Save Summer Flounder!!!

sadlsorz · #1 12-12-2007, 11:07 PM

Hey guys I know this is a Striper site but, this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. Our right to fish is under attack. If you are concerned about our future and our children's future in fishing then you need to visite this site. http://SSFFF.net Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund. It was put together by some local captains and fisherman who are willing to fight back and try to save this fishery. This fund's goal is to raise enough money to hire our own scientists to do our own research into the summer Flounder stocks, to rebuff the obviously flawed data that the government is going by. We need to do something guys because this is just the beginning, if this fishery falls, then the rest will follow like dominoes. Please check it out!!!

khary23 · #2 12-19-2007, 04:22 AM

I did a little research and i don't belive that our right to fish is under attack. The fluke stock is currently not classified as over fished but there is a plan to increase the stocks biomass by 50%. This means that we may have shorter seasons and higher size limits for a few years, but if that means more fluke in the future then in my opinion no foul no bad.

sadlsorz · #3 12-19-2007, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by khary23

I did a little research and i don't belive that our right to fish is under attack. The fluke stock is currently not classified as over fished but there is a plan to increase the stocks biomass by 50%. This means that we may have shorter seasons and higher size limits for a few years, but if that means more fluke in the future then in my opinion no foul no bad.

Khary, Thats the problem. Our size limits have progressively increased and our seasons have gotten shorter, you're in NY right? 19.5 AND they cut the season short out of nowhere. http://http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/37534.html All the SSFFF is trying to do is show that the fluke biomass has never been healthier and the NMFS goal of a 50% biomass increase is unreachable. It is a known fact that they are considering a moratorium on this fishery, they have been quoted saying so. The SSFFF has said that if their own scientists prove that what the NMFS is saying is correct , so be it, they will go quietly into the night. It just doesn't seem to be the case though.

sadlsorz · #4 01-22-2008, 08:05 AM

Went to the SSFFF meeting last night a VERY good turn out. Congressman Frank Pallone and Assemblyman Sean Kean were there. Guys this is serious, they need our support. I know this is a Striper site, but this is about fishing not just Fluke. Fluke is just the start. Major environmental groups with deep pockets are influencing the NMFS and The Magnuson-Stevens Act with one goal in mind, to take away our right to fish. Along with Fluke they have started on blackfish, porgies, and Seabass. If they win with Fluke, we are in big trouble. This is not just a NJ thing either.

Last night some guy from the NJ Sea Grant Extention program pledged $70,000 to SSFFF, and the American Sportfishing Association has joined the fight.

Please visit the site, go to meetings, talk to them at boat shows. We need all the help we can get.

USM Bass Tracker · #5 01-25-2008, 04:34 PM

Keep in mind the life history of summer flounder. A female is mature at about 11 inches, but produces very few eggs, for example a fish measuring about 14.5 inches may produce 463,000 eggs where a fish measuring 26 inches can produce over 4 million eggs. Add in the utilization of estuaries as nursery habitats, much of which has been degraded by anthropomorphic effects and larval survival to adult is further decreased. According to a NOAA site the stock is at 47% of sustainability, so reaching the 50% (so you say) should not be too hard. Raising the size limit sucks, but for the long term of the fishery it may be for the better, especially with more and more people putting pressure on the fishery.

sadlsorz · #6 01-25-2008, 07:07 PM

Ok so by increasing the size limits, in your own words, they are having us kill the females that produce the most eggs. And your right, the utilization of natural estuaries has caused a degredation in the survival from larval stage to adult, further affecting biomass (not fishing).

Again you are right in stating that we are at 47% of sustainability, which means by 2012 we have to be at 100%, never going to happen. We are not just looking at increased size limits here, NMFS has stated that there will most likely be a complete shut down of the fishery by 2009.

All ssfff wants is some flexibilty in Magnuson, just to throw a # out, say, the extend the 10 year time frame that they gave to start with and extend it, say, 5 years. It would be more reasonable to hit the number they want in that time frame, whats the difference? As long as the boimass continues on an upward trend, whats the harm?

There is also the question as to how many fish are actually out there. Did you know that the method they use to count the fish was developed in 1930 in California for Halibut???