Chairman Wise addressed the Council and visitors/guests to the affect that he had heard through the "grapevine" that some individuals interested in pending changes to the regulations affecting recreational harvests of summer flounder (fluke), scup (porgy), and black sea bass were under the impression that today’s scheduled discussion of this issue was designed to provide final guidance to DEC on what these changes should be. Mr. Wise assured one and all that today’s discussion was intended solely to inform the Council and others of the discussions and pending actions by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) with regard to these species and to informally discuss options that New York might use to accommodate any mandated reductions in recreational fisheries for them in 2001. The final decision on what specific measures would be implemented was still some time away. No decisions were to be made at this meeting on any recommendations to the DEC about restrictions on recreational scup, fluke or commercial quotas. He hoped that the public would come away from this meeting with information about the context, options, and time frame within which these issues were going to be resolved in the future. Councilor McBride stated that it was imperative to move quickly on fluke regulations; party and charter boat captains needed early information so that they could inform prospective fares.

Mr. John Mihale of the New York State Commercial Hook & Line Association expressed hope that the DEC would soon have good news about re-testing of striped bass to determine if PCB’s were less of a problem now.