On March 7th, I went to the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council Meeting held in Galloway Township with the purpose of voting on one of the new options for fluke that the fishing club I belong to (Saltwater Anglers of Bergen County) voted for at its February meeting. There were six options available for anglers to vote on and they are listed below.
All options have a 5 fish bag limit
- 17.5” May 11th - September 4th - 117 days
- 17.5” May 18th - September 16th -122 days - APPROVED
- 17.5“ May 24th - September 22nd -122 days
- 18“ May 25th - October 2nd - 131 days
- 18“ May 18th - September 26th - 132 days
- 18“ May 1st - September 12th - 135 days
My club voted for the third option, but we could have easily gone for the second one since they are almost the same. The second option was the one that received the most votes and it is the one that the Council approved and it will be our new regulation for fluke during 2013.
However, for many of you who could not attend this meeting, I want to give you a sense of the comments that were presented so that you can have a feel of what transpired since fluke is what so many of us like to fish for. The JCAA did not have a formal position on these options since we did not have a meeting in the timeframe to officially endorse any of the above options. I, and the JCAA, do not necessarily endorse or agree with the comments below, but these were some of the comments presented to the Council members by anglers who showed up to a packed room with many standees:
- Many of the tackle shops representatives voted for option # 2 because they want their shops to open early to sell tackle. So many of these shops and marinas suffered damage because of Sandy and they need to get back on their feet with some business as soon as possible.
- Sandy shut down so much of our 2012 fishing season and tackle shops could not sell much of anything.
- It is not good to have 18 inches as an option to get a longer season since if we go over our 2013 fluke quota, we will possibly have an 18.5 inch size limit for 2014!
- Boat captains want an early season to start booking charters.
- It is better to have a 17.5 minimum size so that we don’t throw back so many fish that die while trying to catch fish at 18 inches.
- The 17.5 inch minimum size allows more anglers to take home fish for the table. If they can’t take home fish and are frustrated at trying to catch fish at 18 inches, they will not come back on party and charter boats.
- Boat captains want anglers to take home fish for repeat business. If they don’t catch fish, they don’t come back. 17.5 inches is the way to go.
- A few captains said that they are not interested in having a longer season since the fluke are usually gone by early September, and earlier if there is a hurricane or very bad weather.
- It is frustrating for recreational anglers to choose among these bad options because the information to arrive at our fluke quotas is so terribly flawed.
- We should have one slot fish, say at 15 or 16 inches, so anglers take home something to eat. Then the rest of the minimum size can be higher.
- Why do we keep on getting a hit like this every year with less and less fish to catch?
- The NJ Marine Fisheries Council must keep in mind that anglers need something to fish for between the closings of different species like sea bass, blackfish, etc. Tackle shops hurt during these gaps when one species of fish closes and anglers have to wait until another one opens.
This meeting to determine our fluke option for 2013 was orderly and reserved. Some of the ones I have been to were anything but that and angry shouts were hurled toward Council members by anglers frustrated by reduced opportunities to catch fluke. Have a good fishing season for fluke and let’s hope 2014 will be a good year for fluke without a reduction in our quota.
