules are in compliance with the safe and sustainable management of summer flounder.

The Freeholders in April passed a resolution favoring the existing limits and rejecting the proposed 34 percent decrease, saying the change would have harmed the local tourism economy and done nothing to protect the flounder population.

Read the full story at Jersey Shore Online