Some Comments on Fluke

[hammer4reel]

What should be kept track of is how many fish ARE kept between 17 1/2 and 18, and how many are kept over 18. to compare whether losing 3 fish was worth how many were kept in that new elligble slot.

Probably going to see there are not as many in that half inch bracket as some have hoped for.

all that aside with all the talk last year through the SSFFF that they wanted to see a limit imposed that would target more male fish into the total catch , it seems that has also been lost in the shuffle as the new limit still will put more female fish than male fish into the daily catch.

and as far as a slot limit not being used because F&G felt it would be harder to enforce, they dont have a problem enforcing other rules that may not be as inportant to the fisheries, so that should not have been the reason to take that option off the shelf.

Hopefully guys remember next year and some things can be changed, but for now we have to make the best of what we got, as its already been SUOA

[captadamnj]

Originally Posted by PocketFisherman

Given that argument - shouldn't you have voted for Option 6?

If the only concern was limiting harvest, then yes. But the goal is to find regulations that will provide the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people. Everyone needs days to fish and there was simply no way to justify shortening the season from 2011.

Originally Posted by mako28

Do you realize that these laws that you voted for are the same that bought NY to it's knees?

Not true. What brought NY to it's knees is a broken system of assuming availability and effort will remain the same in every year combined with use of a system that samples 1% of effort and landings to generate an absolute number. In the "game" of MRFSS, NY played the game by keeping the season long, long, long. The Council did the exact opposite yesterday of what has gotten NY in trouble.

Originally Posted by mako28

By any chance did you vote to have helicopters enforce the 3 mile limit when striper fishing?

Would A-10 Warthogs have been more appropriate?

[tautog]

NOAA actually built a Death Star to enforce the limits. No superlaser as they spent all the money on a cappicino machine and the worlds largest disco ball.

[Jigsmith]

Will the disco ball help them predict the wind?

[BlueDog]

I like the size limit and season length. As far as not being able to fish for anything in oct? Who said you couldn't fish for Seabass and blackfish?you can't keep them but no one is stoping u from fishing. I start black fishing in sept at the sandy hook reef because I love to fish for them, not because I want to fill my freezer.
Capt Art
24 Rampage express

[tautog]

Originally Posted by Jigsmith

Will the disco ball help them predict the wind?

No it's for the private parties they will be throwing on it.

[BCinerie]

Thanks to all that did what they did to try to help everyone if they know it or not!!!!

BC

[CaptTB]

Originally Posted by captadamnj

In the "game" of MRFSS, NY played the game by keeping the season long, long, long. The Council did the exact opposite yesterday of what has gotten NY in trouble.

That's not totally accurate Adam. The start of NY's troubles and the continuation of them resulted from constantly RAISING their size limit to keep season or extend it. NJ was not looking to increase size for season but maintain it. NY has since maintained or increased its season but with a VERY high size limit, much higher than NJ. I know I do not need to explain to you the difference in weight of a 20+ inch fish vs. an 18" fish and what that means to a states landings.

In addition, while you are correct about seasonal guidance from ASMFC staff, you will also recall that going down in size is always cautioned since they have little to no data to tell them what will happen. There has always been a caution that they cannot accurately predict (a relative term in fisheries management to be sure but you know what I mean in this context) what effect it will have.

I could go on with the previous cautions given byu tech staff every year there has been proposals to drop size limits, but I know you are aware of them already.

MRFSS is always a crap shoot, that is for sure!

[Angler Paul]

I am disappointed with the results of the meeting but the time to debate it was before or at the NJMFC meeting on 3/1. I did my best testifying in favor of the longer season but could only talk about 3 of my 10 points supporting it because each speaker was supposed to be limited to 2 minutes.There were sound arguments on each side. When speaking about the potential of exceeding our quota this year, I really don't think it matters much if we chose option 2 or option 5. One thing that matters is what type of season we have, some years the fishing is outstanding and other years it is poor. Unfortunately, what matters the most is the inaccurate data (MRFSS) that is being used to determine how many fish we caught. The data is inaccurate and is a real crap shoot. We have had some years where the fishing was poor coastwide throughout the season and we were told we overfished our quoata and the opposite has occurred as well. At this point we need to push for more accurate data and keep our fingers crossed that we do not exceed our quota.

[Cuz]

No one loves to catch fluke more than me. It's been an obsession since I was five years old. In 1955 my great-Uncle Joe and my second cousin Richard Human who lived on Jamaica Bay, L.I. built a wooden 16' boat together in their garage. I learned how to fluke fish from them in that boat. There weren't any size or bag limits. They still just kept decent size fish and just enough to eat. Maybe we ALL should go back to those days and not keep so many fish. No one said we have to catch limits every time we sail. I've seen so many pictures on this site of limit catches it got to be annoying.

I'm happy for all the children who are going fishing on a party boat this year. I witnessed a father, mother, son and daughter on the Sea Tiger this past July catching fluke. Every time the kids caught a fish it was under 18". They were getting frustrated. The daughter, about eight years old, kept asking her dad why all their fish had to be thrown back. I figured the father paid over $100 bucks for their half day excursion. They didn't get to take any fish home.
I spoke to the father who swore he would not do this again. It saddened me to no end. And I have been very upset about it. I imagined as a little boy going fishing with my great-uncle and his son and not bringing a 'bragging' (any size) fish home. I wouldn't be fishing today.

So to all the youngsters, who are going to be able to keep a fluke or two, and to all the party boat captains who hopefully get returned fares, have a great fluke season!