Sea Bass Update 3/5/13

[Angler Paul]

Doug, you are mistaken. There was talk of closing the season but it never happened. Here are last year's sea bass seasons for New Jersey.

Open season: May 19 - Sept.3
Sept.23 - Oct.14
Nov.1 - Dec.31

We closed for 19 days (9/4-9/22) so that we would have something to fish for after fluke season ended on 9/28. We chose to close from 10/15 - 10/31 because federal waters are closed then. There were some who wanted to give up November and December so that we could have more days during the earlier part of the season. As Tony previoulsy explained far less fish are caught at certain times of the year. If we gave up all of October and November we would have only gained 5 or 6 days to use during September.

[Blackfish Doug]

Your really confusing me now we were closed last year from Nov.1-Dec 31 it was not talk it happened. We never opened last year because Mass over fished it's quota & we had a emergency closing. That's what I'm talking about Add the 19 days to the Nov.1- Dec. 31 closure & that's how many more days we lost last year.

[Blackfish Doug]

A post from last year remember this & this is what I'm talking about. Go for that fall season & see if this does happen again. I'm all for the fall season it makes sense but the NMFS will come out with this again & you can count on it like death & tax's.

Here is the official notice from NMFS:

Effective Date: November 1, 2012
The 2012 black sea bass recreational harvest limit has been reached. Effective 0001 hours,
November 1, 2012, no one may fish for or possess black sea bass in Federal waters for the
remainder of the 2012 calendar year, unless issued a commercial moratorium permit and fishing
commercially. This closure also applies to vessels issued a Federal party/charter permit fishing
in state waters.

[Angler Paul]

Doug, I suppose we are both partially correct and it is confusing. I was referring to the sea bass season set by our NJMFC which is for state waters. You are correct in what you said about the season being shut down in federal waters. State waters remained open for sea bass during the seasons I had mentioned. State waters were also closed to party and charter boats who had been issued a federal charter/party boat permit. This year the federal regualtions are supposed to be as follows:
20 fish bag limit at 12.5" with a seasons of January 1 through February 28, May 19 through October 14, and November 1 through December 31.
Our state has to reduce it's catch by 32% so our regulations will have to be much more stringent than those. However, the NJMFC needs to develop regulations that will allow us to fish for sea bass during the times federal waters are open. This way we can fish in federal or state waters for sea bass during the same time. For instance if we choose to have our state waters open between 10/15 and 10/31 we won't be able to keep any sea bass from outside the 3 mile limit. Also those with a federal charter/party boat permit won't even be able to fish for them in state waters. Yes, we got screwed by the federal shut down last year and it could happen again. Still the NJMFC has to develop the best regulations they can based on the information they have at the time.
Lastly at the NJMFC meeting tonight they informed us that they are still working on options for this year. The regulations are now expected to be set at their meeting on 5/2.

[SaltLife1980]

I just hope we have a season! Lots of fun catching sea bass!!

[Blackfish Doug]

Until we have state by state quotas it makes sense for us to have the same opening & closing dates as Mass & NY & CT. It makes no sense at all for us to be closed while Mass & NY & Ct. reap benefits from our closure. Those states are opened while we are closed & it counts against the Quota & we get screwed. Trust me we will never see the Sea Bass opening on Nov.1 not the way this is set up.

[Angler Paul]

Persoanally, I would not mind doing that. Below are the Mass regs. for sea bass last year. I certlainly like the season length but most people in NJ would go crazy if we suggested rasing the size limit from 12 1/2" to 14 " and reducing the bag limit as well

May 11 - June 24 - 14" - 10 fish
June 25 - October 31 - 14 " - 20 fish

[italianfisherman]

Originally Posted by Blackfish Doug

Until we have state by state quotas it makes sense for us to have the same opening & closing dates as Mass & NY & CT. It makes no sense at all for us to be closed while Mass & NY & Ct. reap benefits from our closure. Those states are opened while we are closed & it counts against the Quota & we get screwed. Trust me we will never see the Sea Bass opening on Nov.1 not the way this is set up.

AGREE..

[RnK]

Originally Posted by Angler Paul

Persoanally, I would not mind doing that. Below are the Mass regs. for sea bass last year. I certlainly like the season length but most people in NJ would go crazy if we suggested rasing the size limit from 12 1/2" to 14 " and reducing the bag limit as well

May 11 - June 24 - 14" - 10 fish
June 25 - October 31 - 14 " - 20 fish

With a 14" limit, probably 80-90% of what are keepers now would have to be thrown back, and 10 fish limits at 14" would be rare.

[joeya78]

Originally Posted by RnK

Why don't they just open it 2-3 weeks later, and give us that time at the back end? protect the spawn. last year when they opened it May 25 (I think I recall the date), and for 3 more weeks, the females had not spawned. The fish we were catching from No. Jersey to Cape May were full of roe, bulging. And there consistently were limits up and down the NJ coast with a majority unspawned females.

Where are the marine biologists who supposed to know these things? This is basic stuff. No wonder the regulators get no respect.

Amen!