[Broad Bill]

I'd first like to share a post from a well respected charter Captain in Massachusetts who runs a very successful business and has been at this for over 25 years and then Dave I'll reply to your post from yesterday. I asked Captain Jason how the fluke season has been this years and his reply is below. I think his words are very telling regarding the state of the fishery and what the future holds in store if NMFS doesn't switch gears soon and radically in how this incredibly vital stock for the Mid-Atlantic / New England region is being managed. Keep in mind, Massachusetts regulations for 2024 from a vessel is a 5 fish daily limit at 17.50", not even the 18" limit we have in New Jersey:

Tom,

I agree with you 100% on the discard mortality from the commercial sector. Here in Ma. inshore waters I have given up completely on fluke for the first time in 20 years (as long as I have been working out of Westport in the summer). The fluke fishing has been going downhill for the past decade and the "circling of the drain" seems to be in it's final stages. Funny how management works: They will say that the rec fishermen are obviously catching too many so they will cut what we can catch (they could increase what we "could" catch, it would make no difference) but they will not do anything to slow down the draggers until there is absolutely nothing. Then they will say fun things (I hear these all the time) like: "couldn't see that coming" or "it must be something else like predators or pollution or global warming but not the draggers, they couldn't be hurting the fish populations".

I'm told by some charter captains I know who fish Nantucket Shoals that they are seeing more and more draggers out there and they are getting closer and closer to where the rod and reel guys are fishing as they deplete each area. Those big fluke are the last of the breeding stock and they are all but gone now. Worse than that (if you can believe it) is the pounding the fluke get over the winter while they are holding in deep water offshore. Each state has a insane "winter quota" that they try to catch and when they are not catching them fast enough the states increase the trip limits to 'help" the draggers catch the quota faster rather stopping to think that perhaps those quotas were not justified in the first place. Then there is the fear that if they do not make the quota one year that their quota would be cut the next year and the state would "lose revenue". They fail to calculate the lost revenue of rec fishermen "not fishing" like the 1000 boats/day that "would be" fishing for (winter) flounder each spring in Boston Harbor that do not fish for flounder at all now that they allowed the draggers to wipe them out.

They really need to stop all dragging in all state waters in all states to give the fish at least a little break.

The state of Massachusetts has told be point blank that they have no interest in curtailing dragging in state waters....

Captain Jason Colby
Little Sister Charters

I imagine the winter quota Captain Jason is referring to has a lot to do with the NC / Maryland fleet we've discussed ad nauseum which harvests almost their entire quota in the winter months. All very valid points by Captain Jason which have been previously posted on this site many times and in my opinion are becoming more the norm up and down the coast than the exception.