Mr. Colvin reviewed with the Department’s proposed changes to marine finfish regulations (Part 40 of the Environmental Conservation Law) for 2006.  Below is a list of the issues that will be addressed. In earlier meetings, the Council had discussed many of these issues with the Department.  This review was to basically to inform the Council of the final nature of the regulatory changes being proposed.  These proposed changes are now out for public comment.  The 45-day public comment period on this regulatory package will expire in mid-January 2006.  After the public comment period, and with the public comment record in hand, the Council will need to make its final recommendations on some or all of these proposed changes.

• Trip Limit Definition – clarify the existing commercial trip limit definition and add language that allows weekly or biweekly limits for scup (porgy) and weekly limits for fluke

• Marine Party and Charter License Holders – Require all licensed party and charter license holders to carry an on-board observer and to report catch and effort information, when requested by authorized representatives of DEC or the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS); upon notice by DEC, require all licensed Party and Charter Boars to submit Fishing Vessel Trip Reports for each for-hire trip.

• Commercial Foodfish License Decal – Implement a requirement that all commercial foodfish license holders display a decal while fishing

• Atlantic Cod and Haddock – Decrease the recreational minimum size limits for Atlantic cod and haddock to 22” and 19”, respectively, to be consistent with NMFS and neighboring states;

• Winter Flounder – Increase minimum length to 12”, decrease recreational possession limit to 10 and reduce the open season for recreational winter flounder fishing from April 1 to May 30, all as required by Amendment 1 to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Winter Flounder Fishery Management Plan

• Black Sea Bass – Increase the recreational black sea bass fishing season to year-round

• Oyster Toadfish – Implement new recreational and commercial minimum size limit of 10”, possession limit of 3 recreational and 25 commercial and a closed season of May 15 to July 15

• Sharks – Revise federal register citation for shark regulations to incorporate by reference the NMFS shark regulations

• Summer Flounder, bluefish, black sea bass and spiny dogfish commercial regulations – eliminate duplicate text in the existing summer flounder, bluefish, black sea bass and spiny dogfish commercial regulations, to reflect changes in quota periods, to correct internal text references and to allow flexibility for quota management

• Winter Flounder – Eliminate the registry and independent reporting for the commercial winter flounder fyke net fishery, replace with mandatory filing of Vessel Trip Reports (VTR’s)

• Winter Flounder and Scup – Increase minimum commercial mesh size requirements for winter flounder (6’ diamond and 6.5” square) and scup (5” diamond for 75 meshes forward of the terminus of the cod end, or throughout the net if the net is less than 125 meshes in length) trawls

• Striped Bass – Increase by-catch limit for striped bass caught in commercial trawl gear from 7 to 21 fish

 

 

Page last modified Saturday, December 24, 2005 by George E. Carroll