Gerry Zagorski
03-01-2021, 04:24 PM
Lots of discussion on our Fluke regulations recently and I wanted to provide some additional info for people new to how our regs are set and my personal perspective on it…
First of all, the state and everyone involved in the state process are pretty much powerless in this process, just like us. This is a federal problem.
Many things have to change at the federal level in terms of how the stocks are managed, the laws that govern federal fisheries management as well as the science, methods, recreational assumed landings, commercial reported landings and the overall stock assessment.
All this goes into figuring out quotas and none of it is perfect. Most would say, including many of the staff people involved in the process, it's far from perfect.
All the things above leads to the feds assigning each state a quota and the quota leads to the regulations. The feds take the quotas and tell the states here are your 2 or 3 options in terms of bag limits, size limits and length of season which are designed to make sure you don't exceed your quota. What ends up happening here is you trade higher bags limits on or smaller size limits for the number of days the season is open or visa versa. The only thing the states can do is choose one of the options, that is unless they want to suggest something else which would need to be reviewed and accepted and if not, the state could choose to go out of compliance, which is another topic for another day...
Now for a Gerry Editorial
First, let me be careful to say this is not all about getting more quota and or better regulations... This is about getting the right quotas and regulations while sustaining the fishery and giving us all better access to what is a public resource.
There are 2 ways to change this, by fighting politically or fighting the science. We need to do both.
Thanks to the efforts of the Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund we are fighting the science. They've funded studies, many of them with donations from people like us, in cooperation with research scientists. The last one was the size/sex study which indicated larger Fluke, 19" and above, are vastly females. This information was presented to the feds with the thought being if the regulations that are passed down from the feds forces everyone to target larger fish, you'd be targeting the very fish needed to breed and sustain the stocks. Not 100% sure where we stand with this and where it's going, but we are trying to get them to affirm and accept the science we provided.
On the political front, there is only one organization I know of that fights politically on a federal level for recreational fishermen like us, that's the RFA Recreational Fishing Alliance. Truth in reporting I'm one of the local RFA NJ Chapter volunteer Board Members as is Dales on the site. There are several others as well, some current and former charter boat captains and many are just people who enjoy fishing and we volunteer our time because we care about our sport and our access to the fisheries.
As Dave “Dales” mentioned in an earlier post, the NJ Chapter, in addition to attending meetings trying to represent our state recreational fishing interests, the team tracks any pending legislation that might influence our access to the resource. Just last year we decided to fund a lobbyist in Trenton who represents our interest and has relationships at the state who can hopefully influence decisions. A perfect recent example was getting the fore hire recreational fishing boats and tackle stores re opened during the pandemic... While the RFA can't claim 100% of the credit here as there we're other people and organizations involved, suffices to say we and our lobbyist did make a huge difference as did RFA national.
So what's my point here? There are several
- You may not like me or perhaps a certain other person in (name the organization) but these are the very people that are trying to help. Look at the bigger picture and think about supporting the cause and rather than misdirecting your anger or displeasure with them and the organization they belong to that are trying to help us all. “Don't throw through the baby out with the bath water” and “sometimes bad breath is better than no breath”
- Issues like Fluke regs typically get the most attention once a year when it's too late since the feds have set the quotas and decided the options they deem necessary for each state to achieve the quotas . Once again, we're left fighting with one and other over the few choices for our regulations that no one likes. We need to be involved all year/years, this a marathon, not a sprint.
I’m certainly no expert here and there are a lot of people who know a lot more then me and have contributed way more time and energy then I have.
With that said the way I see this is if you want change
- Don’t expect it to happen overnight.
- You can get personally involved in the process yourself, support the organizations that try as best they can to support you, or both.
- You could also sit on the porch and watch, but please don’t disparage or try to undermine and Monday morning quarterback the people and organizations on the field and in the trenches.
In the near future the NJ Chapter of the RFA is going to be doing some fundraising, which for the most part will go towards the continued funding of our local Lobbyist in Trenton. If you're like me, every bone in your body hates having to play politics, but if you want a seat at the political poker table, you have to ante up. It’s really that simple.
Can I guarantee you everything will go our way and things will happen overnight? NO…. What I can guarantee is without being organized and having representation, other groups who are well funded will prevail and we and our sport will no longer be relevant.
I appreciate in advance everyone's consideration. I also ask that if you choose not contribute, whatever your personal reason, please don't discourage others who might. There are a lot of concerned people who don’t have the time to go to meetings or get personally involved but care enough for our fisheries and want support our sport, the RFA and contribute to the cause.
Thanks all and sorry for the long rant here, just trying to educate people who are new to this and encourage us all to stick together and support one another.
Gerry
First of all, the state and everyone involved in the state process are pretty much powerless in this process, just like us. This is a federal problem.
Many things have to change at the federal level in terms of how the stocks are managed, the laws that govern federal fisheries management as well as the science, methods, recreational assumed landings, commercial reported landings and the overall stock assessment.
All this goes into figuring out quotas and none of it is perfect. Most would say, including many of the staff people involved in the process, it's far from perfect.
All the things above leads to the feds assigning each state a quota and the quota leads to the regulations. The feds take the quotas and tell the states here are your 2 or 3 options in terms of bag limits, size limits and length of season which are designed to make sure you don't exceed your quota. What ends up happening here is you trade higher bags limits on or smaller size limits for the number of days the season is open or visa versa. The only thing the states can do is choose one of the options, that is unless they want to suggest something else which would need to be reviewed and accepted and if not, the state could choose to go out of compliance, which is another topic for another day...
Now for a Gerry Editorial
First, let me be careful to say this is not all about getting more quota and or better regulations... This is about getting the right quotas and regulations while sustaining the fishery and giving us all better access to what is a public resource.
There are 2 ways to change this, by fighting politically or fighting the science. We need to do both.
Thanks to the efforts of the Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund we are fighting the science. They've funded studies, many of them with donations from people like us, in cooperation with research scientists. The last one was the size/sex study which indicated larger Fluke, 19" and above, are vastly females. This information was presented to the feds with the thought being if the regulations that are passed down from the feds forces everyone to target larger fish, you'd be targeting the very fish needed to breed and sustain the stocks. Not 100% sure where we stand with this and where it's going, but we are trying to get them to affirm and accept the science we provided.
On the political front, there is only one organization I know of that fights politically on a federal level for recreational fishermen like us, that's the RFA Recreational Fishing Alliance. Truth in reporting I'm one of the local RFA NJ Chapter volunteer Board Members as is Dales on the site. There are several others as well, some current and former charter boat captains and many are just people who enjoy fishing and we volunteer our time because we care about our sport and our access to the fisheries.
As Dave “Dales” mentioned in an earlier post, the NJ Chapter, in addition to attending meetings trying to represent our state recreational fishing interests, the team tracks any pending legislation that might influence our access to the resource. Just last year we decided to fund a lobbyist in Trenton who represents our interest and has relationships at the state who can hopefully influence decisions. A perfect recent example was getting the fore hire recreational fishing boats and tackle stores re opened during the pandemic... While the RFA can't claim 100% of the credit here as there we're other people and organizations involved, suffices to say we and our lobbyist did make a huge difference as did RFA national.
So what's my point here? There are several
- You may not like me or perhaps a certain other person in (name the organization) but these are the very people that are trying to help. Look at the bigger picture and think about supporting the cause and rather than misdirecting your anger or displeasure with them and the organization they belong to that are trying to help us all. “Don't throw through the baby out with the bath water” and “sometimes bad breath is better than no breath”
- Issues like Fluke regs typically get the most attention once a year when it's too late since the feds have set the quotas and decided the options they deem necessary for each state to achieve the quotas . Once again, we're left fighting with one and other over the few choices for our regulations that no one likes. We need to be involved all year/years, this a marathon, not a sprint.
I’m certainly no expert here and there are a lot of people who know a lot more then me and have contributed way more time and energy then I have.
With that said the way I see this is if you want change
- Don’t expect it to happen overnight.
- You can get personally involved in the process yourself, support the organizations that try as best they can to support you, or both.
- You could also sit on the porch and watch, but please don’t disparage or try to undermine and Monday morning quarterback the people and organizations on the field and in the trenches.
In the near future the NJ Chapter of the RFA is going to be doing some fundraising, which for the most part will go towards the continued funding of our local Lobbyist in Trenton. If you're like me, every bone in your body hates having to play politics, but if you want a seat at the political poker table, you have to ante up. It’s really that simple.
Can I guarantee you everything will go our way and things will happen overnight? NO…. What I can guarantee is without being organized and having representation, other groups who are well funded will prevail and we and our sport will no longer be relevant.
I appreciate in advance everyone's consideration. I also ask that if you choose not contribute, whatever your personal reason, please don't discourage others who might. There are a lot of concerned people who don’t have the time to go to meetings or get personally involved but care enough for our fisheries and want support our sport, the RFA and contribute to the cause.
Thanks all and sorry for the long rant here, just trying to educate people who are new to this and encourage us all to stick together and support one another.
Gerry