2022 Rutgers Introductory Fisheries Science Course

[Gerry Zagorski]

Hello Everyone,

Registration is now open for the 2022 Introductory Fisheries Science for Stakeholders (IFISSH) course offered through Rutgers Cooperative Extension.

The objective of this course is to educate stakeholders of New Jersey's commercial and recreational fisheries so that they will better understand and make progress on issues impacting their industries, including the science, management, and responsible stewardship of fishery resources.

Class sessions will meet weekly via Zoom webinar on Tuesday evenings (6:30 - 9:00 PM) from February 1 through April 5. Each class will include a mixture of presentations with Q&A and open discussion periods.

There is a $30 program fee for this course and registration is open to all who are interested. Please feel free to share this email and flyer with anyone who you think might be interested.

Please visit the following link to register by January 27: http://go.rutgers.edu/3m8carsa

If you have any questions, then please contact me via email or phone (732-349-1152), or contact Kelly Jurgensen (Administrative Assistant, RCE of Ocean County: kjurgensen@co.ocean.nj.us | 732-349-1152).

IFISSH webpage: https://ocean.njaes.rutgers.edu/marine/IFISSH.html

Hopefully we'll see many of you in this course in February!

Happy holidays and best wishes to you and your family.

Cheers,

Doug



__________________________________________________ _______

Douglas Zemeckis, Ph.D. | County Agent III (Assistant Professor)

Marine Extension Agent for Ocean, Atlantic, and Monmouth Counties



Cooperative Extension of Ocean County

Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources

New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

1623 Whitesville Road, Toms River, NJ 08755, USA

zemeckis@njaes.rutgers.edu | 732-349-1152 (Office)

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

The objective of this course is to educate stakeholders of New Jersey's commercial and recreational fisheries so that they will better understand and make progress on issues impacting their industries, including the science, management, ]and responsible stewardship of fishery resources.

Doug this is your post under Gerry's name so not sure who posted it but would appreciate an answer to the following question.

What progress has science and management in your opinion made with the summer flounder fishery which has:

• Lost 70 million from the population between 2010 and 2017
• Decimated both the spawning stock and large breeder population because of archaic and grossly ineffective regulations
• Management has lied, not misrepresented, to the public in the process statements completely refuted by their own science
• Public meetings only conducted because they're required by MSA with no intention of ever incorporating the valuable input from the public by both sectors of means to better manage the stock
• Increased discard rates to historically high levels never before seen due to onerous regulations
• Destroyed, for the above reasons, the recruitment strength of the stock taking us back to levels not seen since the eighties
• Caused severe socio-economic consequences to the very stakeholders you're asking to attend your session. Basically playing Russian Roulette with their lives and livelihoods and the fate of the fishery
• Turned the recreational sector into a catch and release fishery with 92% - 93% release rates causing 40% of that sectors overall quota to be wasted on discard mortality.
• Caused over 80% of angler directed trips to result in zero fish being harvested
• Shortened season, increased size minimums and reduced possession limits, something most would accept if not for the fact the fishery is failing
• Removed over $10 million in catch value revenue from the commercial sector and reduced, due to ineffective regulations, landing quotas for both sectors by nearly 60% since 2004.
• From 2010 to 2018, have removed over $6 BILLION in economic spending from the recreational community alone from shore based communities and small businesses

I'd appreciate one fact in this extremely important fishery where fisheries management has made any progress in the last fifteen years with the stock and their inept regulatory decisions. Is this the progress your course is going to educate attendees on? A presumed process which doesn't actually exist when politics and reality are factored into the equation.

I've attended a few of your sessions, I think they're great. You have a passion and I admire that. I've always believed knowledge is power but have also learned abuse of power combined with gross incompetency causes dire consequences for people simply trying to make a living and enjoy some of the amenities life has to offer which in this case happens to be recreational and commercial fishing of a public resources we're all entitled to access and enjoy which is in the process of not only being taken away but destroyed. All because of the virtues of fisheries management you want people to understand from your course.

You're a good man with good intentions. We need more people of that character involved in the management process. I speak for myself but believe I represent the sentiments of many. People have had enough of the sacrifices they've been asked to make and sit by while the future benefits of those sacrifices never materialize while no one for over a decade has been held accountable.

Truthfully I'd be surprised if anyone attended a meeting of this nature for free much less spend $30 to better understand a process as dysfunctional as Fishery management is for the Summer Flounder Stock.