President's Report

(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association June 2008 Newsletter)

Welcome  

My first order of business is to welcome a new fishing club, The Fortescue Anglers Association, into the JCAA! We are glad to have you come on board!

JCAA Fluke Tournament

This June 14th tournament is rapidly approaching and we have $110,000 in prizes to give away including a Century Boat with a center console (1801 model) that has a Yamaha 4-stroke engine and also a LoadRight trailer as the Grand Prize! This is not just a new boat. It has a complete package with a motor and trailer so that the lucky winner is good to go! The value of this boating package is $31,000! Also, we have about $48,000 in great prizes to give away to anglers who place in the top ten positions with the heaviest fluke at the 12 ports.

Another event to look forward to is the Gala Ceremony at the Trump Marina Casino in Atlantic City on June 20 (Friday evening) where we give away cash and prizes to the top ten place winners from each port and a big bundle of great door prizes. This event will take place in Trump Grand Cayman Ballroom where we had 1,700 anglers and their friends show up last year. This is truly a first-class event and one for all anglers and their friends to enjoy!

I also want to make an important point and that is you can still be a winner even if you enter the tournament and don’t even get your boat in the water! The entry fee is $120 for a maximum of 6 anglers for each boat. For example, what if you have engine problems and you can’t get your boat in the water or even if you don’t place in the top ten winners with the biggest fluke at your port? Your entry fee is not lost. All you have to do is to have at least one of your crew show up at the Trump Marina for our Gala Awards ceremony with your tournament documents and you can still have a chance to win the numerous and great door prizes we have to give away along with a chance to win the grand prize of the Century boat. One of your crew has to show up at the casino since we have so many prizes to give away and it is very difficult for us to place all of them in the mail!

Also, remember that you and your friends can stay over at the Trump Marina at a special discounted rate. Just mention that you are in the JCAA Fluke Tournament and say that you want the group rate and reference group code: FLUKE08. Come and enjoy the JCAA fluke tournament and Good Luck to all of you! I will be at the Clarks Marina weighing fish so say hello to me and remember that you have to weigh your fish at the marina before the official 5:00 p.m. closing of the tournament. There is more detailed info on the tournament in the newsletter and entry information.

Footnote: I was invited to talk about the JCAA Fluke Tournament at the Comcast Newsmakers studio in Trenton on May 12th and I had to get all of the above info out in a space of 5 minutes! It was the fastest 5 minutes of my life and it was my first entry into the TV world with makeup and all. This taping will appear on CNN’s Headline News (channels 30 or 57) and at a time that the broadcasters determine at their discretion. This is great PR for the JCAA and at no cost to us!

Fluke Research

Our best shot at the moment to possibly delay or stop the slide to more stringent fluke quotas placed upon us by the National Marine Fisheries Service is to question their data and science used on the models to justify their quotas. To this end, we along with other groups, the Garden State Seafood, RFA, and the Save Our Summer Flounder Group have contributed funds ($15,000 by the JCAA) to hire specialists to review the data that NMFS uses for their stock assessments. This review is expected to wrap up in June with a final assessment following shortly thereafter. More detailed information on this issue can be found in Bruce Freeman’s column in this newsletter and he represents the JCAA in this fluke stock assessment effort. I must also add that Bruce is volunteering his time toward this important effort. We owe you a big debt of gratitude, Bruce!

Fluke Questionnaire

Additionally, the JCAA is paying $10,000 for a research specialist to analyze all the numbers of fluke that are caught during our one-day tournament so that we can develop a snapshot of how many and the various sizes of fluke that anglers typically catch during a day. This is not guesswork and this information is probably the best data available that fishery management can use for statistical purposes to input in their models that determine our quotas. So please fill out the questionnaire that comes with your entry package and help us to provide the best data available for fluke management purposes.

When will the Rancor and Bickering End!

So much time, energy and even hard feelings have resulted within the recreational community with The Fisherman’s questioning the JCAA’s membership in the Marine Fish Conservation Network (MFCN) and subsequent articles on the same subject that have appeared in John Geiser’s columns in the Asbury Park Press. The Fisherman, as well as others, have every right to question the actions of the JCAA. However, as mentioned in our May newsletter, we sometimes have to work with others that we are in direct conflict with such as The Garden State Seafood Association who is upset with recreational anglers who want to get traps off the artificial reefs. Yet, the Garden State Seafood Association is working with us by donating $5,000 to get better science on the fluke fishery so that we can challenge the NMFS on their fluke modeling and resulting draconian quotas. There are different points of view on JCAA’s relationship with the MFCN and they are expressed in this newsletter by the editors of NJ Angler and Nor’East Saltwater publications respectively. Even major fishing organizations around the country, like the International Gamefish Organization (IGFA), support the JCAA’s membership in the MFCN since we bring a different point of view in an environmental network that is not always tuned into the issues of the recreational community. This bickering has not helped us and only serves to divide the recreational community at a time when we need to stick together to face the many challenges that are coming at us from different directions. It is placing a smile on our enemies of the recreational community. We are fighting among ourselves when we could better use our time focusing together on getting pots off the reefs, making striped bass a game fish and other important issues. I say ENOUGH ALREADY! Let’s Move ON! I am tired of writing about this issue and I hope that I don’t have to do it again! If any of our club members want our Board members to further discuss or explain our membership in the MFCN, please call our office at (732) 506-6566 or at www.jcaa.org or my residence at (732) 656-0139 or at tothjohn@verizon.net.

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