Blueline Regs Worst Than First Thought

[aduma1107]

Many of you have heard about the proposed Blueline Tilefish regulations of 7 fish per person per trip. We all thought that was a real slap in the face considering there was no limit on Blueline Tilefish at all up to this point. Now the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council (SAFMC) has taken it one step further. Even before the 7 fish rule goes into effect, the SAFMC wants to limit us to one (1) fish per boat! That means we would be allowed to keep more Bluefin Tuna than Blueline Tilefish. In effect, this is a complete closure.

You've asked what you can do about it, so here it is…

It appears that the only way to stop this drastic regulatory change from happening is to contact our politicians. Our own United States Senator from New Jersey, Cory Booker is on the fisheries committee and he can help us stop this. What he needs is input from his constituents, and that's US. And he needs it now! We only have a couple of weeks before this goes into law. We all need to call Senator Booker's office at (973) 639-8700 and ask for his staffer, Zach McCue. Demand that Senator Booker blocks this regulation change until a stock assessment is conducted and a comprehensive catch survey is completed. To date neither has been done, so the proposed closure is not based on substantiated facts or science. Remind him this is a jobs issue and many people's livelihoods are in jeopardy because of these unsubstantiated regulatory changes.