October 2, 2014 — The two agencies that control the future of fluke off our coastline, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, have proposed a comprehensive summer flounder management amendment.
To gather stakeholder feedback on the issues to be addressed in the amendment, the agencies scheduled scoping hearings from Massachusetts to North Carolina through the end of October. Everything and anything regarding fluke and its management is on the table.
Ideas on reducing fluke mortality, data collection, quota allocations, size, season and and bag limits, management strategies and discards are all open for discussion.
As Chris Zeman, one of New Jersey's representative to the MAFMC, said when the scoping process was announced, "this opportunity occurs once a decade if you're lucky. We rarely enter into a process like this."
Considering the fervor generated in all those connected with fishing for summer flounder, it was a bit surprising to find the turnout at the scoping meeting in Belmar on Tuesday night on the light side.
The time of day, traffic or the fact that it is still very early in the amendment process, may have kept the numbers down. Yet it would seem that a chance to sound off on summer flounder would have packed the room.
Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press