Tag Archives: State of New Jersey
Pallone Supports Potential Compromise on Summer Flounder Cuts
This week, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) expressed support for a potential compromise between the State of New Jersey and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) on Summer Flounder Cuts. ASMFC agreed to consider a proposal by the State for conservationally-equivalent management measures for the 2017 summer flounder fishery, and is expected to reach a decision in the next two weeks. In exchange for a 104-day fishing season and the 3 bag limit, the size limit would be decreased to 18 inches. The Commission postponed a decision on that until the next meeting of the Interstate Fisheries Management Program in two weeks. Pallone and Senator Booker sent a letter to NOAA Fisheries about its proposal to reduce the ABC recreational and commercial quotas for summer flounder in 2017 and 2018. The New Jersey lawmakers requested that NOAA Fisheries postpone any decision on reducing summer flounder quotas until it conducts a new benchmark summer flounder assessment. Click here to read the letter 14:37
BIG STORY! – Prodigy to pariah: N.J. oysterman’s bizarre battle with the state
New Jersey oyster farmers – But what really horrifies them is a more recent tale involving one of their own: Marc Zitter, a rookie farmer who found brief, stunning success growing oysters, only to be brought to his knees in a bizarre two-year battle with the State of New Jersey. The story, laid out in a lawsuit, interviews, emails, investigation reports and other court documents, began in September of 2013, when camouflage-clad NJ Department of Environmental Protection conservation officers began secretly videotaping Zitter’s operations in Delaware Bay and on a barge in Dias Creek, a small tributary in Cape May County. The following month, 10 officers swooped in and shut down Zitter’s operation in a dramatic show of force. Read the rest here 17:10
