Fluke Regs this year

[Merle31483]

If everyone is concerned about the fluke fishery for the future which it seems like everyone is than the approach should be taken into consideration in comparison to the blue fin tuna fishery have a set number of pounds allocated for a season and when that amount of pounds is reached seasons closed set a size limit that will make everybody happy that won't kill the party boat fishing industry and take it from there

Originally Posted by Merle31483

If everyone is concerned about the fluke fishery for the future which it seems like everyone is than the approach should be taken into consideration in comparison to the blue fin tuna fishery have a set number of pounds allocated for a season and when that amount of pounds is reached seasons closed set a size limit that will make everybody happy that won't kill the party boat fishing industry and take it from there

Review the attached charts from the data table I posed earlier. The data supports the fact that catch or pounds as you referred to it is not the problem. We were harvesting a significantly higher percentage of the biomass and catch totals (metric tonnage) in the absolute between the years 1989 and 2002 than today and during those years the biomass increased ~600%. Now compare that to the chart recruitment relative to size limit increases beginning around 2000 showing an absolute inverse relationship between size limit increases and reduction in recruitment statistics over the last 15 years. Last chart shows recruitment numbers in the absolute, it's been decimated and remember it's fallen off a cliff at a time when the biomass is significantly larger. Again that's a trend which should be on everyone's radar screen and the single most important issue fisheries management should be focusing in on.

Problem with your suggestion is it's basically what the angling community has been asking for over the last few decades. Problem is twofold. Compliance with Magnuson Stevens Act provisions and NMFS and ASMFC focusing solely on catch and their past practices of ONLY increasing size limits, reducing possession limits and overall harvest totals. From what I understand, data and conclusions from Rutgers "Sex and Length" study indicating most fluke landed at 18" are females is being incorporated in Peer Review so hopefully at some point in the next year or two a slot size will be introduced. It's one of several steps necessary in my opinion to the recovery of this fishery.

One of the graphs from Rutger's study which illustrates the relationship of length and sex for summer flounder. Graph is in centimeters, 18 inches equals 45.72 centimeters. You can see how disproportionate the relationship is between males and females as size increases to the point where almost all fish over 19.5 inches are females. NMFS's insistence on increasing size to control catch relative to this data is one of the reasons recruitment has been decimated. Combine that with the following statistics and the results are disastrous.

Reproduction:
Both males and females become sexually mature at the age of 3. The fecundity (number of eggs produced in a single spawning season) of females increases with size and weight. A 14 inch female produces about 460,000, and a 27 inch female about 4,200,000 eggs in a season. Reproduction takes place in the fall, as soon as the fish begin migrating to wintering grounds. Peak spawning activity occurs from early September through early November in water temperatures of 53 to 66 degrees F and at depths of 60 to 160 feet. The center of spawning activity occurs off the coasts of New York and New Jersey with less concentrated activity occurring in southern New England waters. The eggs float in the water column, hatching 72 to 75 hours after being laid.

Translated, not only are we harvesting almost exclusively breeders, every time size limits are increased we're increasing the harvest of larger females with considerably greater egg production capacity at what could conceivably be a 10:1 ratio. Couple that with the commercial fleet harvesting concentrated schools of migrating fish during their fall / winter offshore migration and spawn and NMFS / ASMFC wonders why the biomass is trending down over the last 15 years. You can draw your own conclusions but the data strongly supports a gender imbalance created in the biomass by size increase legislation over the last almost twenty years compounded by commercial harvest in the fall / winter months during the spawn without understanding the negative impacts that harvest has on overall egg reproduction. It's obvious for every female harvested we lose the immediate benefit of that years egg production. Larger question in my opinion is how many eggs already released are destroyed by continued netting and what impact does the harvest have on stressing out the biomass, potentially impeding it's ability to reproduce. No one to my knowledge has that answer and it arguably might be one of the most important pieces of the puzzle.

[pectoralfin]

Below is from NOAA website for 2015

U.S. Recreational Fisheries Economic Impact Trends:
Jobs - 439,242, Income - $22.7 Billion, Sales - $63.4 Billion, Value Added - $26.1 Billion, Total Trips - $60.9 Million

U.S. Commercial Fisheries Economic Impact Trends:
Jobs: $1.18 Million, Income: $39.7 Billion, Sales: $144.2 Billion, Value Added: $60.6 Billion, Revenue: $5.2 Billion

[AndyS]

Effective 6:01 p.m. on Sunday, December 2, 2018, which started a new fishing week, the New Jersey commercial Summer Flounder trip limits increased from 500 pounds two times per week or 1000 pounds one time per week, to 1,250 pounds two times per week or 2,500 pounds once per week. On the evening of Saturday, December 1st, 2018 shortly after 6:00 p.m., Lt. Scott observed a commercial fishing vessel enter Manasquan Inlet and dock up at the Fisherman's Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach and begin the offloading process. Upon inspection of the vessel, Lt. Scott noticed that the vessel's Federal Vessel Trip Report (FVTR) listed 1,000 pounds of summer flounder that were going to be sold to a New York-based dealer. Additionally, it was discovered that the operator failed to give at least two hours notice to the Marine Region Office prior to offloading summer flounder. Lt. Scott asked the operator if the vessel was loaded with more than the 1,000 pounds of summer flounder that was recorded in the FVTR. The operator indicated there was additional summer flounder in the hold and claimed his plan was to offload the 1,000 pound trip limit then head back out to make a few tows so he could get the rest of the new weeks trip limit. Lt. Scott advised the operator this was a violation in addition to offloading after 6:00 p.m. and directed the operator to offload all the fish he had onboard. When the offload was completed, more than 3,000 pounds of summer flounder was in possession along with other managed species of fish, which were not listed on the FVTR. Additionally, just under 100 pounds of black sea bass was onboard which was over the legal bycatch amount of 50 pounds. Summonses were issued for failure to accurately complete FVTR, failure to provide two hours notice prior to offloading summer flounder, offloading summer flounder after legal hours, possess more than the daily trip limit of summer flounder and possess black sea bass over the bycatch limit.

Originally Posted by AndyS

Effective 6:01 p.m. on Sunday, December 2, 2018, which started a new fishing week, the New Jersey commercial Summer Flounder trip limits increased from 500 pounds two times per week or 1000 pounds one time per week, to 1,250 pounds two times per week or 2,500 pounds once per week. On the evening of Saturday, December 1st, 2018 shortly after 6:00 p.m., Lt. Scott observed a commercial fishing vessel enter Manasquan Inlet and dock up at the Fisherman's Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach and begin the offloading process. Upon inspection of the vessel, Lt. Scott noticed that the vessel's Federal Vessel Trip Report (FVTR) listed 1,000 pounds of summer flounder that were going to be sold to a New York-based dealer. Additionally, it was discovered that the operator failed to give at least two hours notice to the Marine Region Office prior to offloading summer flounder. Lt. Scott asked the operator if the vessel was loaded with more than the 1,000 pounds of summer flounder that was recorded in the FVTR. The operator indicated there was additional summer flounder in the hold and claimed his plan was to offload the 1,000 pound trip limit then head back out to make a few tows so he could get the rest of the new weeks trip limit. Lt. Scott advised the operator this was a violation in addition to offloading after 6:00 p.m. and directed the operator to offload all the fish he had onboard. When the offload was completed, more than 3,000 pounds of summer flounder was in possession along with other managed species of fish, which were not listed on the FVTR. Additionally, just under 100 pounds of black sea bass was onboard which was over the legal bycatch amount of 50 pounds. Summonses were issued for failure to accurately complete FVTR, failure to provide two hours notice prior to offloading summer flounder, offloading summer flounder after legal hours, possess more than the daily trip limit of summer flounder and possess black sea bass over the bycatch limit.

Didn't call in, waited until shortly after the required 6:00 pm weigh in cut off, rolled the dice and came up snake eyes. A big THANK YOU to Lt. Scott and F&G in general! And the FVTR was already filled out with 1,000 lbs, what a surprise. Probably no dead discard either I'm sure. To my point earlier, with the limited resources F&G has this happens all the time. 2,000 lbs. more and lets say on average wholesale was $4/lb. at the dock, that's $8k more in illegal catch value. If the guy offloaded to another boat or waited a few hours, chances are he wouldn't even have been caught.

Until the laws change and the fines outweigh the upside financial benefit, operators are going to take these risks. Permits should be forfeited, heavy fines imposed and boats / equipment confiscated. A slap on the wrist isn't going to change behavior when the upside benefits are so significant. Guys like this abuse the fishery at the expense of the operators who play by the rules and the recreational community.

[Billfish715]

Just something to ponder.........the commercial fluke quota is 1,500 pounds per week during a few months during the year. That equals 750 two pound fluke per week for one boat. Which party boat or boats caught 750 keeper fluke in one week? Increase the number of commercial boats to ten. That is 7,500 keeper fluke per week. I don't care how good the captains and anglers are on the party and charter boats along the coast, but 7,500 keepers is quite a total to match. Think about it.

I'd like to hear from someone representing the commercial industry to hear what their take is on this topic. I know they will have their complaints and arguments but I can't see why they would be opposed to closing the fluke season for them during the fluke migration to and on the spawning grounds if they want to protect their future. Of course the argument will be that they are losing money but losing their livelihood due to the extinction of a species is worse.