Possum

I'll still be fishing for Fluke regardless. Even a 2 fish per person limit is fine with me, as I typically only keep 2-4 fish per trip anyway (I typically have the family 4 on the boat). I only keep what I can eat within a day or so for Fluke, as I am out there so often.

I see this impacting Charters and Head Boats more so, if it flies, but as stated above, the target will shift to another species.

The draggers, in my opinion, are the true bane of this fishery. Not saying the recs have no impact, as they do, but the dragger fleet really puts a hurtin' on the ground structure, impacting the forage holding capacity of the ocean floor.

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JackC

2008 is bleak - scup limit is 10 fish for RI, Mass, CT, NY. (Slight variation for the Party/Charter fleet that I won't get into right now.) Fluke regulations are not set for anyone yet. (They need to be drafted and approved by ASMFC on a state by state basis.) CT Tautog season is "OK" from my perspective except for the entire loss of the September fishery. Friends from NY tell me tautog fishing is terrible in NY (perhaps why we see the NY boats all fall long off Clinton and points east)- the point being those reductions were needed.

I disagree on the understanding of fish stock size, they have very scientific methods to determine stock size and I could argue they are accurate. Scup is a great example - the stock assessment shows they are down - and scup fishing was off last year (I still did good on them but had to work at it). Friends to the West of me, who normally have decent scup fishing had a rough year last year.

Understanding recreational landings is more of a crap shoot - the statistics are BS (and part of the problem). The license that will be reality in the next 2 years will result in an accurate understanding of the recreational catch.

Recreational fishing has been impacted more by environmental groups bringing lawsuits which have resulted in unrealistic mandates (stock rebuilding time lines are absolutes even if the target number is based on "crazy" assumptions of what the stock size should be (fluke is a great example).

For 2008, the list of species that are doing "good" from a management perspective are bass, bluefish (that's it). Scup/Fluke/Tautog are all going to have restricted bag limits versus 2007. Seabass as well but to a smaller extent.

I agree that bass will have more pressure on them but I think with the bad economy, expensive gas, and restrictive regulations you will see less anglers and less pressure (I noticed it last year as well). The other funny thing is that guys that are pretty much "bottom fisherman" don't make great bass fisherman. I saw a few fluke guys try it on their own last year with dismal results (it's a different skill set). There is another group of fisherman that fish for everything (many of you are on this thread) but overall fluke guys aren't bass guys and vice versa. (I fish for everything from "Trout to Tuna" but I'm not the norm.)

Jack