2011 fluke, sea bass quotas spur mixed reactions from anglers

The announcement of fishing quotas for the 2011 season has prompted a range of reactions from anglers.

The quota for summer flounder, often called fluke, will rise by 33 percent in 2011. Federal regulators on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) made the decision last week based on catch data acquired during the 2010 season.

For the past several years, anglers have decried tightening regulations on the popular sport fish even as its population has increased steadily. In 2010, the flounder season ran from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day and included a minimum size limit of 18-inches to make a fish a legal keeper. Scientists have debated whether the historically high size limit spurs conservation or allows more fish to die since so many are thrown back for being undersized. Some biologists have also cautioned that only female flounder grow to 18-inches or larger, meaning just one gender is being harvested by anglers.

How to apply the uptick in quota will be determined by the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council at a meeting in either March or April. That meeting will likely be held in Toms River. Before the meeting, the council will make public a number of scenarios which will achieve the quota set by the federal government. The council will then take a vote on which combination of season dates, size limits and bag limits – the maximum number of fish an angler can keep per day – to impose on recreational anglers for 2011.

While many anglers' advocacy groups celebrated the long-awaited relief from strict regulations on flounder, the reaction was tempered by the news that sea bass regulations will get significantly more restrictive in 2011. Regulators voted to slash the number of sea bass landings by 43 percent, igniting an immediate backlash from the recreational fishing community.

"I woke up Thursday morning watching the [ASMFC] council chairman, Rick Robins, telling America that today's fisheries management process was a success, despite another vicious cut on our coastal fishing community just one day earlier," said Recreational Fishing Alliance founder Jim Donofrio, in reference to a CNBC SquawkBox interview on Dec. 16 given by Robins. "I'm not sure how these representatives can keep smiling away about the health of the stock when our party boat captains and tackle shop owners are lining up at the unemployment office because they can't access these healthy fisheries."

Donofrio contends that the cut in sea bass quota was based on data derived from the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistical Survey, an annual accounting of how many fish were caught during the year. Data from MRFSS is collected by random digit dialing phone surveys and researchers interviewing boaters at docks. The MRFSS system is currently being phased out after producing historically faulty data. Last fall, erroneous data from MRFSS was used to justify a federal shutdown of the sea bass fishery. That shutdown is now the subject of a lawsuit.

In response to the sea bass cutbacks, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6) penned a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke over the weekend, urging him to intervene.

"Regulations proposed by NOAA and NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) fail to consider this is a fully rebuilt stock that isn't being overfished and that these restrictions will have severe consequences for the fishing community," Pallone said.

While states determine the best way to apply federal quota limits for flounder, sea bass are regulated on a coast-wide basis, meaning regulations are the same in every state under the ASMFC's jurisdiction. Regulators recommended a 2011 sea bass season running from July 1 to Oct. 1 and then Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 with a 13-inch size limit. Anglers, if the regulations are approved, would be able to keep 25 fish.