Re: New Regulations for 2024
 

So much to process here……

Ive learned I’m an idiot for liking the slot. That really sux since my days of looking like a dock hero may be over.

Bruce keeps whatever he wants and he’s a happy man.

I’m gonna be forced to fish over 60 FOW and use tackle I hate is gonna be the norm.

Re: New Regulations for 2024
 

You're not an idiot, a slot is a good thing in spite of what most think. The size slot and spread of the slot is what's wrong. The recreational sector for the last 20 years has been conditioned due to regulations to target larger fish so to most anglers targeting smaller younger age class fish is a foreign concept now. Those same anglers will tell you, if they know what they're talking about, that targeting breeders both commercially and recreationally is going to be the death of this fishery. Can't have your cake and eat it too. People who complain about the slot I believe are complaining about the paper thin slot range and the fact it doesn't focus on the harvest of younger age classes as opposed to the concept of a slot itself. If we, meaning both commercial and recreational, don't start targeting younger age classes and leave the larger age classes to perpetuate the stock and protect the spawn this fishery is done.

And just for what it's worth, even with the wrong slot size it was a move in the right direction after 2 decades of recreational size limits increasing and nobody can deny that it helped the party boat and for hire operators and shore anglers at least being able to bring home dinner after all the money they spent for a day of fishing over the last 2 years. At the end of the day, isn't that what recreational fishing is all about?

Re: New Regulations for 2024
 

So sensitive , no one is an idiot because they like being able to keep smaller fish , it’s the way the slot fish was implemented made us over fish by miles .
Lots of much larger fluke were being thrown back daily (going hard against our quota ) looking for those smaller fish . And that was happening even in the river systems .
The slot we got jammed with happened due to some council members wanting the super long season , again being held hard against us. Even if many guys were not catching a huge portion of the season .

It’s all related and intertwined.
End results will now be another harsh cut back .

We should have been able to stick with lowering the bag limit to three fish over 17 1/2” .
But instead because of greed , to get the 17” fish ,and longer season fluke fishing is now again in jeopardy .

Majority of the slot fish we kept the last 2 seasons also exceeded 17 1/2” with very few 17” fish either season .
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Re: New Regulations for 2024
 

Slot becoming 2/3 of our bag limit had us taking way too many fish from the same year class .
Yes smaller than 18” fish needed to be taken . But the way the slot was set gave us way to much mortality quota against us with larger fish .

All that was only to get 1/2” shorter fish and a longer season .
Prefer option before being changed at the meeting was 3 fish at 17 1/2” .

2/3 of a quota should not come from 1 out of 10 years worth of age quota fish.

No differnt than walking into a full soda isle . And saying you can take each take 3 cans from anywhere in the isle . (Spread out against many age classes of fish )
To now making everyone take 2 cans of AW root beer and one can of anything else .
Doesn’t take too long to wipe that tiny section out with EVERYONE putting the pressure on it .

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Re: New Regulations for 2024
 

What would be great would be if the state would push for split seasons here . Allowing different access at times of the year , for different areas

Early season start for rivers and bays when fish become available . Then stop it when those bodies of fish move out .

Later start for ocean fishing , with a later end date .

While it may be tougher for FG to monitor , it would benefit the fishery .

Start rivers and bays May 1 To September 1.
Ocean fishing June 15 October 1

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Re: New Regulations for 2024
 

So
At the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council level. There will be committee meetings held for Black SeaBass/Scup and fluke. Our State must submit proposals to ASMFC in two weeks for approval, if approved there will be a vote at the NJMFC meeting on 3/7/24.
On Black SeaBass status quo, maybe change start or finish by a day, but no other changes.

Scup, could be different. While there is call for a slight decrease, there is also the flexibility to open a Winter season from Jan-April. Advisors commented that they were in favor of winter scup so long as we didn't lose days off summer harvest. Preliminary data looks like that is a distinct possibility.

Fluke will be very interesting. This reduction has very little to do with our performance last year. We were very close to our target. This is a coastwide FMP decision. The original data called for a 42% reduction that was pared down to 28%. We're going to screw you but not as bad as we could.

I will do my best to keep people updated.

Re: New Regulations for 2024
 

Thanks for keeping us informed here Pat... Just to make sure we understand, FMP = Fisheries Management Plan and it's Coastwide. This means according to the coastwide FMP and the data on the overall fishery, there is an issue with the stocks which requires an overall 28% reduction. So, this is not an NJ overfishing/exceeding it's quota last year problem, correct?

Re: New Regulations for 2024
 

Thanks for keeping us informed here Pat... Just to make sure we understand, FMP = Fisheries Management Plan and it's Coastwide. This means according to the coastwide FMP and the coastwide data collected on the overall fishery, there is an issue with the stocks which requires an overall 28% reduction. So, this is not an NJ overfishing/exceeding it's quota last year problem, correct?

Re: New Regulations for 2024
 

Re: New Regulations for 2024
 

According to articals being written . These cuts were based on over fishing occurring in 2022.
That stock assessment said we couldn’t continue fishing with current regulations as it would not allow the biomass to rebuild as suggested .


It’s all intertwined together .

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