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Conservation Twists and Turns
Things might finally be improving for New York Recreational fisherman. WE sent emails, upon emails, and seemingly it has worked. Option 10 that is the best suited for a long season, with the least amount of hardships for the people in the bait and tackle industries and the for hire industry, got recommended to the DEC by the Marine Resource Advisory Committee. After leading the fight for Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act, and fighting to give ourselves any kind of fluke season, we are now faced with the opportunity to get the much need coastal management of the fluke fishery adopted. It seems that the N.M.F.S. is leaning towards changing the federal management plans to a coastwise system. That would finally put an end to the system of conservation equivalency that has governed the fluke fishing for as long as I care to remember. Option 10 would most likely be in effect this year, but in the future our regulations should be much more palatable. We had all hoped that possibly status quo might be had next year, being that we urged for a 70 percent reduction formula this year. The general opinion is that the current system is flawed with equivelancy measures being used, and the Performance Factor is basically an extra punch to the solar flexes for NY. Our club has already heard from Pat Augustine at our meeting, and he did show up to the MRAC meeting on March 11th. He urged for the coastwise or regional system, and for the removal of the performance factor. Our bordering states have hated the idea of being grouped with N.Y., and will fight against change. They know how much our fisherman go fluking, and how many of us there are. They also wrongfully assume we are killing the fluke stocks. They don’t want to know that the M.R.F.S.S. data is what is screwing up the reported take by our recreational fisherman. The numbers are more of a poor guess of what we actually catch, and are in no way reliable to use in management rule making. We always go over the limit some how, even though no one on the grounds can see how based on their own catch records. Remember that we only caught 3 weakfish 2 years ago, but Jersey killed the fish. We all know that can’t possibly be true, but they claim that it is. Jersey will fight the regional and coastal system, as will Ct., and RI and Mass. Their regulations will get worse, while we improve. Due to the flukes range, they don’t have the amount of the stock up north that we do anyway, and fluking is more of a diversion than a mainstay. Mass. doesn’t even like the Mid Atlantic Fisheries Committee governing them. I feel like being selfish on this one. We here in N.Y. have sat by and watched as Jersey fisherman got to keep smaller fluke, and fish right next to our boats while doing it. (Amazing seeing as we are fishing the same stock.) They got to keep more of a bag also. We share the same winter flounder size limit, the only difference is in the defined season, but not fluke regs. . Fluke fishing is just as importan t to New York anglers as our Jersey counterparts. Management issues continue to twist and turn, and most of the times it twists around our necks. We can win this battle, and going forward reap the benefits of the coastwise system. With the flexibility act gaining support to be passed, and a move to a coastwise or regional system being seriously considered, it could, and should, be a double victory for us in the near future. We can’t do much else to stop the runaway train that is fluke management . Look at how bad things have been, this year we actually asked for a 70 percent reduction! With stocks as healthy as they are, that’s enough to prove to me the system has to go at all costs.
With victory on these 2 fronts, we can hopefully surge ahead into other management arenas such as Sea Bass and Porgies. Not many in this club fish for Porgies, but the changes to that fishery are also going to hurt. Recreational fisherman on private boats and from shore will have a 126 day season with a 10 1/2 inch size limit and a 10 fish possession limit. The season will probably start the end of May. The for hire mode will also have 126 days to fish with an 11 inch size limit and a possesion limit of 10 fish from 6/11 or 6/12 and then 45 fish from 9/1 until 10/15. If you anchor on them you can catch your limit in 10 minutes! A party boat could limit out in a half hour. What will the head boats do then, come in early, or just not bother to fish for them until Sept 1st ? What effect will that have on the seabass fishing ? (That fisheries new regulations haven’t been disclosed publicly yet.) Every new regulation they pass is having a negative impact on another fishery. They need to consider that when closing seasons, or making a specie not desireable to fish for. The party boats won’t stop making a living because the season is closed, and we will fish on our boats for something else also. Will Striped bass now be the only worthwhile spring fishery? The flounder fishery is poor, the new sea bass regulations heading our way will be harsher, and the fluke season won’t open until mid may. People fishing clams reported less keeper bass in ’07 than ’06. I didn’t hear of a lot of large bass on the bunker schools this past fall either. We had schoolies later on as the bait held along the beaches, but not many bigger fish. Cause for concern? The larger bass are the healthy spawners with good genes. If, they don’t spawn the stocks will suffer down the line. So the long and short of it is that we are twisting and turning. Can we stabilize things and bear the course to a safe port? We need to stop worrying about semantics, just get organized, educated, and put the effort in to save our fishing. We may only have a few days left to comment. The N.M.F.S decision on which management system to go with, is due in within a couple of weeks. Contact your representatives today. I have previously sent out an email to all our club members that contained the links to both local and federal Representatives. Let’s hook ourselves the fish of a lifetime, fairness and respect in fisheries management!
Tight Lines
Mike Bobetsky
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