Here is an article I wrote this week for The Coast Star regarding next Monday's rally in Manasquan. Information on the rally (and what it's trying to accomplish) is included:Pallone, Kean set to speak at fishing rally
By Daniel Nee
Congressman Frank Pallone [D—6] and State Senator Sean T. Kean [R—11] will both speak at a rally to be held Monday at the Manasquan Elks Lodge.
The rally, sponsored by the Brielle-based Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund, will call on federal officials to alleviate the burden imposed by federal laws regulating the amount of fish that can be taken by recreational anglers each summer.
Though local captains, as well as scientists, recognize that summer flounder [fluke] stocks are higher than they have been in decades, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, a federal law regulating the rebuilding of fisheries, dictates that the fluke biomass —— the estimated weight of the total amount of fluke off the mid-Atlantic coast —— must reach 204 million pounds by 2013.
The National Marine Fisheries Service [NMFS], the federal agency responsible for setting limits on both commercial and recreational fishing interests, has acknowledged the fluke biomass has doubled since 1993 in its lengthy reports on the subject, but the existence of the Magnuson-Stevens Act sets a biomass weight goal and a date by which to achieve that goal. As the date gets closer, limits have gotten tighter, and an additional reduction has already been decided by NMFS for the upcoming 2008 season. The Save the Summer Flounder Fishery group hopes to stem a possible closure of the fluke fishery in 2009.
Captain Hank Dolch, a local charter captain and member of Manasquan Elks Lodge No. 2534, helped organize the Jan. 21 rally to involve the public in the debate over loosening the restrictions dictated by the Magnuson-Stevens Act, as well as to help raise money and awareness of the Save the Summer Flounder Fishery group. Capt. Dolch said he invited the politicians to the rally to show them how important the fluke fishery is to their constituents.
“We’re trying to get the pressure off NMFS from what I call ill-informed environmentalists,” Capt. Dolch said. “We’re the best scientists of all, because we’re out there every day.”
In the past, some environmental groups have hired scientists to provide data to NMFS. Capt. Dolch argues that data is biased due to the political goals of the environmental groups and hopes the Save the Summer Flounder Fishery can eventually afford to hire its own scientists to provide additional data. Capt. Dolch said the group would not pressure the scientists it hires to provide data which would further the goals of industry members, and it would accept the scientists’ findings whether they were positive or negative towards recreational fishing interests.
“It’s not only a fishing problem, it’s an economic problem,” said Capt. Dolch, explaining local party boat captains, charter boat operators, bait and tackle shops as well as fishing and boating equipment retailers could all lose the bulk of their income if the fluke fishery were to shut down.
Capt. Dolch said he has personally seen surveyors collecting flawed data on fluke.
“I once saw a surveyor in the [Manasquan] River with the dredge bouncing up and down” on the river floor, he said. “Then they said there were no fluke in the river.”
Capt. Dolch, as well as many published reports from last summer, confirm successful fluke fishing took place in the Manasquan River throughout the last summer’s open season for fluke.
The calls from Capt. Dolch and others in the local recreational fishing industry have not fallen on deaf ears.
Rep. Pallone, a senior member of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans, has supported measures in Congress which would allow federal regulators to be more flexible in applying laws such as the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
At the rally, Rep. Pallone will be speaking on the legislative aspects of the issue and what can possibly be done to stem what he recently described in a statement as “massive cuts” to the fluke fishery in recent years.
Rep. Pallone’s subcommittee heard testimony last month from scientists who support the claims of local captains who believe attempts to reach an arbitrary rebuilding target are not feasible.
Dr. Michael Sessenwine, a visiting scholar at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and Marine Science Consultant, said at the hearing that “it is not reasonable to expect that the rebuilding to an uncertain estimate… can be achieved on a schedule with a high degree of certainty.”
The rally in Manasquan will be the first of its kind, in that the public will be brought together with politicians and industry figures in one location. The Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund organization previously held an organizational meeting in Belmar, which was only open to industry members.
“It’s going to be an educational experience for anglers,” said Jim Donofrio, Executive Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, of the upcoming rally.
Mr. Donofrio will be speaking along with Rep. Pallone and Sen. Kean.
“I encourage anyone who fishes for summer flounder to come out,” said Mr. Donofrio. “It should be a good experience.”
The rally will begin at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 21 and take place at the Manasquan Elks Lodge, 17 Stockton Lake Blvd., Manasquan. For more information on the Save The Summer Flounder Fishery Fund, visit
www.ssfff.net.
