Mr. John Mason of DEC and Chairman Wise reported on the industry work group’s deliberations on management of the fluke harvest quota. Representatives of commercial hook & line, trawl, trap net, and other fisheries have engaged in a series of difficult deliberations. There was general agreement to restructure the quarterly time periods defining the seasons and to ask the 458 fluke permit holders to submit data on their gear types at the time of license renewal. Chairman Wise stated that, at the most recent meeting of the work group, there was tentative consensus on apportionment of the quota by gear type allotting 5% to handline, pending further consultations with individuals not present at that meeting. When asked if the DEC would reject such a proposal if it had been unanimously approved by the subcommittee, Mr. Colvin replied that a real consensus would not be rejected as long as it did not conflict with existing legislation. The New York State Commercial Hook and Line Association urged that food fish license renewals require specifying gear types, so that this data could be published. Councilor Tom Knobel stated that inshore commercial trawl and trap net fishermen were not happy about a proposed 5% set allocation of the commercial fluke quota for handline fishermen and they would not support it. Mr. Wise said that the Commercial Fluke Quota Management Industry Working Group would strive to present recommendations to the Council by November.