Quotas for 2011

[Reckless]

Curious what this will do for us rec people.

Mid-Atlanta Council Votes to Increase Fluke and Porgy Limits in 2011

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Managent Council (MAFMC) has voted to increase the 2011 commercial and recreational harvest levels of both scup and summer flounder, welcome news for a beleaguered Atlantic Coast fishing community.

Following input from the Scup Monitoring Committee, the MAFMC, which met jointly today with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) management boards, voted to increase the total allowable catch for scup (porgy) from this year's 17.09 million pounds of quota to a catch of 24.1 million pounds in 2011. The Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) had recommended an acceptable biological catch as high as 51.7 million pounds, which would've represented a near 200% increase in quota if enacted.

Council members heard various recommendations from the monitoring committee, in addition to public comment from recreational and commercial fishing interests who traveled to Philadelphia to attend today's meetings, but voted on a more precautionary 41% increase in total allowable catch for next season. For the recreational sector, the total allowable catch of 24.1 million pounds will result in a 4.4-million-pound harvest for the year.

On the summer flounder front, the MAFMC voted to increase the total allowable catch from this season's 25.48 million pounds to an increased quota of 33.95 million pounds in the year ahead. The new total allowable landings for 2011 represent the highest allowable catch debated by the MAFMC today. Recreational fishermen are hopeful that this increase in quota means improved summer flounder regulations for 2011, but that still rests in the hands of the Marine Recreational Fishing Statistical Survey (MRFSS) for 2010.

"The recreational fishermen won't know what this means in terms of regulations until November at the very least," said Capt. Adam Nowalsky, chairman of the Recreational Fishing Alliance's New Jersey Chapter (RFA-NJ). "As anglers have come to recognize year after year, now we have to wait for this season's landings information to come through from MRFSS to forecast how that compares to the 2011 recreational allowable landings."

"Some of the reasons for this success should go to the science that was contributed by the grassroots efforts of the local fishing community," said Ray Bogan, legal counsel for the RFA. "There has been an extraordinary contribution by the anglers, which makes up a significant portion of the scientific effort in the summer flounder assessments," he said. Bogan noted that private funding through the Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund, United Boatmen, and RFA, along with non-federal inshore survey analysis by the North East Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (NEAMAP) have helped lead to improved summer flounder assessments, which in turn has led to improved access for anglers.

A letter from Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) to the New York council members overnight was distributed amongst MAFMC members, in which the senator urged council members to provide increased access to summer flounder and scup resources for both recreational and commercial fishermen. "As the Council knows, these species are not overfished and overfishing is not occurring," Sen. Schumer said in his letter, adding "Fishermen have patiently waited for these stocks to rebuild and were promised relief when they were healthy again. Now is that time."

"The scup biomass is rebuilt by around 200% and yet it seems that our quota is going to be raised only marginally," said Capt. Paul Forsberg of the Viking Fleet out of Montauk, NY, who attended today's meeting. "How high must the biomass go before we can achieve maximum sustainable yield?"

Despite pleas from fishermen to increase the porgy quota by 55% to a total allowable catch of 26-1/2 million pounds, a 9-8 council vote put the porgy limit at a more modest 41% increase. "Given the spirit and intent of Sen. Schumer's letter to recognize the science and support the fishing communities in their quest to see a representative increase in porgy, I'm somewhat dismayed at some council members for not cheerleading a more robust 55% increase," said RFA's Jim Hutchinson. "I am thankful of course that the council voted to go for the total allowable increase in fluke quota in the season ahead, our coastal communities really need this boost for next season."

The MAFMC will reconvene on Thursday morning at 8 a.m. at the Holiday Inn in the Historic District at 400 Arch Street in Philadelphia, with a presentation regarding the recreational data collection status beginning at 8:30 a.m. For details, visit www.mafmc.org.

ABOUT THE RECREATIONAL FISHING ALLIANCE
The Recreational Fishing Alliance is a national, grassroots political action organization representing recreational fishermen and the recreational fishing industry on marine fisheries issues.

The RFA Mission is to safeguard the rights of saltwater anglers, protect marine, boat and tackle industry jobs, and ensure the long-term sustainability of our Nation's saltwater fisheries.

For more information, call 888-JOIN-RFA or visit www.joinrfa.org.
Contact:
Jim Hutchinson, Jr. / 888-564-6732

Source
http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/story/1282206503j39h0bfqeb4

[Hotrod]

It's good news no matter what . I hope we get it in size not season length.

But they aren't Dumb...they'll make this 40% increase up in season and bag limit.  

Fish longer and keep 2 more fish.  while most aren't getting their limits to start with 

[Reckless]

 Maybe they can change it so we can keep so many pounds. 18 inches not many out there. 

[Hotrod]

Yea.   They know that. 

[gottog]

They still have to tally up this season's rec catch before deciding anything.

They'll say we overfished(probably released too many shorts) and will keep the regs the same and say it's a gift to the Recs that we weren't penalized more.
 

[IrishAyes]

A huge thank you to all the organizations that made this possible (SSFFF, RFA, United Boatmen and any others involved) and the fishermen who supported these organizations and did work on their own by attending meetings, the March on Washington, etc. 

[Jersey John]

Does anyone here actually believe that the recreational limits have anything to do with conservation? How naive do they think we are? Think about it for a minute, the size limit of fluke in Jersey has been steadily increasing in the last few years, now up to 18", NY is even worse at 21". If recreational fisherman and commercial netters all followed the same rules, I might be able to swallow the "conservation" theory. But when I go fishing, and throw back 30-40, or even 50 "shorts", to hopefully bring home a few fillets from legal fish for dinner, when commercial netters use a 14" minimum size limit, conservation is out of the question. You wonder why?? Commercial netters have no interest in the large fluke we may catch, they are after the 14"-18" fish we are forced to throw back, ideal fillet size for the plate at your local supermarket or the dinner plates at some expensive restaurant. So how's that work again? We throw them back by the 100's all summer, then the netters come along and scoop them up for the market. Where's the conservation in that?