So what’s the deal with New Jersey fluke and sea bass this season?
Hopefully that answer will come during the next “virtual” meeting of the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council (Council) slated for Thursday, April 7 at 5 p.m. Despite the loosening of COVID related public gatherings throughout the region, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and its Division of Fish and Wildlife (Division) continue to hold their public hearings via GoToWebinar; instructions for logging in will be posted to the Council’s meeting page “at least three days prior to the meeting” on April 7.
While potential black sea bass and summer flounder options have been floating around social media for the past two weeks, the proposed season, size and bag selections appearing in the charts are not yet final. “These examples are taken from New Jersey’s summer flounder proposal to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) submitted on February 24, 2022,” said Caryn Shinske from the NJDEP press office. “The ASMFC process requires states to submit proposals to review the calculation methodology used for developing management options,” Shinske added.
According to Shinske, the ASMFC Summer Flounder Technical Committee has reviewed state proposals, and the Management Board will review them during a special meeting to be held on March 24.
“Following approval of the methodology by the ASMFC, Bureau of Marine Fisheries staff will develop a range of options intended to address anglers’ concerns with our fishery that we will share with advisors,” Shinske noted, noting that the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council Summer Flounder Committee and its advisors would review those final and ASMFC-approved options a few days before the advisory meeting. “Target date for the advisory meeting is the week of March 28,” Shinske noted.
In the days leading up to the 2021 Council meeting in New Jersey, an online survey was issued by the Division to gauge angling interest in various summer flounder options, but Shinske said New Jersey recreational fishermen should not expect that to occur again in 2022. “Staff have spoken to the Marine Fisheries Council who have decided not to conduct a poll, primarily because the short turnaround between the Board meeting and advisors meeting would make it difficult to develop and distribute a poll and compile results in time for discussion at the advisory meeting,” she said.
The Council’s advisors will ultimately make a recommendation on which fluke and sea bass options to present to the Council on April 7, at which point the angling public will get a final chance to weigh-in with their opinions. Overall, the recreational fishing community is facing what amounts to a 20% cut in black sea bass harvest in 2022, while enjoying an increase in the recreational harvest limits for fluke in 2022. As for the 2022 porgy limits, in response to high levels of recreational landings in recent years the ASMFC/MAFMC has agreed to increase the scup recreational minimum size by one inch in state and federal waters.
The week prior to the Council meeting, the AFMFC will hold a joint Delaware-New Jersey virtual public hearing regarding the Recreational Harvest Control Rule Draft Addenda to the Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and the Bluefish FMP. The virtual hearing will be held Monday, March 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. To register for the hearing and for more information about providing input at the hearing, visit the ASMFC website.
The draft addenda considers changes to the process used by the ASMFC and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) to set recreational possession, size and season limit management measures for summer flounder, scup, black sea bass and bluefish. MAFMC is considering an identical set of options. Taking final action on the addenda will not implement any specific possession, size or season limits, but rather will start a new specification process for setting future management measures.
These potential changes are intended to provide greater stability and predictability in recreational fisheries management measures from year to year. The changes also will place greater emphasis on stock status when setting management measures. The draft addenda proposes five possible approaches for setting management measures. Key differences between the options include the information considered when setting measures, and the circumstances under which management measures would change.
The draft addenda is available on the ASMFC website, as is a reference guide to aid stakeholders in understanding the options contained in the draft addenda. The comment period for the Harvest Control Rule Draft Addenda runs until 11:59 p.m. EDT April 22, 2022 for providing input on the management of recreational summer flounder, scup, black sea bass and bluefish. Written comment should be sent to Dustin Colson Leaming, FMP Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, Virginia 22201; faxed to 703-842-0740; or submitted by email to [email protected] (Subject: “Harvest Control Rule”).
Read more about recreational reform and the harvest control rule from The Fisherman Magazine.
