Sea bass will be open in Jan/Feb 2013. The final missing component was the ASMFC allowing states to be open in that time frame. That vote came on Thursday and was successful. There was an error in the information presented Thursday. The federal regulations for Jan/Feb 2013 as well as what the state of NJ conditionally approved was 12.5" 15 fish bag limit. The vote Thursday was for 12.5" 20 fish bag limit. This will get changed in the coming weeks. So Jan/Feb 2013 will be 12.5" 15 fish bag limit. The current Regional Administrator even cast his vote in favor of this measure. Can the feds still close it? Yes. After casting a vote in favor of keeping in open on Dec. 13th? I highly doubt it.
Sea bass season for 2013 is a still up in the air. We are looking at cuts of up to 40% - 50%. There are lots of moving parts right now, I can't even begin to offer a guess as to what we are looking at with regards to size, season and bag. We aren't going to know until probably April, but I would guess that my February we'll have some idea.
Prospects for 2014 are presently even worse. Under one scenario, due to Accountability Measures, there would be 0 lbs. available to fish on in 2014. That being said, the Mid-Atlantic Council is being proactive (I guess one could call it reactive in that point) in being the first council to already reconsider recreational Accountability Measures. So is no season in 2014 a possibility? Yes. Is it likely? No.
The only good news out of any of this is everyone now realizes that cuts to fisheries that are healthy are unacceptable. The reality is also sinking in that they are unavoidable given how the current system works. There is a commitment to making changes. Change isn't always a guarantee for better, but it is a different mindset from recent years.
As for fluke, according to the new MRIP data, the coast as a whole was way under the 2012 fluke recreational harvest limit. NJ was within 4% of our target. The "luck" of the MRIP roulette wheel. However, with the decrease in quota for 2013 (which was announced long after 2012 regs were set), NJ and NY are looking at reductions in the 15% range for 2013. Due to the large coastwide underage (and the changing mindset), there is a move afoot to find a way to temper NY/NJ reductions. More to come, but far from the doom and gloom some predicted.
As always, feel free to contact me with additional questions.
