2015 New Jersey Striper Regulations May Have Been Signed into Law, but the 2015 Striped Bass Bonus Program and Other Fishing Regulations will be Finalized at the NJMFC Meeting on April 9th!
Story by Paul Haertel - President - Jersey Coast Anglers Association
On Wednesday, 2/25/15, I attended the fluke/sea bass meeting hosted by the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council (NJMFC). The bag and size limits will remain the same for fluke with five fish at 18" or greater. The season length will be 128 days but the starting and ending dates will not be determined until the NJMFC meets on Thursday April 9. It will most likely be held at the library in Galloway Township where it usually is held, but sometimes the location is changed for this important meeting.
There will probably be just two options for the public to comment on at this meeting. The options are beginning the season on May 22 and ending on September 26 or beginning May 16 and ending the season on September 20th. I spoke in favor of the later season for all the same reasons I did so in the past.
I also spoke in favor of continuing the enhanced shore based fishing program which allows a two fish bag limit of fluke (16" or greater) for Island Beach State Park. Last year there was a lot of opposition to the program from the other advisors, but this year most of them are supporting the program. Therefore, it is almost a certainty that is will continue. I also spoke in favor of expanding the program to an additional area in northern New Jersey such as Sandy Hook as well as the Fortesque area in the southern part our state. There was some reluctance by those present, but I believe we do have a shot at it!
There is bad news for sea bass, but even if you are not particularly interested in them please continue reading since this could have a negative impact on striped bass. There are tons of sea bass out there, but the coast wide quota was overfished in 2014. Due to that, the northern region which includes New Jersey is mandated to take a 33% reduction in mortality. There was an hour and a half long discussion on sea bass alone and everyone there agreed that the quota is ridiculously low. The vast majority of advisors are fed up and requested that the NJMFC disregard the federal mandate and keep the season, size and bag limits the same as they were last year. There are pros and cons to doing this but if they go that route, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Council (ASMFC) will find us out of compliance and our sea bass season may be completely shut down. I doubt if our NJMFC will do that...but they just might.
As a backup plan, we discussed at least ten different proposals regarding sea bass with differing size, bag and season lengths. It went back and forth, but eventually a slight majority favored keeping the size limit at 12 ½ inches. The problem is that the season length will be cut substantially and will not open until sometime during the beginning of June. Black fish season will be closed then too, so guess what all the private, charter and party boats will be targeting during the month of May. You got it, striped bass and that will put a severe hurting on the stripers we are trying to conserve. However, I did speak in favor of one of the 13" size limit options for sea bass and that option was also supported by a good number of the other advisors. By raising the size limit to 13", this option would allow us to fish for sea bass from Memorial Day through the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend. However, the preferred option of the NJMFC will likely be one with a 12 1/2" fish. That could be overturned if we have a good turnout at the NJMFC meeting , if a good majority of people speak in favor of the 13" option. However, the sea bass situation will most likely not be decided until the NJMF's May meeting or perhaps a special meeting that will have to be scheduled.
More bad news...at the striped bass advisors meeting on Febrary 26th. I spoke on behalf of JCAA in favor of continuing the program with one fish at 28" which is also the preferred option of BSC. Below is what I testified to.
Approximately 30 years ago the Jersey Coast Anglers Association (JCAA) led the fight to make striped bass a no-sale or game fish in New Jersey. We were successful as we achieved that goal. However, New Jersey retained its commercial striped bass quota and decided to use it for its recreational fisherman in the form of trophy tag program where one fish over 38" could be retained. We were fearful then (and still are today) that if we were to give up this quota it might be transferred to other states to add to their commercial catch. However, the intent at that time was to conserve striped bass. Just as it is now with groups such as Stripers Forever, our intent was not to simply let recreational anglers kill the quota instead of commercial fishermen but rather to conserve most of that quota while allowing a small percentage of the quota to be harvested by our recreational fishermen. Eventually our program developed into a bonus program where one fish over 28" could be retained. Over the years the program worked exactly the way we intended it to, as we only harvested a small portion of our quota thereby conserving many thousands of striped bass.
Today we find ourselves in a somewhat similar situation in that many people are calling for further conservation of striped bass and the ASMFC mandated a 25% reduction in mortality. JCAA supports the program to prevent the quota from being given to other states but also due to the valuable data being collected by the program.
Of the two options being considered, JCAA favors continuing the program in its current form with one fish at 28". However, we urge the Bureau of Marine Fisheries (BMF) to monitor and enforce it more tightly. We know that there will be a higher demand for the bonus cards as the primary regulations have become more restrictive, thus making it more difficult for fishermen to catch two legal fish. In 2013 we only harvested 6096 pounds out of a quota of 331,750 pounds. This quota has now been reduced, but we believe that even with the increased demand for cards, it is unlikely that the quota will be reached. However, because we do not know that for certain, we do not want to make it any easier for people to obtain the cards. Therefore, we are opposed to giving them out to charter and party boats at this time.
In fact, to insure we do not exceed the quota and hopefully to continue to conserve striped bass, we suggest that the BMF make it MORE difficult to obtain the cards. Specifically, we recommend that to participate in the program, anglers must submit logs of all their striped bass fishing trips prior to receiving an additional card. We also recommend that jaw tags be given out instead of cards and that regulations be created to require the tags to be placed in the fish immediately upon capture.
Whatever the regulations are for the bonus program, we would like to see them rigidly enforced. Efforts should be made by our law enforcement personnel that there will be zero tolerance for those violating these regulations in any way.
We are opposed to the second option of one fish at 24-28" for several reasons. Most anglers know that the program currently allows one fish at 28". Changing it now at a time when we are also changing the primary regulations to one fish at 28" to less than 43" and a second fish 43" or greater will make it even more confusing! That would create even more problems for our law enforcement officers, so we would like to keep the law simple.
We are also concerned that if the bonus card is used for a small slot fish, it will create an enormous demand for the cards. It is likely that this will make the program more difficult to monitor and more likely that the quota will be quickly reached or even exceeded.
Most importantly though is the fact that we want to conserve the last good year class of 2011. These fish will be reaching the 24-28" size in the next couple of years. We want to ensure that they are able to reach spawning and spawn at least once before they can be harvested.
Unfortunately though, there were only eight advisors present at this meeting and most of them were representing charter boats or other businesses that prefer keeping a small slot fish. Therefore this will be likely be the preferred option at the NJMFC meeting in April. There might possibly be another option or two added such as a slot from perhaps 28"-36" or running the program for just a portion of the year. Regardless though, unlike the primary regulations which have to be set legislatively, the regulations for the bonus programs regulations will be set by the NJMFC. If you are interested in conserving striped bass you need to show up at this meeting and voice your opinions. As with fluke, the NJMFC will sometimes overturn their preferred motion and vote in favor of what the majority of speakers request. The striped bass bonus program as well as the fluke regulations will likely be determined at the NJMFC on Thursday, April 9 at 4 PM. Please check online to confirm the exact time and place of this very important meeting.
Lastly, there are many more important issues concerning recreational fishing than I have time or space for here. Please go to this link to see some of what JCAA is doing to protect our fish and recreational fishermen: http://www.jcaa.org/JCNL1503/1503Pres.htm
