February 2, 2017 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) on Thursday, February 2, voted 7-3 in favor of the so-called Option 5 of the Summer Flounder Draft Addendum XXVIII for 2017 recreational measures for fluke. The option would apply a “near coastwide 1-inch size limit increase and bag limit reduction to four fish or less” along the Atlantic Coast in 2017, with North Carolina exempt from the measures, and the tri-state region of New York, Connecticut and New Jersey getting a three-fish bag limit.
Because the measure is thought to achieve a roughly 30% coastwide reduction on recreational fluke harvest – less than the required reduction of 41% required by NOAA Fisheries – the approved measures are not certain to meet the ASMFC Technical Committee requirements and final approval by NOAA Fisheries. A motion made by New Jersey to postpone final action until later in February when ASMFC meets jointly with the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) in Kitty Hawk, NC in hopes of getting that final analysis and approval failed.
Spearheaded by the New York delegation, the vote was also approved by Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and the Potomac River Commission. Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Jersey voted in opposition to the Option 5 compromise, while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) both abstained.