The RFA is very disappointed by the rule proposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) yesterday to cut the 2006 summer flounder (fluke) quota from a previously approved 33 million pounds to 23.59 million pounds.
In doing so, NMFS rejected the scientific advice of the Summer Flounder Monitoring Committee and rejected the will of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council each of which voted for a 26 million pound quota for 2006, 2007 and 2008 under a constant harvest strategy.
“NMFS has failed the recreational sector yet again,” said Herb Moore, Jr., RFA Counsel. “NMFS claims they are adhering to a 2000 federal court decision by proposing this 10 million pound cut in landings for 2006 but I’m convinced that they are misapplying the law.”
“I’ve carefully read the 2000 federal court decision, NRDC v. Daley,” said Mr. Moore. “It was a decision made under very different circumstances and the court had a different set of facts before it. The decision was made at a time when the stock was overfished and overfishing was occurring. That is no longer the case.”
“Perhaps most importantly, when the court made its decision in 2000, it did not have a ‘constant harvest strategy’ to consider as the Summer Flounder Monitoring Committee and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council approved.”
“Recreational fishermen are seeing tremendous numbers of summer flounder up and down our coast,” said Jim Donofrio, RFA Executive Director. “The stock is very healthy and you would be hard pressed to convince fishermen that 10 million pounds should be cut from the 2006 quota.”
“Recreational fishermen have been dealing with increasing minimum size limits, smaller bag limits and shorter seasons for the last fifteen years,” said Mr. Donofrio. “As a result, anglers are forced to release scores of summer flounder for every one they can keep. Many fishermen have just had it.”
“We believe the summer flounder quota should at least remain at status quo, which in 2005 is 30.3 million pounds,” said Mr. Moore. “We’re realists though so we were hoping NMFS would follow the advice of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and their scientists and approve a 26 million pound quota for 2006 through 2008 under a constant harvest strategy. Instead, they ignored the advice of the experts and ignored the social and economic costs that their proposal could bring.”
NMFS is accepting public comments until December 2, 2005. Comments can be emailed to FSB2006@noaa.gov with “Comments on the 2006 Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Specifications” in the subject line. Comments can also be faxed to 978-281-9135.
