February 5, 2015 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) met Thursday in Alexandria, Virginia to set regulations for many coastal species. Driving back from that meeting, N.J. Governor's Appointee Tom Fote called to report that the Striped Bass Management Board had approved the various state conservation equivalency proposals, including New Jersey's which allows for both a 28-to-under-43-inch striped bass and another of 43 inches or more rather than the basic coastal reduction to just a single striper with a 28-inch minimum. That change must be accomplished through the legislative process.
It will be status quo for N.J. fluke anglers, but the season will be set at the next Marine Fisheries Council meeting. New York had been pushing to go up to an 18 1/2-inch minimum in order to extend the season. Fote made an effort to have Delaware Bay made a separate zone to overcome the problem of having a mere 16 inch minimum in Delaware, but 18 inches in N.J. — which resulted in Pa. anglers driving to the First State rather than Fortescue or Cape May in order to bag some keepers while fishing the same waters.
The disparity of N.Y. anglers having a higher minimum than those in N.J. fishing the same waters was the driving force behind the ASMFC forcing N.J. into regionalization with N.Y. and Ct. last year, but there was so little sympathy with the same inequity in Delaware Bay that Fote couldn't even get a second in his effort to create a region to the south.
Fote noted that the new summer flounder assessment showed the species is overfished and overfishing is occurring in the north. Yet, he said our region didn't overfish its fluke quota last year. Some had been concerned that the 17-inch minimum allowed for shore fishermen at Island Beach State Park would have a big impact on the quota, but only a mere 176 such fluke were checked in there last year.