President's Report

by Mark Taylor

(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association April 2009 Newsletter)

JCAA would like to take the time to thank Brick Township for allowing us to hold our general meeting at the Community Center. We will be back holding our general meetings there starting with the April 28th meeting, with our guest speaker from Reef Rescue, Dr. Bill Figley. April 28th also happens to be our High Roller Raffle Drawing at 8:00 PM sharp. Make sure to help your Association with this fundraiser by selling some raffle books and making it a success. I will be scheduling some guest speakers in upcoming months, so have your clubs representatives attend and get the information first hand. All the sportsmen of the State of New Jersey need to work together so we can accomplish great things for our sports. I will explain this in more detail at the next general meeting. The next General Meeting which will be held on March 31 will be at the JCAA Office.

The 2009 show season for us is coming to a close. I would like to thank all the volunteers who spent a few hours to help their Association inform the public on any questions that were asked at the shows. This is one way that we can get the correct information to the uninformed anglers that fish in New Jersey. We did have a few new people to volunteer and I hope that it will continue at future shows.

Due to rough economic times that we all are experiencing, the JCAA Fluke Tournament Committee had a meeting to finalize the makeup of this year’s tournament. They had to make some really difficult decisions which took many hours of discussion. Unfortunately this year’s Fluke Tournament will have only nine ports rather than twelve as years past. The ports that were eliminated for this year are Jersey City, Atlantic City and Avalon. There will be a more detailed article in this month’s newsletter. I hope that the economy gets better so we can have those ports back for next year’s tournament.

I have announced at the February 28th General Meeting that a JCAA Saltwater Registry Committee was formed, to be co-chaired by Tom Siciliano and Bruce Smith. I would like to thank everyone who stepped up to get involved with this committee on this important issue. This committee will go through all the information that is available and will give it to the member clubs so they will have some time at their individual club meetings to discuss the information and come back to the Association with their club’s position. Attend general meetings and stay current with updates.

I will be trying to make our Individual Committees more effective in this coming year. By being on one of these committees, you can get more involved and see on how the system works. If you are interested on serving on them contact me or the JCAA Office.

Below is a letter to the Governor from JCAA on the Summer Flounder Lawsuit

Letter on Summer Flounder Lawsuit

The Honorable Jon S. Corzine
Governor of New Jersey
State House, P.O. Box 001
Trenton, NJ 08625-0001

Dear Governor Corzine,

The vitality of New Jersey’s recreational fishing industry, which generates 1.3 billion dollars to New Jersey’s economy, is being seriously threatened by a recent ruling by a Brooklyn, New York Federal judge concerning the data and methodology used to establish quotas for summer flounder, locally known as fluke, for East coast states. The Jersey Coast Anglers Association (JCAA) represents over 75 fishing clubs throughout the Garden State.

The JCAA, on behalf of its members, requests that New Jersey intervene along with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and the Secretary of the federal Department of Commerce to challenge the case brought by the state of New York to change the coastwide allocation of summer flounder. Further, the JCAA is concerned that Brooklyn’s Senior Federal District Judge Charles P. Sifton has made an unprecedented change to the status of the ASMFC, which, if left to stand, leaves the ASMFC at the mercy of the courts in the allocation of species under its management regime. The judge found for the state of New York and a coalition made up of the United Boatman of New York (UBNY), the New York Fishing Tackle Trade Association (NYFTTA), and the Fishermen’s Conservation Association of New York (FCA). to include the ASMFC in the lawsuit.

The summer flounder fishery, one of the most important to our state, is jointly managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the ASMFC. The NMFS has management responsibilities over fisheries within three to 200 miles and the ASMFC is responsible for the waters from New Jersey’s shoreline to three miles out to sea. For nearly twenty years now, each state has been allocated a catch limit based upon its historical catch. Because if its large participation by anglers, New Jersey has historically had the largest allocation of any state.

In the mid-90s, for the first time, a coastwide quota was set for all the coastal states where each competed for the quota. After being in place for several years, this system was found to be unfair to some states and it was agreed by all parties that a change to the coastwide system needed to occur. The current state-by-state system was determined over twenty years ago by extensive discussion by the coastal states to come up with a fair and equitable system. Ironically, it was New York that made the motion to switch from a coastwide to state-by-state model.

If New York is successful in changing back to a single coastwide quota system, then New York anglers will be able to increase their catch at the expense of New Jersey anglers. As a result, New Jersey’s catch will be substantially decreased. This will have a significant negative economic impact on New Jersey’s economy during these troubled financial times.

The JCAA members are deeply concerned that this legal decision may result in a court-mandated injunction that would disrupt the 2009 summer flounder season for New Jersey’s anglers. Because of the large impact a federal ruling could have in this matter, we again request that New Jersey’s interest be represented by our Attorney General as a friend of the court.

Tom Fote is the Governor’s Appointee to the ASMFC and can provide the more detailed information the Attorney General’s office needs to assist New Jersey’s anglers in this most urgent matter. Tom can be reached at (732) 270-9102. Bruce Freeman (732-793-7871) is a past employee of the Division of Fish and Wildlife and was NJ’s representative to Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council for over 25 years. He has helped the Attorney General’s office in the past and would be willing to help again as a volunteer.

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