Big Cuts Proposed

A dramatic cut which is being proposed for the East Coast, in the numbers of fluke (summer flounder) allowed for the 2007 season, have put Montauk and other Long Island party boats, commercial boats, and tackle shops worried.

At a joint meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, in Philadelphia on August 1-3, it was announced that the 2006 quota Coast-wide (Cape Cod to North Carolina) for fluke is currently 23.6 million pounds, for recreational and commercial fishing. The quota being proposed for the 2007 fishing season is 5.2 million pounds of fluke, in an effort to rebuild the stocks.

The purpose of this meeting was to get comment by the public on these proposed rules. Attending this meeting from Montauk were Capt. Paul Forsberg, of the Viking Fleet, Sima Freierman of Montauk Inlet Seafood, Inc., Laurie Nolan, who is a voting member of the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Council, and Philip Curcio, an attorney representing the United Boatmen of New York, which is the charter and party boat industry. He also represents the New York Fishing Tackle Trade Association, and he is also a party boat captain out of Captree, Long Island.

After the meeting, Curcio said, “Fluke fishing is the single most important recreational fishery on Long Island. It has always been popular, because they are accessible and easy to catch. If this dramatic cut goes through, it will devastate the party boats and the tackle trade in Montauk and the rest of the island.” He said although the six-pack charter boats would also be affected, “they can still survive on other fisheries, like the blues and bass, but the fluke fishing is the primary fishery for the bigger party boats, or head boats.”

Capt. Paul Forsberg, who owns a fleet of three party boats and a ferry boat in Montauk, plus other party boats in Florida, said he was “shocked” that the national and state fishing groups could propose such major cuts when it would so adversely affect his and other recreational businesses. “It would wipe us out for the fishing season next year—we might not be in business,” he said, returning to Montauk last week.

Sima Freierman, general manager of Montauk Inlet Seafood, Inc., which is the state’s largest commercial fishing dock, where about 50 boats pack out and send their fish to markets each day, said, “We have a $54 million impact on Montauk, since we are owned by seven commercial fishermen, and we employ about 75 families in this town. These proposed fishing cutbacks would have a huge impact on the village of Montauk and on our business.”

Laurie Nolan said her group, the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Council, proposed cutting the fluke back only to 19.9 million, instead of 5.2 million, based on a review of the stock assessment process.

The fluke, or summer flounder fishery, is managed jointly by two agencies—the National Marine Fisheries Service, on the federal level, and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission on the state level.

Philip Curcio explained that the reason for these proposed cuts. The Magnuson-Stevens Act, a federal fisheries act that governs fishery management, which was first started in 1976 and later amended in 1996 by the Sustainable Fisheries Act. This act states that any fishery that has been over fished has to be rebuilt within a 10-year period. For fluke, this ten-year period expires in 2010. The target set for the fluke, when they are completely rebuilt, is estimated to be 204 million pounds, for the East Coast (Cape Cod to North Carolina.) The fluke stocks in this area are currently estimated at 112 million pounds.

“This means the fluke stocks theoretically need to be doubled by January 1, 2010, which only gives us three years left to do this,” said Curcio. “But this is theoretical—there is no proof of this quota, and we may be reaching for a target that can never be reached.”

The National Marine Fishery Service claims that the fluke stocks are now at some of the highest levels ever observed. But they are getting pressure from environmental groups who claim the fluke levels still need to be rebuilt to double what they are now, by 2010.

Environmental groups like Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council, PETA, and others, who also attended the Philadelphia meeting, want to stop over fishing and bring back the stocks to certain levels.

But Curcio said his group of recreational boatmen and tackle trade people would like to see a compromise—in order to save the fishing industry. “What we need at this point is to get the 2010 deadline extended, by amending the Magnuson-Stevens Act,” he said. “That urgency of the rebuilding period would be relieved if we could extend that period, so we could either re-evaluate or meet the target.” He said the original 10-year deadline to rebuild the fishery was “arbitrarily set by Congress, so our groups would like to talk to our Congressmen to get some relief, rather than being shut down altogether.”

“What we’re trying to negotiate is to rebuild the fluke, but at a slower pace, as long as it could be demonstrated that the stocks are continuing to grow.” He said the rebuilding period could be extended “due to economic hardship.”

In addition, it was learned at the Philadelphia meeting that there are also proposed cutbacks in the porgy fishing, of 40 percent, and also in the sea bass fishing by 30-40 percent. But Laurie Nolan said her Mid-Atlantic group is proposing lower levels be taken of these fish as well.

“What’s happening is we’re getting squeezed by all ends here,” said Capt. Paul Forsberg. “We recognize that the environment has to be stable, but there are thousands of people who also have to make a living.”

The local fishing groups are now appealing to New York State politicians to get some relief from these recent quotas. A bill to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act is coming up for a vote in Congress in September, called the American Fisheries Management and Marine Life Enhancement Act. It is being introduced by Richard Pombo (Rep.) of California and Barney Frank (Dem.) of Massachusetts. This bill states that the Secretary of Commerce has the discretion to extend the rebuilding period of the fish stocks based on economic or environmental factors. The fishing groups are saying that in their case, it is a question of economic survival.

Sima Freierman said she is working with the recreational community “to mobilize our Congressional delegation to insist on more flexibility in the Magnuson Act to rebuild these stocks, and on better science statistics.”