It seems everywhere I go, people are asking what our regulations are going to look like in 2020. Most realize there are changes in the wind, and it is still premature to give many definitive answers because most regulations are not yet set in stone. Here is what we do know. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) meets from February 4-6 in Arlington, VA where 2020 striped bass measures should finally get hammered out. As the management body responsible for fisheries inside 3 miles, ASMFC will provide states with their official response to each state’s proposals to meet an 18 percent reduction in harvest. In October, the ASMFC approved a coastwide limit of one striper at 28-35 inches for the recreational sector, but states may use “conservation equivalency” to set regulations, so long as those proposals meet technical standards for an 18% reduction. At the January 21 MRAC meeting in East Setauket, council members voted to advise DEC to go with a 28 to 35-inch slot across the board for the recreational sector (including for-hires), to set the slot size for commercials at 26 (down from 28 inches in 2019) to 38 inches. There was very little consideration given to protecting the abundance of small fish currently in the fishery, a price we, and the fishery, will pay for down the road, but more on this subject another time.
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC), responsible for federal waters beyond 3 miles, will meet from February 11-13 in Duck, NC. At their December meeting, the MAFMC approved use of regional conservation equivalency for the recreational fluke fishery again in 2020 which means states can devise their own season, size and bag limits as long as they result in keeping within the annual harvest allotment. MAFMC also previously approved status quo recreational porgy and sea bass management measures for both state and federal waters in 2020. There had been a proposal floating around to knock porgy limits back to something ridiculously absurd, along the lines of a three to five fish bag limit. But give credit where credit is due here as the folks at NOAA Fisheries felt that was a bit of an overreach, even by broken bureaucracy standards. While it certainly would be nice to see more days of sea bass fishing at this point, at least we’re going into 2020 without offering more recreational sacrifices on the big three bottom fish species.
The same can’t be said of bluefish where we’re now officially fishing on a three-fish bag limit as private anglers, and five fish for those on for-hire boats. I still find cutting recreational bag limits by 75-80 percent to meet the 28.56 percent reduction required to be completely ludicrous, especially when setting even a 7-inch size limit would eat up most of the required reduction. As for the variance between private and for-hire anglers, it’s based on statistical data showing just 3.6% of the coastwide landings being taken by anglers onboard charter and party boats. That means the other 96.4% of the harvest (which also includes catch & release mortality) is coming from the new Marine Recreational Information Program estimates, or MRIP. While MRIP is truly a bitter pill, it may also provide a unique opportunity in the months ahead. MAFMC and ASMFC have scheduled a series of public hearings to gather input towards a new Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Commercial/Recreational Allocation Amendment which ultimately could modify the allocation percentage of quota between commercial and recreational fishermen for fluke, sea bass and porgies. Because MRIP data shows much higher recreational catch estimates than previously thought, managers are recognizing “the current commercial and recreational allocation percentages for all three species do not reflect the current understanding of the recent and historic proportions of catch and landings from the two sectors.” They have also planned a scoping hearing for bluefish to gather public input which could alter the 3/5 fish bag limit.
Both scoping meetings are planned for February 27 at Stony Brook University, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Room 120 Endeavour Hall, Stony Brook, NY 11794. The scoping hearing for summer flounder, scup, and sea bass Commercial/Recreational Allocation Amendment will take place from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The bluefish hearing will be held immediately after from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. If you have any interest or concerns about the regulations you will be fishing under in 2020, you owe it to yourself to attend these meetings.
