Ms. Freierman, chairwoman of the Council Subcommittee on Fluke Special Permits, informed the Council that the two main points that have come out of the Subcommittee’s survey of commercial foodfish license holders and a subsequent scoping meeting with the public are:

• DEC should institute some sort of requalification process and criteria to retain a special fluke commercial harvest permit
• Many people would like to see this special permit made transferable between two persons, as long as the recipient has a foodfish license

Councilor Freierman will present the Subcommittee’s formal findings and recommendations at the Council’s 20 September 2005 meeting.

Mr. Colvin noted that the summer flounder (fluke) stock assessment was recently comprehensively updated and presented to ASMFC’s Stock Assessment Review Committee.  That committee accepted, unconditionally, the revised and updated stock assessment.  The results of the update stock assessment will be presented in late July  to the Technical Monitoring Committee, which will receive the information and make its recommendations to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) and ASMFC in conjunction with the setting the annual fluke commercial harvest quota for 2006 and beyond.  The joint meeting between MAFMC and ASMFC will take place in Philadelphia the first week in August.  Mr. Colvin observed that the updated fluke stock assessment is likely to be considered very seriously by both the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and ASMFC’s Technical Monitoring Committee.  The bottom line is that this year’s TAL (total allowable landings) for fluke is 30 million lbs and it was expected to go to 33 million lbs in 2006.  Based on the updated stock assessment, the TAL for 2006 might end up between 23 million lbs and 26 million lbs.  Fluke fishing mortality rates have risen and there is evidence of a decline in stock abundance.  Gordon thought the Subcommittee should keep these figures in mind while it develops its findings and recommendations.

 

Page last modified Saturday, August 20, 2005 by George E. Carroll