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by Frank Richetti
(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association January 2002 Newsletter)
SUMMER FLOUNDER
A joint meeting of the Mid-Atlantic
Fisheries Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission was held
on Wednesday, December 12, 2001 to decide on the guidelines for recreational landings of
summer flounder, black seabass and scup (porgies) for the 2002 season. Once again, we will
have to implement harsher methods to restrict our catch of each species in the upcoming
year. This is getting to be like listening to an old worn-out record, the recreational
community caught more fish than they were supposed to and therefore must restrict its
catch in the upcoming year. The
technical committees that advise the council and commission admit that the stocks are
increasing but that we are exceeding the harvest level allowed by the "recovery
plan.” That is the real rub in this whole mess, the very conservative recovery plans
are great at helping a collapsed population rebound but are not flexible enough to allow
for proportionally increased harvests once the stocks are out of danger. I'm not saying
that we should have a free-for-all. We need size and bag limits, but we have been held to
landings of around 7.5 million pounds on fluke for seven seasons in a row. In those same
seven years we have seen our size limits increase from a 13-inch to a 16-inch fish, plus
bag limits and season closures and the spawning stock grow dramatically.
Has the population of fluke been
stagnant for the last seven years? No, the population is increasing. The way the recovery
plan works is that as the fish population increases it becomes easier to catch fish, so we
catch more fish. But because our harvest increases at a faster rate than the
"plan" allows, our ability to land fish must be restricted. Hence, the size
& bag limits coupled with season closures. In days of yore, the landings for
recreationally caught fish would, in effect, be self-regulating, when fish stocks are down
you catch fewer fish and as fish stocks increase you catch more fish. The irony of the
current plan is the more abundant the fish are, the more we have to be restricted. With
the larger size limits, we land heavier fish thereby filling our quota with fewer fish at
a time when they are more abundant.
When the meeting started the 2001 fluke
landings looked pretty grim. The projected landings were 5.2 M lbs. more that our target
of 7.16 M lbs., but when the actual landings were published we caught 11.54 M lbs. and
were only 4.4 M lbs. over target. For the first time in more than seven years we will get
a substantial increase in out TAL (total allowable landings) for 2002. Our limit will
increase from 7.16 M lbs. to 9.72 M lbs. This 2.56 M lbs. increase in TAL will lessen the
pain of restrictions for the 2002 season. Instead of needing to cut back almost 40%, we
will only need to cut back around 16%.
Each state will be allowed to decide
how they are going to meet the restriction goals for landing fluke. This is called
conservation equivalency. The state regulations can be any combination of size limits, bag
limits and season closures that meet the targeted reduction. In case a state decides to
take no action, the council/commission has enacted a precautionary default measure of one
fish at 18 inches to impose on the non-compliant state. Looking at the preliminary tables
for NJ, a 16.5 inch fish will give the needed reduction with a longer season than
in 2001. We will get updated tables
through the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife early in the year and will have a clearer
picture of what the 2002 fluke season will look like.
BLACK SEABASS
Black
seabass landings exceeded the target by 6%, which is really within the error of our
ability to measure landings. Nevertheless, the council voted to increase the
minimum size limit by a half inch to 11.5 inches with no closed season. There is no
conservation equivalency in this plan so each state has to impose the restriction
uniformly up and down the coast.
SCUP
Scup (porgy) landings were almost
double the target and the plan called for a 57% reduction in recreational landing for
2002. Most council members (commercial as well as recreational) recognize the fact that
recreational landings played no part in depressing the scup stocks. The by-catch in the small
squid fishery was responsible for the mess. That situation was fixed in the
late 90s. Now that the stocks are rebounding the recreational catch is going up
dramatically but still only accounts for about 20% of the landings. Commercial landings
and discards account for the rest of the mortality. No councilmen or commissioners would
put forth a proposal that would implement the 57% reduction. They instead opted for 37% by
increasing the minimum size limit to 10 inches and a season from July 1 through October
31. However, the National Marine Fisheries Service oversees all the fish management plans
and is bound by law to stay within the boundaries of each plan. They probably will not
accept the 37% reduction because it is insufficient to meet the "plan" and
instead will impose more austere measures.
A FINAL THOUGHT
It is easy for any fishery management
plans to call for size increases on fish. It is the easiest way for managers to restrict
landings. But the folks who are most affected by increased size limits are those who are
least represented by the governing bodies. People who are too poor to own a boat or are
not able to afford a day out on a party boat are restricted to fishing only from the
piers, banks and beaches. These are the people who fish for food as well as recreation.
They will rarely catch a legal size fish and each time the size limit goes up a notch they
have even less of a chance to feed their family fresh fish. They have as much right to
these natural resources as anyone else in this country but they are slowly being cut out
of their fair share. As our fish stocks recover we must find ways to allow for people from
all walks of life to participate and have fair access to the resources.