Mr. Colvin reported that the sections of the Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) that grant regulatory authority to DEC over marine species, which were due to expire at the end of this year, were extended by the Legislature and the legislation sent to the Governor for his signature. The legislation that was passed also deletes the current statutory restrictions that impede full regulatory flexibility except two, the 25-fish commercial possession limit on blackfish and the 24” minimum size limit (commercial & recreational) for striped bass. Among the deleted sections are the 10-fish bag limit on bluefish, the 6-fish bag on weakfish, and the 16” minimum size limit on weakfish. Once the Governor signs these bills into law, DEC will have the authority to adopt changes to the regulations that are consistent where the current and future versions of the interstate management plans that may be less restrictive than the measures that are in place today.

Bluefish: The bluefish fishery management plan is a joint plan of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC). It has a specification whereby a recreational bag limit is set annually that can be a high a 15 fish. The recommendation of the Mid-Atlantic Council, which has been accepted by the National Marine Fisheries Service, is that a creel limit of 15 could be implemented. Several states have raised their bluefish bag limit to 15 and there has been some interest expressed in raising New York’s limit to 15.

Weakfish: At its 2002 Annual Meeting, ASMFC adopted Amendment 4 to the weakfish interstate fishery management plan. Amendment 4 offers a new master table of coastwide recreational combinations of minimum sizes and bag limits for this species. New York’s limits are presently 6 fish at a minimum size of 16 inches. Some interest has been expressed in revisiting New York’s recreational minimum size limit for weakfish. Once the Governor signs the legislation mentioned above, the statutory 16” minimum size limit will disappear and the Department could then take regulatory action to change the weakfish size limit, if it chose to do so.

Striped Bass: In 2002, ASMFC adopted a new amendment to the interstate fishery management plan for striped bass, Amendment 6. The Amendment changes the coastwide recreational regulations for striped bass and sets a standard of 2 fish at 28” minimum length applicable everywhere in New York’s. Amendment 6 also specifically allows conservation equivalency whereby states may adopt different combinations of size and bag limits and season closures or other restrictions, as long as they are equivalent in conservation impact to 2 fish at 28” minimum size. Mr. Colvin explained to the Council that no change was required in the Department’s striped bass regulations in marine waters, which provide for 1 fish at 28”, except that party and charter boat customers are allowed 2 fish at 28”. This is slightly more conservative than the ASMFC standards. However, in the Hudson River, the current limit is 1 fish at 18 inches and Mr. Colvin stated that this must be changed to comply with the standards of Amendment 6.

Mr. Colvin noted that Maine, New Hampshire and Delaware have had striped bass options approved under the conservation equivalency concept which are different that 2 fish at 28”. Maine’s approach includes an anglers option of keeping 1 fish between 20”-26” or 1 fish over 40”. New Hampshire has a 2-fish option with a 28” minimum length, except only 1 of the fish can be over 40”. Delaware’s option allows for 2 fish, 1 fish within a 24”-28” slot range and 1 fish longer than 41 inches. No other proposals have come forward that have been shown to be equivalent. These options can be used as a starting point in New York for a discussion of revising recreational limits for striped bass. Mr. Colvin stated that the Department would not consider increasing the striped bass creel limit in the Hudson River to 2 fish because of associated public health issues (PCB contamination) and the fact that the fishery does focus on spawning fish in the spawning areas of the river. He reminded the Council that the statutory minimum size for striped bass of 24” was still in place, so the Department could not adopted a smaller size limit by regulation.

The Council discussed a series of minimum size and bag limits for striped bass that had been worked up by Bureau of Marine Resources staff. Most Councilors expressed support for an increase in the minimum size limit in the Hudson River and, perhaps, a decrease in the minimum size limit in marine waters of the state. Several commercial representatives on the Council expressed support for the idea of raising the 7-fish by-catch allowance in striped bass now offered to trawl fishermen. Chairman Wise asked Mr. Colvin how the Department would seek public and fishing industry input on what changes might be sought in striped bass regulations. Mr. Colvin responded, stating that it would be broad-based, especially from the recreational fishing industry. It may involve focus groups. The Department will try to get input via its website, and possibly reach out to sportfishing publications to see if their websites could also be used for this purpose.

Mr. Barnhart asked the Council to consider whether, given the Department’s reduced staff and financial resources, it makes sense to devote time and energy to making changes to fishery regulations when they don’t have to be changed to comply with regional fishery management plans. If it’s just tinkering, maybe now is not the time to do it.

Neal Delanoy of the Captree Boatmen’s Association supported raising the recreational bag limit on bluefish and weakfish to 15 and 10 fish, respectively. He stated that this was necessary to keep New York-based charter & party boats competitive with those in New Jersey, who fish the same waters and where those higher bag limits are in place. He also supported lowering the recreational weakfish minimum size limit to 15.” Chairman Wise read a letter written by Dennis Kanyuk of the United Boatmen and the Freeport-Nassau Fishermen advocating the same suite of measures. Councilor Jack Ferrera observed that the New York Fishing Tackle Trade Association supported a 15” minimum size limit and 10-fish bag limit on recreationally-caught weakfish. Commercial handline fisherman John Mihale spoke in favor of the higher bag limit for weakfish but stated that he thought the current 16” minimum size limit should be retained. Councilor John Mason, a trawl fisherman from Shinnecock, stated that he felt the weakfish stock was near collapse and no change should be made to liberalize catch restrictions on this species. DEC staff member Ms. Alice Weber noted that the condition of the weakfish stock in the northern part of the species’ range (which includes the Long Island area) appears to be worse than in the central and southern section of the range, where the species is apparently doing well. No update to the weakfish stock assessment is planned as of now. Mr. Colvin will try to provide the Council with more detailed information on the current condition of the weakfish stock in time for the Council’s September 2003 meeting.

Mr. Colvin requested that the Council come to its September 2003 meeting prepared to make a recommendation to the Department on the desirability of changing the weakfish recreational size limit as well as the current recreational bag limits for bluefish and weakfish. He noted that a change is not required in any of these three cases.