NOAA sets fluke reduction harvest for 2016:
The U.S. government has reduced the amount of flounder that recreational and commercial fishermen can catch next summer.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration set the limit at 16 million pounds, down 30 percent from 23 million in 2015, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone said Monday. The limit would drop below 16 million in each of the subsequent two years.
The ruling did not sit well with Pallone (D-6th Dist.), whose district includes part of the Jersey Shore.
"I am most disappointed in the restrictive rule for our commercial and recreational fishermen in New Jersey," said Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "They depend on a sufficient summer flounder quota and without one, New Jersey's economy faces a threat as it continues to rebound from Superstorm Sandy."
NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service said the limits were needed to avoid overfishing as there has been a decline in young fish. Pallone said he would work with other members of the state's congressional delegation "for more favorable catch limits in the future."
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