Tag Archives: DEP Commissioner Bob Martin
New Jersey has good reasons to resist federal rules on fluke
If federal fisheries managers got fan mail from some flounder these days, would it side with their catch limits or New Jersey’s defiant alternate rules? State and local officials and the N.J. congressional delegation pushed hard against this year’s federal plan to reduce the catch of summer flounder, also called fluke, by 30 percent. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission wanted to require fish to be an inch bigger to be kept — 19 inches in the ocean and nearby waters and 18 inches in Delaware Bay. Since last year’s limits were already tough on fishers and marine businesses, the plan prompted an uproar. Rep. Frank LoBiondo said “unelected bureaucrats in Washington use questionable methodologies and outdated science to cut us off at the knees.” He and fellow Rep. Frank Pallone introduced bipartisan legislation to prevent the new flounder quotas from taking effect. click here to read the story 10:28
DEP Commissioner Bob Martin Says Proposed Fluke Quota Cut Would Cripple Fishing, Kill Jobs
Proposals that would cut New Jersey’s share of the fluke fishing quota in by 50 percent would cripple the fishing industry, kill potentially thousands of jobs and damage the state’s tourism industry, state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin said Friday. Martin joined federal and state lawmakers, leaders of the state’s recreational and commercial fishing industries, anglers, and people whose livelihoods rely on fishing at a rally in Point Pleasant Beach to oppose the proposed drastic cuts to the recreational harvest of summer flounder, also known as fluke. The rally follows votes last month by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council that would likely result in an increase in the size of individual summer flounder anglers can keep, as well as a decrease in number of fish that may be kept each day, and a reduction in season length. Read the rest of the story here 15:36
