With severe and eminent cuts expected for the summer flounder 2007 total allowable landings, United Boatmen of New York and New Jersey (UB) and the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) are leading the charge to find a solution.  Over 75 concerned anglers and for-hire operators packed Laurelton Fire House in Brick, NJ on Monday night to attend a rally organized by UB and RFA.  The purpose of the rally was to gather input from members of the recreational fishing community to develop a strategy to address this serious problem.  

 

“Summer flounder historically is one of the most economically and socially important fish targeted by recreational anglers from Massachusetts to North Carolina” states Jim Donofrio, Executive Director of the RFA.  “The economic impact generated from expenditures including bait sales, tackle sales, rods/reels, boat fuel sales and other fishing business makes summer flounder critically important to the coastal economies.  This illustrates how severe these unprecedented cuts will be.”

 

The problem we are facing with summer flounder is directly related to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the nation’s primary legislation that dictates how to manage our federal fisheries.  As amended in 1996, Magnuson required that overfished stocks be rebuilt in 10 years, a provision that RFA strongly opposed because there was very little flexibility attached with this time frame.  This rebuilding schedule was not based on science and does not take into account other uncertainties and variables such as environmental conditions, ecological factors, predation, and loss of habitat all of which influence the size a stock can grow to.  The summer flounder population has been rebuilt to the highest size ever recorded, yet Magnuson dictates we must continue to rebuild the resource and it must be done by January 1, 2010.  

 

“RFA predicted this situation when the Magnuson Act was amended in 1996 when the arbitrary 10 year rebuilding schedule was created” continues Donofrio.  “Now we are seeing the results of poorly written legislation manifesting in summer flounder and it is very likely that salmon, red snapper, cod and other species will experience similar problems. A legislative solution is our best hope for summer flounder and this is why is RFA is so focused on the current Magnuson reauthorization.”

 

RFA and UB have outlined a plan of attack focusing on two topics: 1) contacting key legislators, namely Representative Jim Saxton (3rd-NJ) and Representative Wayne Gilchrist (1st-MD), Chairman of the House Fisheries and Oceans Subcommittee, in mass asking them to recognize the need for flexibility in the Magnuson Act and 2) funding an independent science program to investigate the validity of the current rebuilding targets for summer flounder. 

 

Now is the time that recreational anglers need to join RFA and aid the efforts of the tackling this and other important fisheries issues.  The importance of a well written Magnuson Act can not be understated as the future of all federal managed species are at stake.  All recreational anglers need to reach out to their member of congress, Representative Saxton, and Chairman Gilchrist.  Form letters are posted on the RFA website, www.joinrfa.org, and can be printed, signed and mailed.  RFA will remain at the forefront working for a solution to the summer flounder mess and working to include flexibility in the Magnuson reauthorization, but we need your help.  The recreational fishing community must unite on this critical issue.

 

JOIN NOW TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHT TO FISH TOMORROW
