Summer Flounder

The states did as well as they could with the summer flounder recreational tables. Because we haven’t fixed the stock assessment for summer flounder, the quota is still ridiculously low. The peer review stock assessment states that the amount of spawning stock biomass does not appear to correlate to recruitment. When we had a spawning stock biomass less than ¼ of what we have now, with females no larger than 18 inches, we were getting higher recruitment than we are now. We now have a spawning stock biomass that is almost 5 times what it was in ’94. The majority of the females are much larger (over 27 inches), yet we are producing less recruitment. If spawning stock biomass has nothing to do with recruitment and other factors are causing the stagnation in stock growth, we may have reached the carrying capacity of the bays and estuaries for summer flounder. When that is true for other species, we are allowed to fish at a higher mortality rate. I hope this issue is discussed at the next stock assessment. We are needlessly destroying the commercial and recreational summer flounder fishery and the industries that depend on that species. There is no stimulus package for recreational and commercial fishermen.

Winter Flounder

The winter flounder situation has not gotten any better coastwide. There was an effort to put in place an emergency action that would have closed the fishery down for 2009. I made a strong argument that this should go through the proper addendum process. Truthfully, many states could not have implemented this measure before the season was over. There will be an addendum available for public hearing in April. This will call for either a moratorium or great reductions in the winter flounder inshore fishery for next year. ASMFC only controls the inshore fishery and a majority of the catch is offshore. I am waiting to see what happens with New England’s ground fish plan. Since most of the recreational catch in made in state waters, and we are only a small percentage of the total catch, we will feel the brunt of the regulations even though we don’t cause the problem.

Striped Bass

As usual, the Striped Bass meeting was interesting. There was a lengthy discussion on the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service counting of recreational anglers. These two branches of the federal government have different numbers for the anglers from each state. Since those numbers are used to extrapolate the number of fish landed and stock assessment, the recreational participation is either over or under estimated and, therefore, the numbers result in unreliable data. This discrepancy contributes to the problems we experience in developing appropriate recreational targets. Hopefully, part of this will be resolved when the saltwater registry is in effect.

JCAA, Stripers Forever and many other recreational groups have always known that there are illegal commercial striped bass entering the market. The article below deals with the Virginia and Maryland illegal catch. It confirms our worst fears and we know Virginia and Maryland are not alone. All you have to do is watch what goes on in Staten Island and Brooklyn and listen to the stories from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. As a further indication that some states are in total denial of this issue, after a lengthy discussion two proxies for commissioners with strong commercial ties actually recommended increasing the commercial coastal quota. Luckily, there was a tie vote and the measure was not passed. I am always surprised when Washington, DC, which has striped bass as a gamefish, votes with the commercial interests.

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