January 26, 2015 — A public hearing was held Jan. 15 in Dover about the proposed summer flounder regulations for 2015. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has the responsibility of setting the recreational size and bag limits as well as the seasons for summer flounder.
Kirby Rootes-Murdy, the ASMFC flounder management plan coordinator, presented the program.
The reason for this hearing was to give the public a chance to have input before the ASMFC announced the 2015 flounder regulations. In 2014, ASMFC placed Delaware in the Southern Region along with Maryland and Virginia. All three states were given a 16-inch minimum size and a four-fish bag limit with no closed season.
New Jersey cried bloody murder because they were put in a region with New York and Connecticut, where each state had an 18-inch size limit, a five-fish bag limit and a 128-day season. They raised such a stink that ASMFC developed several options that would put all or part of New Jersey in the Southern Region.
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