Save The Summer Flounder Fishery Fund Needs Help

[Gerry Zagorski]

SSFFF can use our help in 2 specific ways:

1) As you all know, Fluke is one of the most popular fisheries in NJ and has a huge impact on the health of our local fishing related business economy.

We’re just about there but are a bit short of the funds needed to improve the stock assessment science of the Fluke Fishery. I know a lot of individuals here gave what they could as have some of our sponsors but more is needed.

If you are involved in a fishing related business please consider making a donation to help with the needed funding. If you know someone involved in a fishing related business please pass this information along to them and or share this on fishing related face book group pages.

All you need to do to share is click on the blue F at the top of this page or copy and paste this link into an email or facebook post http://www.njfishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86969


Please check out some additional information below and give what you can.

Donations can be made by check and mailed to SSFFF P.O. Box 86, Brielle, NJ 08730 or you can donate on line at http://www.ssfff.net/ssfffdonate.html


2) The scientist involved in the study are looking for volunteers who Fluke fish in the Sandy Hook bay areas in and around the 2 rivers… They would like to come out on your boat with you to observe and collect data.

If you are interested in volunteering please contact gheuth@gmail.com and give him a phone number where you can be reached.

Thanks for helping everyone… We are all in this together and every little bit helps.


Additional SSFFF Information

Summer Flounder are one of the most important saltwater species here in the Northeast, yet managing recreational access to the fishery is both complex and often contentious. As you may already know, the 2016 recreational quota has been significantly slashed by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council at the recommendation of NMFS scientists. The 2015 bite may have been poor in some areas, but in other coastal communities the fluke fishing was excellent! What most who are involved in this fishery can agree upon is that more in-depth, accurate science is desperately needed to sustain both the fish and the fishermen and women who depend on a healthy fluke stock.

Founded seven years ago by a group of concerned fishermen, Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund (SSFFF) is governed by a board of private anglers, for-hire captains, and members of the fishing tackle industry. The group has no political affiliation and is neither a recreational nor commercial fishing lobbying group - instead, the sole focus is developing private funding to improve the science, which when completed, will allow managers to make better management decisions based on the best possible summer flounder stock modeling and stock assessment tools.

To date, SSFFF has spent over $190,000 of donations and grants to fund research that will ultimately result in a far more refined and comprehensive stock assessment model designed specifically for summer flounder. It was SSFFF-funded research that was responsible for sex-specific mortality data included in the last stock assessment by renowned scientist Dr. Mark Maunder, and it was this research that was instrumental in preventing the closure of the summer flounder fishery at the time.
In 2016, SSFFF is working in conjunction with other stakeholders to provide funding for fisheries science veteran Dr. Patrick Sullivan in his collaborative effort with Rutgers and Cornell Sullivan Universities on work that hopefully will shed more light on the overall fluke stock. The project goal is creating a more modern assessment model to more accurately portray the state of the fishery. SSFFF is planning to present the results of this effort at the next NMFS Scientific Peer Review which is expected sometime in 2016 or 2017. It’s the stock assessment process that defines the overall health of the stock and is the basis for recommendations which result in subsequent regulations and catch quotas.

SSFFF is currently funding another equally important parallel project; Rutgers scientists Dr. Daphne Munroe and Jason Morson have been commissioned to collect specific information on the sex composition of discards by recreational fishermen. Once completed, these scientific findings will be incorporated into the comprehensive fluke sex-specific Stock Assessment Model being developed by Dr. Sullivan. Both projects are critical components in helping create a new stock model in time for the next NOAA review.

“To date we have operated primarily on donations from hundreds of concerned recreational anglers, some generous charter and party boat captains, and a few local fishing clubs,” said SSFFF board member Greg Hueth, who added that except for larger donations from the American Sportfishing Association, Recreational Fishing Alliance, New York Fishing Tackle Trades Association, and New York Sportfishing Federation along with money from tackle and marine trade companies, SSFFF has not received financial support from many businesses who rely on recreational fluke angling. While this valuable research will benefit the entire Atlantic Coast summer flounder fishery, most of the donations thus far have come primarily from New Jersey.

SSFFF is hoping to collectively change that now that we’re heading into the last days of this monumental project, and we’re reaching out to businesses and individuals in other states to help fund this much needed effort which will benefit all stakeholders.

SSFFF is seeking to raise another $25,000 by early summer to complete and deliver the new stock model and they desperately need your help!
The total project cost is somewhere between $60,000 and $80,000 and to date SSSFF has already secured most of the funding. In other words, as board member Capt. Ron Santee recently noted, $25,000 gets us across the goal line that we worked seven long years to get to.

“By banding together with other stakeholders and helping fisheries managers arrive at decisions based on better science, we can do more to ensure a stronger fishery with fairer public access for years to come,” said Dave Arbeitman, one of the SSFFF founders and current board member. “Every single dollar helps; and every single dollar goes directly to the scientific effort,” Arbeitman said.

If you, your business, or any other recreational fishing industry stakeholder has not yet made a donation to help fund better science, it's time to pitch in and help insure the future of a healthy fishery with fair access for all user groups.

Checks can be made payable to SSFFF and mailed to P.O. Box 86, Brielle, NJ 08730. You can also go to www.ssfff.net to lean more and donate online.

[Sullivan]

Will send check .

[tjd24]

I donated $100 on the SSFF website last week.

[jakesdad]

My check cleared the bank yesterday, Let's make this happen, for our future and for future generations. If we don't who will?

[Dave A]

Thank you to all of the NJ Fishing.com community that "gets it"! You have supported our effort with your donations from the very beginning. Its time for the industry people on this site to step up to the plate.

[dales529]

Great in depth write up Gerry. SSFFF has been going after the beast at its heart for years now and deserves every Fishermens (not just Fluke fishermen)
support to clear the next hurdle. That includes for hire charter and PB, tackle shops big and small as well as everyday and part time anglers.

Please read Gerrys post thoroughly, look up SSFFF on your own and I am sure you will come to the same conclusion that I did years ago that this is an effort well worth your time and few dollars.