As you no doubt know by now, National Marine Fisheries Services has shut down the sea bass fishery in federal waters starting November 1 and continuing through December 31. This covers all waters three miles or more off the coast.
As one would expect then, at the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission meeting on Thursday, October 25, which covered state waters issues, a motion came up recommending individual states take whatever action necessary to close state waters to fishing for the remainder of the year. That motion was narrowly defeated in a 5 in favor / 6 against vote. That means individual states, if they so desire, can still take unilateral action to close state waters on their own but are not mandated to do so by the ASMFC. Each state will now provide updates about their local fishery.
Capt. Adam Nowalsky RFA representative for New Jersey told me that the southern states of Virginia, North Carolina and even Maryland were in favor of closing the season inshore. He reported that Massachusetts and Rhode Island were also in favor since those fisheries are done or close to finished up there, whereas New York indicated they were likely to take action to close the inshore fishery although they have not done so as yet.
“Its up to the states to decide and it has been decentralized,” said Capt Adam, recommending that we monitor the Fish and Wildlife web sites of each state for updates at this point. If that sounds like a silver lining – it’s not. Sea bass are on the way offshore at this time of year and finding keepers within three miles will be very difficult. Difficult enough so that anglers will likely pursue other more desirable species like blackfish when angling in state waters.
%pullstart%Individual states, if they so desire, can still take unilateral action to close state waters on their own but are not mandated to do so by the ASMFC.%pullend%At this point, next season, including the January/February offshore season, remains in limbo where sea bass are concerned. Questions remain about when to deduct overages; they may not come out until 2014. We will get more info about 2013 in late November heading into the middle of December. Party boats that target big winter sea bass offshore are at a huge loss and efforts will be diverted towards ling, pollack and cod.
Conservation editor Al Ristori explained, “The fishery is restored, and there are so many sea bass that anglers have greatly overfished their quota. Once again there will not be any far offshore wreck season for party boats that depend on it during the winter.”
Tom Fote, NJ’s Governor’s Appointee to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, reports from the Commission’s Fall Meeting that a proposal to join in the federal closure was rejected. Thus, anglers will still be able to fish for sea bass in NJ state waters from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31. Unfortunately, prospects for next year are very poor since a huge overage will be deducted from what will probably be a decrease in quota.
This all came to pass because overages are supposed to be averaged over a 3-year period, but this is the first year operating under this system so we only have one year of data. The math, although straightforward, is ugly: 2.3 million pounds. landed through August. September and half of October. According to MRFSS/MRIP, as things stand now, 3+ million pounds of landings are very possible. If we land 3.2 million pounds (numbers to be reported in December), we will have exceeded our 2012 quota by 1.8 million pounds (approximately 3.2 million lbs. of landings vs. 1.4 million pounds harvest limit). Our 2013 quota is 1.8 million pounds. Deduct a 1.8 million pound 2012 overage from a 1.8 million pound 2013 quota and there is nothing left for 2013.
"This is just further ammunition of the threat to fishing that an unreformed Magnuson Stevens Act poses," stated Nowalsky. "We needed a miracle to save the sea bass season a few years ago and we got one. This mess wasn’t created overnight, and it won’t be fixed overnight. Here’s hoping again."
