Without traffic, it takes just 40 minutes to make the 30 mile drive out Route 50 from Annapolis, MD to Washington DC. For saltwater anglers however, it’s been light years of disconnect between federal law and its local effects when it comes to Congress and the regional fisheries managers.
It’s turned into a big week for coastal fishermen along the “Beltway” as the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) met jointly in Annapolis from December 11-14, while out on Capitol Hill the House Committee on Natural Resources convened to successfully “markup” legislation aimed at reforming the Magnuson Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson).
SUMMER FLOUNDER
Day two of the Annapolis, MD fisheries meetings would go down in the books as a pretty good one for fluke fishermen along the Atlantic Coast as states will be given an opportunity liberalize regulations in 2018 by up to 17% from what their regulations were in 2017.
As per the December 12 vote, if state proposals submitted for technical review do not constrain harvest (which will happen in early 2018), NOAA Fisheries could put in place a mandatory default measure of four fish at 18 inches with a season from May 15 to September 15.
But a 17% improvement over 2017 should be welcome news for coastal anglers
“The initial motion was for no increase but Adam Nowalsky made an amended motion to allow for the increase,” said Paul Haertel of the Jersey Coast Anglers Association (JCAA) onsite for ASMFC/MAFMC meetings. “A lengthy discussion ensued before it passed.”
Haertel praised Capt. Nowalsky, the state’s legislative proxy to ASMFC and a first-term representative for the state at MAFMC, along with ASMFC governor’s appointee in New Jersey Tom Fote, and New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife staffer Jeff Brust for “representing our state so well.”
For the state of New Jersey – which had been on the receiving end of sharp criticism due its ability to get its own suite of “conservationally equivalent” fluke measures approved by NOAA Fisheries in 2017 – getting word that the flatfish world didn’t collapse was hardly a surprise.
"We are pleased to hear of this outcome and that it validated what we maintained all along regarding fluke," said David Glass, Deputy Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. "While this is positive news for the 2018 season, we must continue toward the goal of reducing the discard mortality rate."
"Overall, New Jersey’s appointees did an excellent job representing the State with united support from the fishing community," Glass added.
Angler Bill Shillingford, who has tagged thousands of summer flounder for the American Littoral Society (ALS) during his time fishing out of the Strathmere area of South Jersey said he had hoped to see fisheries managers do a better job of recognizing the differences between the two opposite ends of the Garden State in particular.
“South Jersey needs to be in a region with Delaware and a 365-day season like Delaware,” Shillingford said via email following Tuesday’s meeting. “I catch, tag and release flounder from mid-April (which are the biggest) to mid-November every year. Obviously the northern half of the state has different conditions and more like New York and Connecticut,” he noted.
BLACK SEA BASS
The differences between states and regions took center stage in the fisheries debate on December 13 as options for the 2018 black sea bass fishery were discussed through an entire day of meetings.
Overall, fisheries managers are projecting the current season landings in the recreational fishing community to come in at 3.79 million pounds, slightly above the recreational harvest limit of 3.66 million pounds set for the 2017 season. However, in looking at a possible 3.5% reduction, fisheries managers recommended no immediate reduction in recreational management measures just yet given that any needed reduction would be smaller than the “uncertainty” with the harvest estimates.
Also, based on the positive condition of the stock, low fishing mortality, the health of the 2015 year class and the fact that current harvest estimates for 2017 are lower than 2016 and in line with 2014 and 2015, it was decided that further information was needed before making any sweeping changes to the 2018 season.
“The important takeaway here is that fisheries managers, for the first time in a long time, are not simply reacting to a number, but instead they’re taking into account the extreme uncertainty related to the recreational catch estimate,” Nowalsky said after Wednesday’s meeting. He went on to explain how the margin of error is roughly 20% in either direction with recreational harvest estimates, so he was happy that managers didn’t react harshly to a 3.5% overage estimate.
On the other hand, data that members of the ASMFC will have to look at in the weeks ahead is the recreational harvest information coming from the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP). As of this week’s meeting, fisheries managers still did not have Wave Five (September-October) and Wave Six (November-December) data for MRIP, which could impact the overall recreational harvest limit. While harvest “estimates” for 2017 are looking good, the random survey data from MRIP from September through December fishing seasons could potentially leading to greater overages in the current seasonal limits. That information wouldn’t be made available until after the New Year.
One major initiative approved by MAFMC was approval of a measure to allow federal waters to be open to recreational black sea bass fishing from May 15 through December 31 with a 12-1/2-inch limit and 15 fish bag limit. That doesn’t mean that these are allowable coastal limits of course, but the move will ensure that any overlapping “dead zones” between the coastal fluke closure and reopening of black sea bass are no longer in place when it comes to states setting seasons.
“It’s not a done deal, but that’s the intention,” Nowalsky said of the extension of the federal season. He said the next step towards finalizing this comes in February when state regulations are coordinated and so long as ASMFC develops measures to constrain harvest to the 2018 recreational harvest limit; that of course can only happen once this MRIP data is made available.
“At that point we’ll have a high level of comfort and I think we’re moving in that direction,” Nowalsky said, adding “It gives the states a certain level of flexibility with regard to setting their fluke and sea bass regulations.”
A black sea bass addendum currently winding its way through the regulatory channels would also establish new regions along the Atlantic Coast for black sea bass management in years ahead. Members of the fishing public will get more information to review in the coming weeks on that initiative. States will be also be reviewing an option in the coming weeks to open up a limited black sea bass fishery in February of 2018, though only the southern Mid-Atlantic states seem interested in pursuing that fishery given its regulatory impact on days later into the spring.
New Jersey which historically has had the most active participation in the Wave One (January-February) fishery in years past will be reviewing the February opportunity at a state advisory meeting during the week of December 18, with a final decision to take place at the next meeting of the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council on January 4, 2018.
MAGNUSON REFORM
As fisheries managers and members of the public were debating 2018 black sea bass measures on Wednesday, the House Committee on Natural Resources voted to put several pieces of federal legislation together in a “markup” bill for reforming Magnuson.
A markup is the process by which a congressional committee debates, amends and rewrites proposed legislation, and by all accounts this process turned out well for saltwater anglers. Two bills in particular, the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act (H.R. 200) and the RED SNAPPER Act (H.R. 3588), were combined in the committee and approved by a 23-17 vote along party lines in Committee, and now moves on to the House floor for consideration.
According to the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA), this is great news for future fluke and sea bass debates.
"The release of H.R. 200 from the House Natural Resources Committee is excellent news for the recreational fishing community, fishing related businesses and the marine industry," explained RFA executive director Jim Donofrio. “We thank Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) for making Magnuson reform a priority and releasing a bill that ensures long-term conservation while providing greater access and fishing opportunities for the recreational fishing sector.”
H.R. 200 sponsored by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) specifically would exempt certain fisheries from rigid annual catch limits monitored recreationally by random data collection while allowing more flexibility in deadlines for rebuilding some fish stocks. The House legislation would also help limit spread of fish privatization mechanisms favored by environmental groups including “catch shares,” transferrable quota programs and sector separation.
On December 11, 135 marine recreational fishing and boating industry executives, including Mike Caruso at The Fisherman Magazine, signed a letter to the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources in support of efforts to modernize the way our coastal fisheries are managed.
“The need to revise the one-size-fits-all approach of the Magnuson-Stevens Act has been abundantly clear in recent years as anglers face unreasonably limited access to public marine resources,” said Thom Dammrich, president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association following the committee vote.
“Stakeholders of the recreational boating industry, a uniquely American-made industry with an economic footprint of more than $121 billion annually and more than 650,000 American jobs, are encouraged by the Committee’s action today, and we hope to see final passage by the House very soon,” Dammrich added.
“America’s 11 million saltwater anglers have a $63 billion economic impact annually and generate 440,000 jobs,” said Mike Nussman, president of the American Sportfishing Association. “However, recreational fishing has been treated as an afterthought in the federal fisheries management system for decades.”
“If enacted, H.R. 200 would finally give saltwater recreational fishing the attention it deserves in the Magnuson-Stevens Act,” Nussman added.
A successful vote by the House – expected in early 2018 – would allow the U.S. Senate to take action on efforts to modernize fisheries management along the coastal United States and improve angler access to sustainable fish stocks including fluke and sea bass by amending the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to provide flexibility for fishery managers and stability for fishermen.
Recreational fishing and boating advocates nationwide have pledged to prioritize the Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act of 2017 in the U.S. Senate to help strengthen the recreational fishing message in the overall Magnuson reform package in 2018.
