Fluke Regs this year

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.

[AndyS]

They get to keep 14 inch fish, correct ?

[Billfish715]

Yeah, they do Andy. I know where you are going with this. They "harvest" considerably more than 750 fluke per trip. Because the discussion was mainly about females, I thought I'd focus on larger fish. But, you are correct, by catching smaller fish, they are actually catching more fish. And, how does a smaller 14" or smaller fluke get out of the net (even with larger mesh) when they are being squashed by all of the fish on top of them. That, I just don't understand. If you drag a net full of fish that are being squashed for any length of time or distance, don't you think they will get suffocated? I need this to be explained to me.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Yes commercials are allowed to keep 14 inch fish.... I'm fine with that since those fish count towards their quota which is in pounds not number of fish... If they had to discard those 14 inch fish that happened to get caught in their net, those fish would not count towards their quota, end up discarded/dead and would be wasted...

Further, people above are doing the math that commercials keep X amount of fish each time they go out and how that is way more then any party boat could possibly catch... The one thing missing in this logic is commercial landings are monitored and counted by weight and once their quota is attained, no matter what the date is, they get shut down... On the recreational side we are given seasons from X date to Y date and can fish all of those days.

As far as quotas, it varies from year to year but right or wrong, commercials usually get a little more then the recreationals do... Last year they got 54% of the quota and we got 46%.

Some of you maybe reading this and think, hmm Gerry's pro commercial fishing.... The reality is there will always be commercial fishing as long as there is demand for fish. Knowing that you just need to be sure the quotas are split fairly, the commercials are monitored closely so they don't exceed their quota and given sensible rules that don't force them to waste the resources with discards, which is why I support allowing them to keep 14 inch fish..

[dales529]

This is a great post different from winters past as there is a lot of good information here ( Thanks Tom Dakota for all the in depth research) and others with well intended and informative posts. Tom you have to get on one of the main councils one day!

Mild reality check:
1) Recreational and commercial has always been and will remain under separate regulations and the two can not be compared except for poundage allocation. The spawning closures would be great however another major act to the current regs. The video earlier in this post in dumping the Fluke over was NOT because they were over the limit but because it was by catch out of season so they had no choice. Again if By catch measures out of season were changed say a poundage allocation for in season and a by catch allocation for out of season on that same species not to exceed the yearly allocation may make sense. But since counting fish is apparently impossible that has issues too.

2) While the female harvest vs stock biomass is obviously a major issue the methodology is not in place YET to address this . SSFFF and Rutgers studies did NOT pass peer review due to a computer data input vs output glitch so current modifed stock assessments are still in play. The Sex based studies will not be used and may take more time until it can pass peer review and be implemented
Please continue to support SSFFF and Rutgers as much as possible to achieve the final goals.

Having said that in my opinion and I agree with Joey Da Fish due to the current management process the introduction of a slot fish in any manner will result in one and only one result. A SHORTER season by weeks not days.
Doesn't mean any of the information in this post isnt valid or important just don't think the system is ready YET for that change.

Modern fish act allows for more flexibility so lets see how that translates but will still be based on the current stock assessments for input data or "best science available that exists


Good news is we are looking at an increased quota (lbs) by maybe 16 to 17% for this 2019 season. Changes to the " best science available" are in the works and under consideration but not quite there yet

This does or does NOT mean anything yet as those meetings are yet to be done and slot fish may or may not be on the table.

Simply put All Fishing groups and the public etc will all be involved as much as allowed for input but in the end I expect (dont know yet) that NOAA will supply the 5 options for our season to be debated but not listened to and PICK one at the NJ State level.
Should be an interesting couple of months AGAIN.

This is JUST MY Opinion.

[Billfish715]

Percentages and quotas are all good if it prevents a harvesting free-for-all. The harvesting allotments though, have to be established by using accurate data. I've always held that the recreational allotments are the result of inaccurate or estimated catch data. The commercial catches have to be logged in and provide data that accurately reflects the tonnage brought to market. The recs don't so our numbers are calculated using a mathematical formula based on hypothetical numbers. Even when we lose fishing days to bad weather, it is presumed we make up for the loss of time and fish for those days by catching more in the remaining days. I'm not sure of the basis of their reasoning, but the regulatory committees seem to use a flawed formula for determine fluke quotas for the recreational fishermen. Unfortunately, trying to have recreational anglers fill out a log or report their catches at the end of the year is an unlikely scenario. So, our fluke quota is solely dependent on the "reported" landings of the commercials since our allotment is a historically applied ratio to the total pounds of fish brought to market by the draggers.

One out-of-the-box idea is to include the party and charter boats in the commercial category. They could share in the same seasons, size limits and quotas as the draggers. Pay-to-fish is a kind of commercial enterprise. That would leave only the catch by private fishermen to be tallied. It's only a thought, but think about the possibilities for the party and charter captains. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.