NJ Marine Fisheries Council Report

The NJ Marine Fisheries Council held its bi-monthly meeting on Thursday, September 6. At the July meeting Dave Chandra had put forth a proposal to ban all pots on New Jersey’s artificial reefs for parts of the season. The Reef Committee had met with advisors and could not reach any agreement on a reef proposal. Dr. Pat Donnelly placed a motion to pass Dave Chandra’s proposal. The proposal would ban pots on the reefs from May 1 – October 31. It provided for sinking ground lines on the pots, the pots would be set in a North – South direction with an allowance of plus or minus 10 degree error and each string would be limited to 23 pots. It also provided for a 300’ buffer zone around the artificial reefs.

None of the recreational fishing groups (JCAA, RFA, Reef Rescue and NJ Council of Diving Clubs supported this proposal. The commercial fishermen proposed changes which made the proposal totally worthless in solving the problem. The commercial fishermen were well organized and prepared for this meeting. Erling Berg, a commercial representative on the council did his homework and came to the meeting ready for action. He proposed an alternate plan with the following changes:

Commercial and recreational pot fishing gear targeting finfish will be prohibited on reef site May 1st through October 1st.

Lobster and conch pots will be allowed on New Jersey reefs year round. Vessels engaged in directed lobster or conch pot fishing when harvesting New Jersey state reefs will be limited to a 50 pound possession limit of finfish (Black Sea Bass) during the May 1st to October 1st finfish pot closure.

Erling did a great job for the commercial fishermen, making a well-prepared and vocalized appeal for his motion. There are presently nine members on the Council. Five of them represent commercial interests and four represent the recreational sector. Would anyone care to guess what the vote was? You’re right. It was 5-4 in favor of Erling’s motion. Normally the chairman does not vote except in the event of a tie but in this case Chairman Gil Ewing voted with the recreational sector against the motion.

There are currently two vacant seats on the NJ Marine Fisheries Council. If these seats were filled with recreational people the vote would have gone the other way.

Many commercial fishermen made public comments during that portion of the meeting. They all applauded the action taken by the commercial interests on the council. Erling is also a member of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. In the two years that he has been on the ASMFC he has yet to make any comment in favor of NJ fishing industry and especially the recreational sector. It is hoped that this effort at the state level will give Erling the confidence to start making comments and proposals favorable to New Jersey fishermen at these meetings. He can start with Fluke. There will be plenty of opportunity at the upcoming meetings of the Council and Commission to fight for what is right. You don’t need to be a statistical wizard to know that the fluke numbers are flawed. Recreational fishermen cannot continue to exceed their quota if the fish are not there in far greater numbers than the stocks are reported to be. Commercial fishermen would not be catching their quotas in short periods of time and Recreational fishermen cannot hook fish that are not there. The data needs to be challenged by the members of the Council and Commission.

[News Contents] [Top]