“Enough is enough,” said New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner (NJDEP) Bob Martin at a press conference and rally on January 27, 2017 at Fishermen’s Supply Company in Point Pleasant Beach.
Standing alongside federal and state lawmakers and leaders of the state’s recreational and commercial fishing industries, Commissioner Martin continued to hammer home the message, repeating the refrain several more times while addressing about 175 fishermen and media members gathered along the Manasquan River front dock, where commercial and recreational boats were docked side-by-side.
“For too long summer flounder fishery management has been driven by knee-jerk reactions that lack scientific foundation and have profound impacts on the lives of many people,” Commissioner Martin said, explaining how families plan summer vacations based on the run of summer flounder.
“Coming to the Jersey shore to fish for fluke is a time-honored tradition that would be placed at great risk if anglers and their families felt that there would be no point in making the trip,” he said.
Considering options put forth by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) likely to increase the size limit, decrease the bag, and reduce the overall length of the summer flounder season, Commissioner Martin spoke not only on behalf of himself, his DEP and the assembled crowd on a chilly, January morning, but he also represented a somewhat higher authority.
“The governor’s really steamed over this issue,” Martin said of Governor Chris Christie, who the night before had spoken on NJ 101.5 radio about the summer flounder fishery in New Jersey. Martin added that Governor Christie personally viewed the proposed options as “an attack on our way of life.”
“Whatever we need to do, wherever we have to go, we’ll do it, with other states, or we’ll do it alone,” Martin said to a round of applause along the Fishermen’s Supply docks, as members of the assembled fishermen, commercial and recreational alike, began the same refrain – enough is enough.
At issue is the suite of options being discussed this week by the ASMFC at their winter meeting at the Westin Alexandria Hotel at 400 Courthouse Square in Alexandria, VA; the ASMFC Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board meets at 8 a.m. on February 2, at which point final approval of 2017 recreational fishing measures will be considered through Addendum XXVIII. NOAA Fisheries is requiring a 30% cut to both the commercial and recreational fluke quotes for this season, but is also mandating an additional 11% for anglers to meet overages stemming from the 2016 Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP).
Presently, the state of New York is pushing for approval of what is known as “Option 5” within Addendum XXVIII which would increase the summer flounder size by 1 inch across all Atlantic States except North Carolina, while decreasing bag limit to four fish for most New England and lower Mid-Atlantic states (with three fish for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut). Option 5 would also allow states to fish on the same numbers of days as the 2016 season.
However, this particular option only achieves what’s believed to be a 28-32% reduction in harvest and would require the support of the ASFMC technical committee and NOAA Fisheries, something that even New York’s representatives to ASMFC and MAFMC acknowledge falls short of the 41% reduction required by NOAA. Sources indicate that New York’s delegation this week hopes to influence NOAA Fisheries’ Regional Administrator, John Bullard, to waive the 11% recreational penalty in hopes that fellow ASMFC members would support Option 5 over more restrictive options.%page_break%
Commissioner Martin plans to testify against all of the proposed options and quota reductions during the ASMFC meetings this week in Virginia and is hoping to build support from other Atlantic Coastal states for their position of status quo, while reinforcing Governor Christie’s commitment to call on NOAA Fisheries to maintain last year’s summer flounder quota across the board until a new benchmark assessment is coordinated by NOAA Fisheries.
"We are very thankful to Commissioner Martin, Deputy Commissioner (Dave) Glass and their team for their efforts to help New Jersey fishermen and the fishing industry on this issue," said Jim Donofrio of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) who told rally attendees in Point Pleasant that whatever band-aid is applied for this season and no matter what kind of data refinements are made to the assessment, the entire fishing community would still be facing further cuts because of what he called “flaw” in the federal fisheries law. "Immediate action is needed to save our 2017 fluke season but we all know that the long-term solution lies with passing amendments to the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act that will correct the flaws within that law."
“Let’s fix the Magnuson Stevens Act and make sure the process is renewed,” added Pete Grimbilas representing the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance (NJOA) at the press conference, calling for a “temporary fix” in 2017 while adding "we need to take it to a higher level.” Grimbilas went on to say "the system needs a complete overhaul."
Among the federal and state lawmakers joining Commissioner Martin were U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, a representative from U.S. Rep. Chris Smith’s office, as well as state Assembly representatives Dave Rible (R-Monmouth), Eric Houghtaling (D-Monmouth), Vince Mazzeo (D-Atlantic) and Robert Andrzejczak (D-Cape May) who is New Jersey’s legislative member of the ASFMC.
“We have been pushing, and fighting, we’ve been making the phone calls, not only throughout the entire state but to New York, to Connecticut, to our neighboring states, to make sure that we are all onboard,” Andrzejczak told the assembled audience. “Hopefully we are unified with this topic and we’re able to act as one voice so Congress will hear us and listen.”
While Assemblyman Andrzejczak has been a vocal critic of the proposed fluke cuts, legislative representatives to the ASMFC where states face the harshest restrictions on 2017 limits – Connecticut’s Rep. Craig Miner and New York’s Sen. Phil Boyle – have been mostly mum on their the issue.
At the rally, Commissioner Martin noted that recreational fishing alone contributes $1.5 billion to the states economy and creates some 20,000 jobs.
Jeff Gutman, captain of the fishing boats Voyager in Point Pleasant Beach and the Angler in Atlantic Highlands, said that in addition to hurting the recreational fishing industry, the proposed cuts would also “deny the public access to what we know is a healthy fishery."
ASMFC and MAFMC will also meet again from February 14-16 at the Hilton Garden Inn at 5353 N. Virginia Dare Trail in Kitty Hawk, NC. Once any final decision is made on Addendum XXVII and/or final recreational options for 2017, mandates would then be sent back to the individual states to meet the final requirements. The New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council will meet again on March 2 at the Stafford Township Municipal Building at 260 East Bay Avenue in Manahawkin.
“This fluke issue has really got me steamed,” says Governor Chris Christie below during a recent call-in segment on NJ101.5 radio.
