Federal fisheries regulators holding LI hearings on fluke take

Federal fisheries regulators are on Long Island this week to solicit public comments on a broad new plan to manage a vital local species -- fluke.

Representatives from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council were in Montauk Tuesday night and will be in East Setauket Wednesday to solicit comments on the plan, which sets rules determining the number, size and periods when fluke can be taken from state and federal waters.

The hearings will also focus more broadly on topics such as the gear used to catch fluke, fishing permits, the science used to set quotas and changes in fish migrations.

At the Montauk meeting, dozens of commercial fishermen blasted rules that reduce fluke quotas to 50 to 100 pounds a day and force those with federal permits to steam to faraway ports to land their fish.

"You should be able to land your quota in your home port," said Asa Gosman of Gosman's Fish Market in Montauk.

Local fishermen who have permits from faraway states like North Carolina currently must travel to those states to process the fish.

"I can probably save $100,000 in fuel alone if I can land the fish right here at home," said Montauk commercial fisherman Dave Aripotch.

Laurie Nolan, a Montauk commercial monk fisher and council member, noted that representatives from other states who sit on the council have rebuffed landing-flexibility rules in the past to keep boats coming to their ports.

Commercial boats "should have the right to land fish in whatever state they want," said Hank Lackner, owner of a commercial trawler in Montauk, adding he and other boat owners are "teetering on the brink of extinction."

Jim Gilmore, head of the state Department of Environmental Conservation and a commission member, told fishermen who sharply criticized the current management plan, "We don't think in New York the plan is working." Rule changes likely won't be in place until the 2017 fishing season, he said.

Fluke have seen a large increase in the spawning stock -- from 12.1 million pounds in 1989 to 112.9 million pounds in 2012, according to regulators.

The fishery for fluke, aka summer flounder, was considered fully rebuilt in 2011 after a series of measures since the 1990s to increase the population. Still, regulators have noted that the estimated fluke harvest has been "generally lower over the last 3 years than during the previous decade."

But some have complained the science used to set quotas is faulty, limits have been too restrictive and states outside New York have an inordinately large share of the allowable catch, both commercial and recreational.

The Atlantic commission last year introduced a new regional approach that enlarged the zones for which fishing rules would apply. New York got the same limits as New Jersey and Connecticut in 2014: a decrease in the size of fish that could be kept, to 18 inches, and an increase in the limit on keepers, to five. The 2013 limit was four fish at 19 inches each.

The hearings will request input on topics such as changes in the health of the fluke stock, including “apparent shifts” of habitat and migration, possibly related to climate change. The meetings also will seek information on how to reduce fluke mortality from fishing.

Information about the meetings can be found at nwsdy.li/scoping, and comments can be submitted directly to nwsdy.li/floundercomments.