INDIGESTION

Summer Flounder, Scup & Sea Bass

Years ago Axel Carlson gave me a video called Black Tuesday. This video showed boats trying to enter Manasquan Inlet during stormy weather in the ‘30s. The boats are crashing into the rocks on both sides of the inlet. I always associated that film with the struggles fishermen face and the term “Black Tuesday” always reminds me of that image. December 12, 2000 was Black Tuesday again. Only this time it was Black Tuesday for recreational anglers.

Recreational anglers were placed under increasingly stringent regulations beginning in the early 90’s. The data clearly supports our contention that problems with scup were due to commercial discard and bycatch. Summer flounder stocks were depleted due to commercial overfishing in the late 80’s. When fisheries managers take measures to rebuild stocks they generally attempt to spread the burden throughout both the commercial and recreational sectors. They pay little attention to the cause of the problem. The data they use to determine the new shares of the quota is usually based on the years that the commercial fishery had the highest catch. These are the very same years in which they did the most damage to the stocks. They are clearly being rewarded for destroying the stocks.

Thank goodness Al Ristori never throws anything away. He provided me with a copy of a report titled the 1974 United States Marine Fisheries Resource Report from NOAA and National Marine Fisheries Services on the status of the stocks. According to this document the summer flounder recreational catch in 1970 was 39,000,000 pounds. The commercial catch was 5,700,000 pounds. The recreational was almost seven times that of the commercial catch. A quota based on 1970 figures would give us between six and seven times the commercial quota. Instead, we are getting a 60/40 split with the commercial community getting 60% of the quota. Their current quota is 11,800,000 pounds, an increase of 6,000,000 pounds. Our new quotas for this year will be 7,100,000 in federal waters or 8,200,000 pounds in state waters, a reduction of more than 30,000,000 pounds from our 1970 catch. That is what the council and commission call a fair and equitable share of the pain. The scup fishery is even more ridiculous. The recreational harvest of scup according to this report averaged 55,000,000 pounds during the same time. The commercial harvest was listed between 10,000,000 and 15,000,000 pounds. The current quota gives the recreational sector 22% and the commercial sector gets 78%. You can do the math. Somehow, when we were catching 55,000,000 pounds the stocks were fine. The stocks did not crash. Now the National Marine Fisheries Service, the commercial fishermen, National Audubon, National Resource Defense Council, Environmental Defense, and The Center for Marine Conservation are upset because the recreational community overharvested their quota and took advantage of the poor commercial fishermen.

The point is we’ve gotten screwed on the quotas. We are the ones that have been disadvantaged since day one of these FMP’s The National Marine Fisheries Service and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission put quotas in place with no thought given to the health and well being of the recreational fishing industry. They don’t understand or they just plain don’t care. The people who suffer the most from these draconian measures are the poor and the subsistence fishermen. They are the people who fish from docks and piers and the shore. Scup and summer flounder are an important part of this specific fishery. Once you raise size limits these anglers are unfairly eliminated from the fishery. And nobody cares. It is time for the recreational organizations, the recreational community and the recreational industry to wake up and speak up. People wonder why there is no fishing in urban areas. Clearly it is because there is no opportunity to bring fish home to eat. We need to demand a reallocation and a restructuring of the quotas. Write to your congressman, your governor and your state fisheries regulators. Turn the heat on them. Black Tuesday was a “four Zantac” meeting with indigestion to spare. Below is the meeting report.

SUMMER FLOUNDER ACTIONS

The ASMFC Board voted to let states adopt conservation equivalency regulations and to use an average of the1998-2000 figures rather than just the disputed 2000 numbers alone. The result will be a smaller percentage reduction in state waters than would have been achieved just using 2000 figures. Many of the individuals at the meeting expressed real concerns over Marine Recreational Survey numbers for 2000. In other fisheries averages are used and it was decided that if the numbers were questionable for one year, an average would lessen the impact of the statistical errors.

The Board previously voted on a larger quota (which allowed under the FMP) than the one adopted by National Marine Fisheries Service. This NMFS quota was reduced because of a consent decree with National Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense, Center for Marine Conservation and National Audubon because of their lawsuit. I cannot tell you what the size, bag limit or season will be since ASMFC will have to run the numbers both ways and go to hearings to decide which method to use. Once the addendum is passed the states’ conservation equivalency tables will be available for the states to come up with a size, bag limit and season limits. This final decision has been the purview of the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council and has previously been accomplished at one of their meetings. We will not know the details until early spring. Below is the motion that was passed.

ASMFC MOTION ON SUMMER FLOUNDER

I move to direct the staff to prepare an addendum for the Board to consider as soon as possible for the 2001 recreational specifications, as follows: That the states, using a recreational target of 8.2 M lbs., develop 2001 recreational fishery restrictions using a conservation equivalency approach to reduce 2000 landings (number) by the percentages detailed from a modified table 17 that includes an average of 1998-2000 landings data subject to revision using wave 5 and the 8.2 M lbs. Harvest limit. This would also include a 3-year average of the state-by-state effectiveness (1998, 1999, 2000).

The news in federal waters will not be good. The Mid-Atlantic Council was constrained by the smaller quota demanded by the environmental groups’ lawsuit. There is also is no provision under their current Council FMP that allows for conservation equivalency. This does not give the Council any flexibility. This will create the same problem we had a couple of years ago when we had different bag limits in state and federal waters. It confuses everyone. It confuses everyone but is better than the alternative.

The motion that was passed reads

MAMFC MOTION ON SUMMER FLOUNDER

I move that we adopt 3 fish, 15.5", and a season of 5/25 - 9/4

SCUP ACTIONS

The ASMFC postponed their decision on Scup to look at the final figures before they made a choice. There was also talk of exempting the states south of New York from changing their regulations because of the negligible impact they have on this fishery at this time.

Since the Council does not have the flexibility of the ASMFC they passed a motion that reflected the Monitoring Committee’s Report and would not exempt the states south of New York. The motion that was passed reads as follows.

MAMFC MOTION ON SCUP

I move to recommend a 50 Fish possession limit, 9" TL, and open season from 8/15 11/1.

BLACK SEA BASS ACTIONS

The Monitoring Committee’s Report required a 27% reduction in the recreational Black Sea Bass fishery.

Black Sea Bass Management measures that the MAFMC and the ASMFC adopted were:

I move a 25 fish possession limit, an 11" size limit with a closed season from 3/11 to 5/9.

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