December 13, 2013 — There’s a distinct possibility that the 2014 summer flounder season will be different from years past. In its effort to get more fluke, New York is pushing for regional management of the summer flounder fishery.
At a joint meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission on Wednesday, an addendum was approved that will allow the public to comment on a suite of regional measures for the fishery.
“I think the main impetus here is to provide similar measures up and down the coast without having any one or two states from having any significant disparate regulations from other states, at least in a neighboring perspective,” said Capt. Adam Nowalsky, chairman of the New Jersey chapter of the Recreational Fishing Alliance. “The big fly in the ointment right now is New York with the one-inch higher size limit than everybody else.”
New York has been fighting for a bigger share of the fluke quota for years and was considering legal action earlier the year if coastal equivalency, or state-by-state measures, were retained to manage the stock. In addition, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has proposed legislation, the Fluke Fairness Act, to get a larger share of the fluke catch for his constituents.