February 14, 2014 — Though the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) dealt a blow to New Jersey on fluke by including us in a region with New York and Connecticut that results in an 18-inch minimum with four fish during a 128-day season, there was some good news from the recent ASMFC meeting as year-round recreational fishing was permitted for winter flounder.
Unfortunately, anglers won’t be able to take advantage of that opportunity right away because the Division of Fish and Wildlife has to go through the Marine Fisheries Council to make changes in state regulations. Though it intends to change the opening to March 1, the formalities probably won’t be completed before the present March 22 opening.
Actually, there’s no reason to have any dates at all since the ASMFC has opened the entire year. Once in place, a shore fisherman fortunate enough to catch a flounder in the middle of the winter will be able to keep it, as will those party and charter boat anglers who hook the very large flounder that hang around deep water wrecks in the summer.
Extending the recreational season has nothing to do with any improvement in winter flounder abundance. With recreational fishermen restricted to two flounder of at least 12 inches per day, it really doesn’t make any difference how long the season is — even for a species at historic scarcity. That prevents any directed fishery by party boats, and discourages most private anglers due to the cost of fuel and bait when only two small fish can be retained.
Tom Fote, the N.J. governor’s appointee to the ASMFC, points out that the real problem is the 5,000-pound per trip commercial "by-catch" that trawlers are allowed in federal waters. Flounder are concentrated in relatively near-shore ocean waters during the summer, and that so-called "by-catch" provides a good payday while removing more flounder than anglers may catch all year.
In 2012, the recreational landings plus discards for the entire Southern New England-Mid-Atlantic winter flounder stock came to a mere 14,110 pounds (less than 0.1 percent of the angling catch in 1982) while the commercial catch on that stock was 812,402 pounds. In N.J., the Bureau of Marine Fisheries 2013 survey indicated a sharp decrease in all winter flounder indices, and the lowest biomass indices in the last 21 years of the survey.
The closure of directed commercial menhaden fishing in N.J. had tackle shops worried about bait supply, but it appears that a 6,000-pound daily by-catch will be allowed for those involved even though they aren’t fishing for anything else.
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