Salt Water Anglers of Bergen County, New Jersey
As suggested by Sean, click on the banner below for...
Fishing Regulations
2023 Fishing Season for
Sea Bass, Porgies and Fluke – By John Toth
Background –
I serve, along with about 23 other individuals, as an advisor to
the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council on what bag limit, size
and seasons for the above fish that anglers can catch during the
2023 fishing season. After the Atlantic States Fisheries
Commission (ASMFC) and the Mid- Atlantic Council (MAMFC)
determines our fishing quotas for these fish by doing surveys,
the NJ Marine Fisheries Council looks to us advisors for our
input on how to set up our 2023 fishing season so that it is
within the quota that is assigned to it by the ASMFC and the
MAMFC. Advisors are given a number of options from the NJDEP’s
Marine Biologist. Peter Clarke, to choose from that we feel are
the best choice for each fish that we think is the best for our
anglers. The ASMFC
reduced our sea bass and porgy quota for 2023 by 10% so the
options we choose from must have a 10% reduction or more.
With sea
bass, we were given about
30 options to review for bag limit, size and seasons. (my
eyes were seeing double after that). We did this review during
two ZOOM sessions on January 19th and 26th.The following is a
snapshot of the options we picked, but still has to be reviewed
by ASMC so that that are in compliance with the quota assigned
to them.
Sea Bass
– The stocks of these fish are rebuilt to about
210%, yet the ASMFC
is cutting our 2023 quota
by 10% since it asserts that we overfished our 2022 quota!
This fish is so mismanaged by the ASMFC and this issue has been
an ongoing with this federal agency that we have tried to
resolve for quite some time. After reviewing the options for sea
bass, the consensus of the advisors agreed to:
Option 24C
–
12.5 inches size limit:
10 fish 5/17
– 6/19
1 fish 7/1-
8/1
10 fish –
10/1 – 10/31
15 fish – 11/1 – 12/31
Option 27
–
12.5 inches size limit
10 fish – 5/17 –
6/19
2 fish (either all of July or all of August)
10 fish 10/1 – 10/30
15 fish – 11/1 – 12/3110
Porgies
–
(quota cut 10%)
Option # 1
- 15 porgies can be caught from
January 1 to December 31. This
option was rejected
Option # 2 -
30 fish from August 1 to
December 31. This option was selected but the dates/months
may be slightly adjusted to better match the porgy season.
Fluke –
We did not review any options for this fish. The ASMFC and the
MAMFC instructed the NJ Marine Fisheries Council that it had to
stay status quo for 2023
or changing it would possibly result it being out of
compliance with its assigned quota. So, the fluke season for
2023 remains the same as
2022 as:
2 fluke – 17
inches to 17.99 inches
1 fluke at 18
inches or over
Next
steps
– the options
for sea bass and porgies still have to be submitted to the
ASMFC/MAMFC for approval. The NJ Marine Fisheries Council will
hold a public hearing on March 2nd at the Stafford Twp.
Administrative Office Building at 260 E. Bay Ave. in Manahawkin
at 5:00 p.m. to, take public comments and then vote
on what options will be the seasons for sea bass and porgies and
fluke.
My take
on this
– our fisheries
are seriously mismanaged by the ASMFC and the MAMFC and they
have been and still are responsible for putting the recreational
fishing industry slowly out of business. We have seen so many
party/charter boats and tackle shops close over the years
because of this mismanagement that continues to be unabated with
little to no regard of what it is doing to this industry. In
reaction to this ongoing mismanagement, I am sure that many
anglers who normally would follow rules will sadly ignore these
regulations and become pirates.