Fishery Management

Originally Posted by bunker dunker

no worries mr dakota,all is good.i just think they will not stop or bend until we hit them were is hurts,their wallet.hypothetically if 300 peeps showed up with
summons i believe that would tie up the courts and cost them money.again i believe it what all are doing,including yourself.i just don't believe that the state
government believes or cares.

BD in general I agree with you. Believe our distinguished state Senators and Representatives for the most part have done NOTHING to help our cause. There might be exceptions to that statement but I'm not versed enough in past politics to know who they might be.

One thing I do know is if NJ elected to go out of compliance, it not only effects recreational and commercials operators regarding summer flounder, it effects all fisheries I believe outside the EEZ zone or three miles from shore. Basically it shuts every fishery down. That's not an option I believe anyone wants to consider.

As far as money is concerned, unfortunately the recreational community doesn't have it and is poorly organized. Without it, the only hope we have lies in the data and making as many people as possible aware of what the data is telling us and the impact regulations are having on the health of the fishery and disproportionate allocation of the resource. There's a 60 / 40 split in catch quota every year favoring commercials to start with, then factor in the portion of the biomass commercials have access to (14" and above) relative to recreational in NJ @18', Va @18.5 and NY, Ct and RI @ 19", the disparity in proportionate access to the resource is staggering. Don't believe Magnuson Stevens Act or subsequent re-authorizations had that intention in mind.

In my opinion, bringing those facts to the Council and Committees publicly and being relentless making this knowledge public involving arguably the most vital fishery of the Mid-Atlantic States is the course of action and path in my opinion we need to follow. I might be completely off target on this but that's the approach I'm going with using their own data to support my findings and conclusions.