Article: Fluke regulations still need refining

[Jer]

Fluke regulations still need refining

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/30/07
BY JOHN GEISER
CORRESPONDENT

An option not talked about in management of the fluke fishery this year was the keeping of one fluke from Sept. 10 through Nov. 14.

No provision was written into the rules to cover the possible catching of a world record summer flounder this fall. It could happen.

Someone could reel in a fluke that would eclipse the International Game Fish Association all-tackle record of 22 pounds, 7 ounces set by Charles Nappi Sept. 15, 1975 in Montauk waters, and have to release it.

This has already occurred with winter flounders. The little cousin of the summer flounder is not much in the news by comparison, but the state record of 5 pounds, 11 ounces was reportedly bested recently by a fish that weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces on a hand scale. It was released.

Robert "Dusty" Rhodes, former vice chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, has a broken record he plays for me at least twice a week these days: "It's all about opportunity."

His contention is that, when the choices were being made, the angling community and the council, should have gone for the longer fluke season with a higher minimum size this year.

This is not Tuesday-morning quarterbacking. He was saying this, almost as a prophecy, way back in June, maybe earlier. His idea was to get as much time on the water as possible.

My proposal, as a Wednesday-morning quarterback, is to refine Dusty's idea by providing for a single fish after the regular cutoff date, whatever that might be in 2008.

We are going to be tatooed in 2008, have no illusions about that. If New York could apparently not stay within its quota this year, according to preliminary Marine Recreational Fishery Statistics Survey data, with a 19 1/2-inch minimum size, where will New Jersey be in 2008?

The people who used to use slide rules and now rely on computers to decide how many fluke a citizen can put in his freezer will stick to their game plan next year.

Presumably they all passed algebra and calculus, and are adept at employing their models. The trouble is twofold: limited or bad information and politics.

A computer model is only as good as the information fed into it. When this is coupled with an agenda driven by protectionist philosophy, the result can only be trouble.

The difficulty facing us will be wrestling with some combination of a higher minimum size, shorter season and smaller possession limit. We faced it in the extreme with striped bass years ago, and the blackfish fishery is on the fast track.

Management officials have no qualms about closing a fishery down, but, at least in the case of stripers and blackfish, they did provide for a record fish being caught.

This should be a provision in the fluke fishery rules when the season is closed for any length of time while the fish are present.

Capt. George Bachert aired some thoughts at the recent "town meeting" hosted by the Shark River Surf Anglers and the Recreational Fishing Alliance that need be repeated.

Bachert, by the way, is not only a party boat captain with years of practical experience, but he has the academic credentials to match most in the field.

He sees the first priority as getting the National Marine Fisheries Service's attention by talking to legislators about the shortcomings of the agency.

"We must demand that NMFS's budget be cut and that the top people in their organization be fired," he emphasized.

"Second, we must use their figures and models to show that the fluke stocks are rebuilt," he continued. "If New York state could catch their quota in 40 days when NMFS said, at a 19 1/2-inch size limit they could fish all year, then there must be over twice the fish they calculated.

"We know the end result in what they caught; so plug this number in their equation, and see how many fish are around," he added.

Bachert has long kept accurate daily records of the fluke caught on the Angler out of Atlantic Highlands, the vessel he captains throughout the season. His information is a better mirror and more accurate than any projection or survey done by MRFSS in the Bayshore area. Unfortunately, the data has been ignored and worse waved away as "anecdotal."

[hamer31]

i have posted a response to the fluke dilemma in another thread but this is such an important topic to me i feel the need to respond to it every time. This article is spot on (thanks Jer for the updates with these articles!)... the managing of the fluke stocks has gotten more and more ubsurd each year. the focus is only directed at how to make it more profitable for the commercial fleet to fish for fluke. now, my first fishing experiences were with fluke. They are a relatively easy fish to catch and a great fish to start on. however, if you start making them innaccesible you will start to lose some fisherman. this causes bait shops and other fishing related businesses to lose money! i think the commercial fisherman need to be allowed to fish for spiny dogfish to make their money and we need to start allowing people to fish for fluke with less restrictions. this summer i saw more big fluke then i have in years and a ton of fluke just under legal size that had plenty of meat on them and would make one hell of a dinner! if you're a fluke fisherman join the RFA or any local fishing organization that is interested in protecting our fluke fishing!