NJ Fluke/Black Sea Bass 2022

[pddmd]

The New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council Fluke and Black Sea Bass Committees will be meeting with their advisors at the end of August. We would like to get input from recreational anglers on how this years regulations have effected their seasons. Bag, size, slot, seasons, we are interested in hearing input. To have your opinions included in the informational packet distributed for the meeting, please email your thoughts to the following address before 8/28.
Thank you

marinefisheriescouncil@dep.nj.gov

[hammer4reel]

Originally Posted by pddmd

The New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council Fluke and Black Sea Bass Committees will be meeting with their advisors at the end of August. We would like to get input from recreational anglers on how this years regulations have effected their seasons. Bag, size, slot, seasons, we are interested in hearing input. To have your opinions included in the informational packet distributed for the meeting, please email your thoughts to the following address before 8/28.
Thank you

marinefisheriescouncil@dep.nj.gov

Curious what kind of feedback you have already heard ?

Def stinks throwing back a lot of 20-22” fish to look for slot fish Oceanside .

Also curious how many fish are being caught between 17 and 17 1/2” as 99% of the slot fish we have had are 17 1/2- 17.99 .

And we gave up ALOT. To gain the extra 1/2” of slot .

;

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[Togfather2530]

Originally Posted by hammer4reel

Curious what kind of feedback you have already heard ?

Def stinks throwing back a lot of 20-22” fish to look for slot fish Oceanside .

Also curious how many fish are being caught between 17 and 17 1/2” as 99% of the slot fish we have had are 17 1/2- 17.99 .

And we gave up ALOT. To gain the extra 1/2” of slot .

;

.

im curious as to what regs you would like. If you want to save the breeders all the big fish should go back anyway. Maybe the best regs would be 3 fish between 15-17”. I don’t know. I’m curious to how many people out there are still keeping 3 over 18 just because lol.

[hammer4reel]

Originally Posted by Togfather2530

im curious as to what regs you would like. If you want to save the breeders all the big fish should go back anyway. Maybe the best regs would be 3 fish between 15-17”. I don’t know. I’m curious to how many people out there are still keeping 3 over 18 just because lol.

Regs were supposed to go to 3 fish at 17 1/2”
Instead we got the slot size starting at 17”

We are throwing a lot of fish back Oceanside to find smaller fish .
When it takes throwing back 10 fish over 20” to find 2 slot fish the mortality quote will have us over fishing by ridiculous poundage .

Us throwing those fish back fishing the same areas where the commercial guys are dragging isn’t doing ANYTHING to help the fishery .
.
While slot limit may help guys fishing in bays and rivers it’s not doing anything Oceanside .

Limit should have been 3 fish over 17” everywhere 120 day season . . Allows those catching smaller fish to use that small fish quota, and those fishing deeper water to take from the larger size quota .
Season going to 150 days didn’t do anything to help the fishery either .


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[pddmd]

Right now I believe we are most interested in how this years regulations have effected anglers. The dialogue on next year will really heat up in the Fall. As anyone who listened in on the meeting that decided the regs knows, the Council was swayed by the #s of public comments. This is an opportunity to be on the record with your thoughts on the 2022 season. I'm hoping that the Council will be more proactive in getting public input. Send an email with your thoughts and it will be considered.

[hammer4reel]

Being a few members of the council changed the preferred option before the meeting . I doubt the handful of extra callers wanting the slot option truelly made the difference .

Many people were fine with the option of 3 fish at 17 1/2” going into the meeting had no reason to call .
Including thousands who signed the petition against the slot option .
.
It’s quit apparent that even if the option for the longest season had been 1 fish at 30 inches , we may have seen that . As length of season was a bigger driver than the actual bag limit .

If anything this years regs showed it def is important for fisherman to get more involved from start to Finish in the regs making process .

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[Gerry Zagorski]

For those of you who don't know, the person who started this post is Dr Pat Donnelly who is a Sportfish Representative on the the NJ Marine Fisheries Council.

For those of you who don't know how the process works, a simple way to look at this is the state gathers feedback now and will submit options to be reviewed and approved over the winter and the ones that pass review are the ones we choose from in the spring for next years options and final regulations.

Submitting comments now gives you the potential for your preferred options/opinions to be reviewed and can influence the options submitted for review and to eventually choose from in the spring.

So, speak up now or your opinions/preferred options may not make the list of final options that get considered this coming spring.

I think some useful information would be to let the council know if your commenting as a private or for hire and how the current regulations have effected your personal fishing or how it's effected your business.

EG I'm a for fire or private and I fished more or less days then I did last year and how the regulations negatively or positively effected your fishing or in the case of for hire, your business...

Please feel free to chime in here Dr Pat and thanks for posting this here..

[AndyS]

We need offshore sea bass in January and February again with a bag limit of 25 !!!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by AndyS

We need offshore sea bass in January and February again with a bag limit of 25 !!!

You need to go here and email your comments officially marinefisheriescouncil@dep.nj.gov

[pddmd]

Thanks Gerry
While a couple of our Councilmen hijacked the vote, the vote for this season depended on swing votes from Councilmen who waited and counted the comments. People have long said that the decisions were made before the meeting, and public comment means little. I can assure you that was not the case here. This is a chance to tell the committee how these regulations have impacted you. We will not have catch data available for a few months. I have been speaking to bait and tackle shops, party boat captains, and recreational anglers but we need to do a better job of reaching out to get opinions.

Thanks for the opportunity