Mr. Colvin briefed the Council on regulations expected to be adopted in early spring for recreational harvest limits on fluke, scup and sea bass. The following includes extended excerpts of his remarks. Fluke, scup, and black sea bass are managed under joint federal/state (MAFMC/ASMFC) fishery management plans that set annual total harvest quotas to ensure that the harvest does not exceed the target rate of fishing mortality. Each species’ quota is divided into commercial and recreational components. All three species were already critically overfished when the current management regime was instituted.

Fluke

The commercial quota for fluke is managed with any excess harvests in one year directly subtracted from the following year’s quota. Recreational fluke management is based on a single, coast-wide quota managed with closed seasons along with minimum size and creel (possession) limits. The target fishing mortality rate for fluke has been 0.26 since 1999. The coast-wide annual fluke quota has been stable since 1996 at about 18.5 million pounds, of which about 7.4 million pounds has been allotted to the recreational sector. However, the coast-wide recreational harvest of fluke has exceeded 7.4 million pounds every year since 1996; the catch in 2000 was more than double the quota. The 2001 coast-wide quota set by the MAFMC will be reduced to 17.9 million pounds due to a successful lawsuit by several national conservation organizations challenging the basis on which the MAFMC had set the 1998-2000 quotas: that the quota should have been set at a number providing at least a 50% probability of achieving the 0.26 target fishing mortality rate. The plaintiffs claimed the 17.9 million pound quota had a very low probability of hitting this target. The ASMFC was not part of this lawsuit and, although it followed the rules put in place by the court decision, it did not apply any retroactive penalty, so the ASMFC established a different, higher fluke quota for 2001 of 20.5 million pounds.

The MAFMC has set measures for the 2001 recreational fluke fishery conducted in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), seaward of the 3-mile lines. The measures for fluke were a possession limit of 3 fish, a minimum size of 15.5", and an open season of 25 May 2001 - 04 September 2001. These measures are designed to achieve a 54% reduction in recreational fluke catches, but they will apply only to the EEZ. ASMFC staff is preparing an addendum to the fluke fishery management plan laying out options for 2001 recreational fluke fisheries conducted within 3 miles. The Commission will likely use the 20.5 million pound coast-wide quota and calculate the fishery mortality reductions necessary to achieve a 0.26 fishing mortality rate in 2001, based on an average of the 1998-2000 coast-wide annual recreational harvest of fluke. However, other possible coast-wide quota and base year recreational harvest options will also be looked at. The specific reductions required in New York’s 2001 recreational fluke fishery will hinge on which of these options ASMFC chooses to use in developing the coast-wide preferred management measures. At present, the range of possible required recreational fishery reductions for fluke appears to be 34-49%. ASMFC will also decide on implementation of the coast-wide reductions; options include a single set of coast-wide measures outside the EEZ or a state-by-state conservation equivalency approach, under which each state reviews the performance of its own fishery in 2000 and determines the most suitable measures to meet the targets for its fishery in its waters. Under the latter approach, some states, including New York, would have greater reductions in their recreational fluke fishery, while some, such as Virginia, would not, since their catch already had decreased.

Mr. Wise asked if, once ASMFC selected one of the alternative approaches to determining the required fishing mortality reduction, each state would be confined to using the published data on 2000 fluke recreational landings, which some people view as abnormally high and unreliable? Mr. Colvin referred to the 1994-1998 statistical tables distributed earlier as the basis for future measures. He continued that the process determining state quotas would probably include a correction factor for effectiveness, which is the compliance rate. New York’s 90% compliance rate is one of the highest among the states. Councilor McBride stated that the potential reductions in the recreational fluke fishery were of grave interest to the recreational fishing industry, including party and charter boat operators and other support businesses. DEC should somehow maintain the industry’s economic viability. Mr. Colvin responded that the decision process would provide time and opportunity for an examination of means to achieve necessary fishing reductions with the least possible disruption to businesses dependent on the recreational fluke fishery. He noted, however, that the commercial fluke quota is directly reduced to compensate for previous year overharvests, but no parallel penalty existed for the recreational side. He further noted that when excess recreational catch reduced fluke biomass, this reduced biomass directly affected the following year’s commercial fluke quota. Commercial fishermen are not very pleased with this arrangement. The approved fluke fishery management plan targets an overall coast-wide allocation ratio of 60% commercial to 40% recreational, but recent recreational harvests account for much more than 40% of the total catch. Mr. Colvin confirmed that the tools available to New York for reducing the recreational catch of fluke were bag limits, size limits, and season closures. Councilor Melissa Dearborn asked if a split possession limit might be possible? John Mason of the DEC said that ASMFC’s Technical Committee had discussed a split possession limit, but there was no consensus yet on how to assess it. He explained the term "split bag limit:" a bag limit of 6 fish at 15.5" would yield a conservation credit of 12%, while 6 fish at 17" would yield 49%; but, if 2 fish at 15.5" yielded 30.3%, what credit would there be for 4 additional fish at 17"?

Capt. Neil Delanoy of the Captree Boatman’s Association hoped that ASFMC would consider conservation equivalency if that could allow a longer season and higher bag limit. He felt that the possession limit and season closures established by the MAFMC for the EEZ would devastate the party and charter boat fishery for fluke if they were implemented in New York waters. Capt. John Smith of the Capt. Lou party boat fleet and several other party boat operators agreed with Capt. Delanoy’s assessment. It was observed that there appear to be more fluke in the water now than ever and that draggers were discarding thousands daily. The need for reductions in fluke catches was questioned. Mr. Colvin agreed that there was no question that the biomass of fluke was continuing to increase; however, recruitment had not kept pace with the increased biomass. Higher fluke quotas were expected next year. He noted that one challenge in managing a recovering fish stock is that when the biomass grows rapidly, scientific stock assessments tend to lag behind.

Capt. Dennis Canyon, a party boat operator, said that if the fluke season became too short, fishing effort would switch to porgies and black sea bass, whose populations are already stressed. Tom Jordan of the New York State Commercial Hook and Line Association asked whether the MAFMC or the ASMFC fluke quota would apply to state waters in 2001. Mr. Colvin responded that the ASMFC quota would apply and, because this quota was larger than the MAFMC quota, fluke regulations in state waters would likely be more liberal than the 3 fish, 15.5" minimum size, and 25 May – 04 September open season now mandated for the EEZ.

Capt. John Sinning asked if an extraordinary Council meeting would or could be scheduled to discuss the fluke regulations after ASMFC set the ground rules and before the state decided on specific implementing measures. The Council agreed that this could and would be done if necessary. The Council’s next regularly-scheduled meeting is on 13 March 2001, which may be too late for this discussion.

Scup

Scup has been quota-managed since 1997. The target exploitation rate has been reduced over time; it will be 0.21 in 2002. The coast-wide recreational harvest of scup in 2000 (5.2 million pounds) far exceeded the recreational quota of 1.2 million pounds. For 2001, the coast-wide scup quota was increased in recognition that the biomass of this species is increasing. The MAFMC adopted the following measures for 2001 affecting scup recreational fisheries in the EEZ: 50-fish possession limit; 9" minimum size limit; and an open season of 15 August 2001 to 31 October 2001. The general management options for recreational scup fisheries in state waters are similar to those for fluke: either single coast-wide measures applied in all states, or a state-specific conservation equivalency approach. The inshore recreational fishery for scup is concentrated in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. New York’s recorded recreational catch of this species (from the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey, MRFSS) nearly tripled in 2000, so the 2001 catch reduction would probably be substantial in equivalency if the reductions were based solely on 2000 catches. Based on all possible historic catch baselines, the range of prospective reductions for scup on a coast-wide basis in 2001 is 34-66%.

Councilor McBride expressed skepticism about the apparent tripling of New York recreational scup landings in 2000. Mr. Colvin agreed that there were concerns about the 1999 state scup recreational landings, which seem too low; however, everyone agreed that last year’s scup catch was high, significantly higher than the previous year. Fishing effort does increase as the biomass of a target stock recovers.

Mr. Colvin noted that, as for fluke, the measures available to New York for managing its recreational fishery for scup were possession limit, size restriction, and seasonal closure. He asked for specific input on the idea of apportioning any required reductions in New York recreational fishery for scup differently among the modes of fishing. The DEC felt that the party/charter portion of the state’s recreational scup catch was around 20%. This suggests that a larger share of the reduction in the scup fishery could/should be borne by the private boats and inshore fishermen as opposed to the "for-hire" fisheries--party and charter boats and their patrons. Councilor Sullivan suggested that this approach might spawn an immediate legal challenge. In answer to a question from Mr. Wise, Mr. Colvin explained this differentiation was an option for scup because of an economic factor: the scup fishery attracts a significant number of low-income people, who fish mainly on party and charter boats and for whom the fish they catch are an important dietary item. Spreading required reductions in the recreational scup fishery evenly across all modes might effectively prevent these individuals from participating at all.

Capt. Al Lindroth, operator of a party boat, said that New York’s current restrictive bag limits and the short season for scup were sending his customers to Hyannis, Massachusetts; he wanted the playing field leveled. Mr. Colvin noted that Massachusetts had instituted a 50-fish recreational scup possession limit before New York did; conservation equivalency inevitably caused different measures to be adopted in different states because each state was allowed to take its own needs into consideration. Capt. Paul Forster of the Viking Fleet in Montauk added that tightened regulations on scup would hurt his customers, most of whom were very poor and depended on these species as a staple food.

Black Sea Bass

Mr. Colvin informed the Council that the MAFMC had instituted the following limits for 2001 in the recreational fishery for black sea bass in the EEZ: 25-fish possession limit; 11" minimum size limit; and a split open season 01 January 2001 – 28 February 2001 and 10 May 2001 – 31 December 2001. ASMFC has mandated these same measures for this year’s inshore black sea bass fishery. These measures are designed to achieve a 38% reduction in recreational landings of black sea bass, coast-wide.

Mr. Wise concluded this extended discussion with an explanation of the timetable for state decisions on these options. By the end of January 2001, mortality reduction targets for fluke and scup will be fixed by ASMFC. Mr. Colvin added that, by early February, technical issues should be settled, and then the emergency rules should be formulated. After the necessary input from the industry was received, DEC would propose emergency rules. Since the sea bass and scup appeared in late April and May, it was agreed that the Council should consider scheduling an extraordinary meeting before its regularly-scheduled 13 March 2001 meeting to make recommendations to DEC on what mix of possession limit, size limit, and season closure should be set for recreational fisheries for these species in 2001. Chairman Wise will post any news from ASMFC as well as date/time of any special meeting on the Council’s web page, www.msrc.sunysb.edu/mrac/. He encouraged those groups interested in these regulations to hold discussions and participate in the balance of the process that will lead to enactment of revised measures.

NOTE TO READER: The special Council meeting to discuss and make recommendations to DEC on 2001 fluke and scup recreational fishery regulations will be held at 2:00 pm on 01 March 2001 at DEC’s offices on Belle Meade Road in East Setauket, New York. All interested individuals are encouraged to attend. See the Council’s Web Page for further information.