May 18, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board will meet via conference call on Monday, May 22 at 12:30 p.m. to review the Technical Committee’s report on New Jersey’s 2017 summer flounder recreational fishery proposal and consider final action on New Jersey’s measures.
The Board tasked the Technical Committee with reviewing the technical merits of the New Jersey’s proposal in meeting both the objectives of the proposal and the objectives of Addendum XXVIII. Addendum XXVIII, approved by the Board in February 2017, requires a one‐inch increase in size limit and a reduction in possession limits to no more than four fish to constrain coastwide harvest to the 2017 recreational harvest limit (RHL). These measures are broadly applied across all states to reduce harvest and provide for more coastwide consistency in regulations. The measures approved in the Addendum seek to achieve the 2017 RHL.
The public is welcome to listen to the discussion by phone (888.394.8197; passcode 815277) and view the webinar using the following link – https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/499991200830679809.
The meeting agenda and materials are available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/SFLScBSB_BoardConfCallMaterials_May22_2017.pdf.
The Technical Committee report on New Jersey’s proposal will be posted, no later than 5 PM on May 19th, at http://www.asmfc.org/calendar/5/2017/Summer-Flounder,-Scup-and-Black-Sea-Bass-Board-Conf-Call/1052.
Time permitting, there will be a limited opportunity to provide comments at the end of the agenda. The Board Chair will outline the procedures for accepting public comment at the beginning of the conference call. We ask the public and other nonparticipating attendees to please mute their phones in order to minimize distractions to the Board’s deliberations.
For more information, please contact Toni Kerns, ISFMP Director, at tkerns@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.