The battle is on to save the fluke fishery

[Asbury Park Press]

The campaign to save the fluke fishery for recreational and commercial anglers is moving ahead even as opposition from environmentalists and government increases.
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-NJ, has announced that the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans will hold an oversight hearing at 11 a.m. Wednesday on rebuilding overfished fisheries under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
Pallone, who serves as senior member of the subcommittee, requested the hearing after numerous complaints from recreational and commercial fishermen on the continuous assault on the annual summer flounder quota.
The stock has been built to historic highs in seven years yet the National Marine Fisheries Service and some environmentalists want to double its mass.
Pallone said the hearing will examine the implementation of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the massive cuts fishermen have faced in an attempt to reach an arbitrary rebuilding target by the end of 2012.
Fishermen are particularly frustrated by the fact that the bigger the biomass grows, the more the harvest is cut back.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council recommended a quota of 15.77 million pounds for summer flounder in 2008, which is a cut from 17.1 million pounds this year, which was down from 23.59 million pounds in 2006.
Even as Pallone announced the date of the hearing, Patricia A. Kurkul, regional administrator for NMFS, sent a letter to the council urging that body to take action the morning of Dec. 11 in Secaucus to set regulations so tight that the quota cannot be exceeded.
Some environmental groups, especially those allied with the Pew Charitable Trusts' Environment Group, are pressing NMFS to reduce the quota of 15.77 million pounds recommended by the council and the commission to 11.6 million pounds.
NMFS could achieve part of this demand without angering commercial fishermen further by simply pressuring the commission and the council to put such harsh regulations on the recreational sector, such as a two-fish limit with a 28-inch minimum, that the angling portion or 6.3 million pounds could not be filled, and quite possibly be as low as the 4.64 million pounds that would be allowed the recreational sector under the 11.6-million scenario.
This would also allow the commercial sector to harvest 9.6 million pounds instead of 6.96 million pounds as it would if the total allowable harvest were to be cut to 11.6 million pounds.
"This hearing will give recreational and commercial fishermen a chance to testify before Congress and explain their position that the current rebuilding targets are unattainable," Pallone said.
"It will also give members of Congress the opportunity to questiion NMFS about the "best available science' used in creating the yearly total allowable landing limits and whether the current rebuilding targets take into account environmental factors such as over development and the degradation of our estuaries," he continued.
"I will also be interested to hear if NMFS believes the current ecosystem can sustain all species at the rebuilt levels with regard to predator-prey relationships," he added.
Pallone said he hopes to get answers to the following questions:
Have rebuilding plans been established for fisheries identified as overfished and has overfishing ended in these fisheries?
What is the likelihod that these plans will achieve their rebuilding goals within the required time frames?
How are the rebuilding targets for overfished stocks established?
What type and quality of information and data is factored into those targets?
How are non-fishing impacts ? such as habitat loss, pollution and predator-prey relationships ?- factored into those targets?
What can Congress do to help NMFS meet rebuilding plan goals?
Representatives of the Recreational Fishing Alliance and Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund are expected to testify at the hearing.
Fishing for striped bass and bluefish from boats was good off the Seasides and Island Beach State Park Friday, according to Capt. Mike Bogan of the Gambler out of Inlet Dock, Point Pleasant Beach.
"We had 15 keeper bass and plenty of blues running from 1 to 15 pounds," he said. "The action was mostly on A-47s without tails, and it was within a mile of the beach."

[flounnder-pounder]

The flounnder season needs to b open next year.... Any way if its not people will still keep them even though it is against the law but.........................

[reelpleasure]

yeah but what about all the charter captains who make their living flukin? Or the tackle shops that see most of their business from the charter boats,not to mention the restaurants,bars,and deli's,and gas stations that will be affected!