Fluke Cuts - Action Needed by 11/30/2016

[tuna john]

not sure if this was posted but a link to have your voice heard

https://www.votervoice.net/Shares/B6n7TAVkAC_3LAtwszP7FAA

Gerry says - Thanks for posting this and going to pile on here John. Very important for us to all get together and have our voices heard.

In addition to providing your comments to NOAA in the link above (which needs to be done by 11/30) please consider attending the advisory board meeting on 12/14 in Baltimore. More info on that here http://www.mafmc.org/newsfeed/2016/december-2016-council-meeting

Please help spread the word and share this with all the fishermen and fishing related businesses you know.
- If you want to share this on Facebook, just go to the top of this page and click on the Blue F.
- If you want to send out an email just copy and paste this link in your email http://www.njfishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93813

[SaltLife1980]

Done

[Jberg]

Just completed and thanks for posting.

[fishchix]

Done
Thanks for posting

[Salty Dog]

Thanks for posting .

[Walleyed]

Done and thank you.

[TomKaye]

Done & forwarded to about a dozen fishing friends.
Thanks for the info.

[Detour66]

Done !!

[njfish4life]

Done.. thanks for the link

[Scrubby]

Done..

[Dclark2]

Done

[tjd24]

Done & forwarded to all my fishing buddies.

[MattRedShirt]

Done. Thanks for letting us know.

[Rubberhead]

Message sent and thank you

[Sullivan]

Done ! My wife too . Had her facebook all her friends to reply also . Get everybody .

[Take a kid fishing]

Completed

[tuna john]

544 comments so far not bad keep em going

[Angler Paul]

11/29/16


NOAA,

The Jersey Coast Anglers Association is composed of approximately 75 fishing clubs and represents thousands of saltwater anglers. We would like to go on record as opposing the 30% cut in the quota for summer flounder. Summer flounder is the most important saltwater fish for our recreational fishermen and any further reduction will have a devastating economic effect on our charter and party boats as well as the tackle stores that are very dependent on our fluke fisherman. In New Jersey boat registrations have dropped by 50,000 from 2007-2014 and charter and party boats as well as tackle stores have been going out of business in record numbers.
We certainly want a sustainable fishery but believe that you are keeping the spawning stock biomass at too high of a level. We understand that there has been poor recruitment during the last few years but this is not directly linked to the spawning stock biomass. During the last four years we have had the highest spawning stock biomass ever recorded and yet we have had poor recruitment. We had much better recruitment when the SSB was significantly lower. We believe that this fishery would be sustainable even with a much smaller biomass and that your proposed quota is far too low.
We also believe that something should be done to reduce catch and release mortality. At the 18" size limit, 95% of the fluke harvested are females. The size limit should be lowered to allow more males to be harvested which would help reduce the c&r mortality.
Lastly, we request that a new stock assessment with improved data be completed as soon as possible. We urge you to leave the quota for 2017 the same as it was for 2016. Then after the next stock assessment, adjustments could be made as necessary.



Respectfully submitted,
John Toth, President
JCAA

[Jigman13]

If you really want to get this issue in front a large number of people boost it on Facebook and select the targeting to all of NJ, people with interest in all forms of fishing and a wide variety of clubs, groups, etc. A couple hundred bucks can easily get this in front of several hundred thousand people statewide. If a charter captain or party boat captain does it from his/her Facebook page you can more than likely write off the expense and effectively reach a highly relevant audience in a very personal way. Encourage folks to comment and provide the link to make it as easy as possible.

I do this for a living and believe me, it works!

[dakota560]

Just sent

[Ice Cream Bill]

Done. Thanks for posting.

[Charlie B]

Done and last week renewed my RFA membership for another 3 years. Fluke fishing was my favorite type of fishing but I haven't fished salt water for about the last 6 years because of the stupid regulations. I refuse to spend all that money and go through all the trouble just to play catch and release on a bunch of shorts,sea Robbins,skates and dogfish. At least in freshwater I can keep a few hybrids. But I still support the RFA and hope someday it will be worth going for fluke again...Charlie

[Gerry Zagorski]

Done and last week renewed my RFA membership for another 3 years. Fluke fishing was my favorite type of fishing but I haven't fished salt water for about the last 6 years because of the stupid regulations. I refuse to spend all that money and go through all the trouble just to play catch and release on a bunch of shorts,sea Robbins,skates and dogfish. At least in freshwater I can keep a few hybrids. But I still support the RFA and hope someday it will be worth going for fluke again...Charlie

Thanks for supporting the RFA Charlie!!

[Charlie B]

Your welcome Gerry. A little more on the subject. Doing free things like signing petitions and the like is good and we should all do it. But our rights are being attacked by well funded organisations and the only way to keep our rights is to fight back with with well funded friends like the RFA and there are other worthy groups too. I don't rely like it but the only way to get things done is to put your money where your mouth is so to speak. I don't know what percentage of members of this site support these worthy groups but would guess or hope it is pretty high. It would be nice if all were on board and also all affected business such as boat builders,marinas,bait and tackle makers and shops,party and charter boats,etc. Like I say I would guess or hope many are but I am sure we could do better. We just have too much to loose and a lot to gain back...Charlie

[wayniac]

dONE

[bunker dunker]

done,but i just ordered 6 more dexters just in case

[Reel Class]

I shared the crap outta this on facebook.

If any of you have facebook accounts, copy Gerry's link, and paste it into your facebook status and share it with all your friends.

We need as many signatures as possible to get this ball rolling!

[joerosa1]

Done, appreciate you sharing.