November 13, 2013 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s summer flounder, scup and black sea bass board has initiated a change in the way states may be allowed to manage fluke (also known as summer flounder) and black sea bass. Currently, these species are regulated regionally by the commission with individual states implementing management plans that meet commission guidelines.
This approach has created difficulties for some states as fishing overages have occurred, particularly in New York, due to fact that state shares and limits have not reflected the local abundance of the fish and their availability to recreational fishermen. Consequently, in recent years, minimum sizes in New York have been up to an inch and a half larger than those in neighboring states.
Draft Addendum XXIV will come before the board in December at a joint meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. The initiative includes options that allow for the averaging of harvest estimates, mandatory regions, and the sharing of unused quota.
What does this mean for recreational summer flounder fishing in Rhode Island?
“It will all depend on how the managers want to adjust the allocation,” said Jason McNamee, marine biologist at DEM, “but I guess from my perspective we will remain largely unchanged, as we would be one of the areas where there are indications that the population has moved, or expanded to. So if the managers base their allocation scenarios on where the fish are, we should be OK. If they base it on something else, that could lead to reductions for us. It's tough to tell where things will end up.”
Read the full story at the Providence Journal