Acting upon the recommendation approved last week by committees of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council to increase the catch limit for summer flounder could spell good news for the region’s recreational fishing industry. It is told that the fishermen have rightly bemoaned regular reductions in allowable catch limits due to overzealous goals of rebuilding stock that was deemed overfished.
The council will consider the proposal in two weeks. Scientists and monitoring committees determined summer flounder — also known as fluke — were not overfished, nor was overfishing occurring, as conservationists had claimed. As a result the authority cut the annual flounder quota dramatically, from a high of 30 million pounds down to 2007’s low of 15.77 million pounds, that the industry’s survival, and thousands of related jobs in the region were threatened.
Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund has contributed to the reassessment of the flounder population, remains a vital promoter of the needs of the recreational and commercial fishing industry. A research scientist with the Recreational Fishing Alliance, at a 2007 fishery management hearing, said anglers in New Jersey targeting summer flounder spend more than $300 million, support 2,800 full-time equivalent jobs and produce $18 million in sales tax income per year.
