Representatives from the North Fork Captains Association (party & charter boats) have requested that DEC establish different open seasons for recreationally-caught summer flounder (fluke) for western Long Island and eastern Long Island waters. DEC is proposing a unified open season that would begin on 10 May. East End captains maintain that opening the season this late would result in a significant economic loss to recreational fishing businesses on eastern Long Island. Establishing differential open seasons for the waters around Long Island would require that DEC submit a proposal to the Atlantic States marine Fisheries Commission showing that the fishing mortalities that would result from these different seasons would leave New York in compliance with the fishing mortality reduction requirements of the interstate fishery management plan for summer flounder. At the prior Council meeting, the DEC indicated it did not believe that there was adequate data on recreational catches of fluke from different waters around Long Island to substantiate such a claim.

Pat Augustine of the New York Sport Fishing Federation distributed data on recent fluke catches by New York recreational charter and party boat anglers disaggregated by the standard National Marine Fisheries Service water area codes. It was generally agreed that these areas did not provide enough geographic specificity to support, for example, a proposal for a separate recreational fluke season for Long Island Sound/East End waters that would begin on 01 May. Chairman Wise said that such a proposal could probably not be developed in time for this fishing season but that he would work with the Federation, north shore/east end charter captains, DEC, and others to more fully explore the data available to support such a proposal, that might be implemented next year.