This Saturday, October 22, the New Jersey and Delaware black sea bass fishery will officially reopen for the rest of 2016. For wreck fishermen in both states, the bag limit increases to 15 fish bag through December 31, with the minimum size of 12-1/2 inches in Delaware and 13 inches in New Jersey.
By all accounts, this should be a banner opener for the fishery as inshore waters have been loaded with smaller black sea bass on the move eastbound, with local wrecks and reefs practically blanketed by the tasty, hard-fighting fish.
“Sea bass are a menace on the reefs but that should be taken care of starting this Saturday,” noted Alex from the Reel Seat in this week’s report for The Fisherman Magazine’s Central Jersey report, explaining that folks dropping clam for the porgies on the Axel Carlson and Sea Girt spreads as well as the inshore lumps and wrecks.
“Can’t wait for Saturday,” added Capt. Joe Bogan of the Jamaica II who said getting jigs down to monster bluefish has even been tough because of the sea bass numbers of late. “Giant sea bass were slamming the jigs meant for the blues,” Bogan said.
From ports out of Highlands and Point Pleasant, down from Barnegat Light to Indian River Inlet in Delaware, the party boats especially are geared up for the October 22 opener, and many of the crews have been asking their customers to get to the dock a little earlier than normal on Saturday morning to ensure a spot.
“Deck commander Gina recommends getting to the parking lot early Saturday and Sunday, and she means early, as a full boat crowds are expected on this bottom fishing battleship,” cited field editor Tom Pagliaroli as an example this week in his report from the “big biscuit buster” Carolyn Ann III out of Barnegat Light.
The state-by-state closures in sea bass seasons are aimed at keeping fishermen below the allowable harvest rate of sea bass each season. By most fisherman accounts however, the closures may be keeping harvest limits in check theoretically, but the abundance of sea bass on local snags realistically leads to quicker bag limits and higher overall release mortality during closed seasons when anglers simply can’t get away from the sea bass.
In Delaware, the recreational black sea bass fishery has been closed since September 22, while in New Jersey the two fish summer limit came to a close on August 31. Several studies are being coordinated this season in an effort to gather more data to help generate more scientific effort on this particular fishery, which some hope can help provide managers with more flexibility in the future to allow greater season openings.
According to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council which together set multi-year specifications for black sea bass during a joint meeting in August, the 2017 harvest limits on black sea bass will remain unchanged relative to 2016 levels (in 2016, there was a reduction in the commercial quota due to overages in the previous year). Both the commercial quota and recreational harvest limit may be changed pending the results of next benchmark stock assessment, scheduled for peer review through the Northeast Regional Stock Assessment Workshop/Stock Assessment Review Committee in late 2016. Both ASMFC and the members of the regional council will consider the results of the benchmark stock assessment in early 2017.
The 2016 catch limit actually increased from 5.5 million pounds to 6.67 million pounds in 2016 and 2017 over the 2015 season; however, that is still below the 2014 allowable catch of 7.2 million pounds. Regrettably, because NOAA Fisheries does not coordinate any recreational effort survey in January or February, that offshore winter fishery will not be open again to start the 2017 season. New state-by-state regulations for the sea bass fishery next season will once again be set by state councils and regulatory agencies sometime over the winter.
