The New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council met on Thursday, May 7th, 2026 at the Stafford Township Firehouse for the council’s regular bimonthly meeting. It was rather sparsely attended on the public side (John Stuebing from the Village Harbor Fishing Club, Capt. Eddie Yates of the charter boat Susan Hudson, and Jim Hutchinson from The Fisherman) with a few additional members of the public sitting in on the webinar end.
Perhaps the council’s most profound vote that you may have missed for the evening was the one that never happened; while NOAA Fisheries has shut down federal waters to Atlantic cod harvest in the NY Bight south, the New Jersey councilors once again opted not to take a vote on closing down state waters.
As previously reported in The Fisherman, fisheries managers in New England have determined that the Southern New England cod stock is in bad shape, and in turn have asked other states to the south (including New Jersey) to shut down their state waters in order to mesh with the federal closure. Considering the di minimis cod fishery inside 3 miles, council members are in no rush to take a vote.
“It’s not even worth talking about in state waters,” noted councilman Kevin Wark during the May 7th discussion on whether New Jersey should react with haste. In terms of any deadlines for taking such a vote and any immediacy in reacting, councilman Walter Johnson noted “I think they’re going to let us know when it’s time.”
Council members also discussed the state of the Atlantic Coast tautog fishery based on information coming out of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) hearings earlier in the week. According to New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife supervising biologist Heather Corbett who sat in on the earlier commission meeting, the ASMFC’s Tautog Management Board is looking at implementing reductions in the tautog fishery by upwards of 40% sometime in 2027 in order to meet a 2030 rebuilding deadline in the blackfish fishery.
Council discussed next steps on tautog, which Bureau of Marine Fisheries Chief Jeffrey Brust explained will come in the form of potential management options presented back to ASMFC and their tautog management board to meet any mortality reduction targets in the tautog fishery. “From the Board’s perspective the sooner we start the better chance we have on rebuilding,” Brust told the council, adding “ASMFC is starting their process.” New Jersey anglers should expect to hear more about these “options” and potential cutbacks in the tautog fishery sometime this summer.
The next meeting of the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 9th at the Galloway Twp. Branch of the Atlantic County Library at 306 East Jimmie Leeds Road in Galloway. For details call 609-292-7794.
