New York State sets new rules for recreational fluke fishing
A fishing partyboat sails out of Captree Boat Basin in search of fluke. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
New York State this week published new rules for the 2024 recreational fluke fishing season, dashing the hopes of some that the season would open April 1.
Instead, according to the new rules, recreational anglers can start fishing for fluke on May 4, and will be allowed to keep three fluke a day this year compared with four in 2023. Another catch: there’s a new split season, allowing anglers to keep a 19-inch fish from May 4 to Aug. 1, before raising the limit to 19.5 inches between Aug. 2 and Oct. 15.
Bigger fish are generally harder to come by, and raising the limit can put greater pressure on the species by forcing anglers to catch more fish to land a keeper, fishermen say. Regulators say the so-called discard mortality that results from increasing the minimum size is more than offset by the reduction of keeper fish.
“New York got the short end of the stick again,” said Steve Witthuhn, a Montauk charterboat captain and a member of the DEC’s marine resources advisory council. “New York didn’t get what they voted for. We got less. We got fish taken away.”
Last year, the season opened May 1 and closed Oct. 9, and anglers were allowed to keep four fish of at least 18.5 inches in length all through the season.
Earlier this year, the Department of Environmental Conservation, which manages the fishery, published a list of options aimed at complying with interstate rules to reduce the annual fluke harvest by 28% to 37%. The one option that would have led to the greatest reduction in fishing (37%) proposed opening the season on April 1 and extending it through Oct. 31, with the ability to keep four fish a day. That popular option would have required a minimum fish of 19.5 inches.
The DEC, working on a compromise with Connecticut regulators, came up with a new option that split the season and reduced the annual take. New York and Connecticut share fluke management regulations.
Witthuhn predicted he would lose customers to Rhode Island boats that can promise customers fuller coolers of fish with a six-fluke bag limit per day. He said the DEC went against what New York anglers favored — the April 1 start and four fish at 19.5 inches.
“Everyone wanted a longer season and to keep our four fish,” he said. “They came up with an option that went against the will of the people. They made things right for Connecticut. New York didn’t want that. Rhode Island is getting six fish and we’re getting three.”
Marty Gary, the newly named director of the DEC’s marine division, in an interview in Riverhead last week, called the compromise ruling with Connecticut a “soft landing.”
“We were able to get this hybrid option,” he said. “What Connecticut wanted for their anglers is a smaller size, which I think is also going to be good for us.”
He noted that many New York anglers also wanted a longer season but “the only we could do that was to go to 19.5 inches” for the first part of the season. He called the idea of an Oct. 15 close for the season a “win-win situation.”
But Jamie Quaresimo, captain of the Miss Montauk partyboat out of Montauk, objected to the reduction to three fish a day from four, and said he believed the latest rule follows a long line of politically directed missteps by fisheries regulators. He predicted anglers will ultimately make decisions on their own about whether to toss back fluke during the season.
“The science is all wrong and it’s just getting ridiculous,” he said.
Customers, he said, “don’t drive to Montauk for three fish. If they can take more fish somewhere else,” including Rhode Island, they will.
Quaresimo said he'd prefer a season that stayed open with the migrating fish, one that adjusted to the notion that fish are moving with changing water temperatures throughout the season, he said. “Why close it?” he said. The fish “leave when they leave, and they get here when they get here.”
New York State this week published new rules for the 2024 recreational fluke fishing season, dashing the hopes of some that the season would open April 1.
Instead, according to the new rules, recreational anglers can start fishing for fluke on May 4, and will be allowed to keep three fluke a day this year compared with four in 2023. Another catch: there’s a new split season, allowing anglers to keep a 19-inch fish from May 4 to Aug. 1, before raising the limit to 19.5 inches between Aug. 2 and Oct. 15.
Bigger fish are generally harder to come by, and raising the limit can put greater pressure on the species by forcing anglers to catch more fish to land a keeper, fishermen say. Regulators say the so-called discard mortality that results from increasing the minimum size is more than offset by the reduction of keeper fish.
“New York got the short end of the stick again,” said Steve Witthuhn, a Montauk charterboat captain and a member of the DEC’s marine resources advisory council. “New York didn’t get what they voted for. We got less. We got fish taken away.”
Last year, the season opened May 1 and closed Oct. 9, and anglers were allowed to keep four fish of at least 18.5 inches in length all through the season.
Earlier this year, the Department of Environmental Conservation, which manages the fishery, published a list of options aimed at complying with interstate rules to reduce the annual fluke harvest by 28% to 37%. The one option that would have led to the greatest reduction in fishing (37%) proposed opening the season on April 1 and extending it through Oct. 31, with the ability to keep four fish a day. That popular option would have required a minimum fish of 19.5 inches.
The DEC, working on a compromise with Connecticut regulators, came up with a new option that split the season and reduced the annual take. New York and Connecticut share fluke management regulations.
Witthuhn predicted he would lose customers to Rhode Island boats that can promise customers fuller coolers of fish with a six-fluke bag limit per day. He said the DEC went against what New York anglers favored — the April 1 start and four fish at 19.5 inches.
“Everyone wanted a longer season and to keep our four fish,” he said. “They came up with an option that went against the will of the people. They made things right for Connecticut. New York didn’t want that. Rhode Island is getting six fish and we’re getting three.”
Marty Gary, the newly named director of the DEC’s marine division, in an interview in Riverhead last week, called the compromise ruling with Connecticut a “soft landing.”
“We were able to get this hybrid option,” he said. “What Connecticut wanted for their anglers is a smaller size, which I think is also going to be good for us.”
He noted that many New York anglers also wanted a longer season but “the only we could do that was to go to 19.5 inches” for the first part of the season. He called the idea of an Oct. 15 close for the season a “win-win situation.”
But Jamie Quaresimo, captain of the Miss Montauk partyboat out of Montauk, objected to the reduction to three fish a day from four, and said he believed the latest rule follows a long line of politically directed missteps by fisheries regulators. He predicted anglers will ultimately make decisions on their own about whether to toss back fluke during the season.
“The science is all wrong and it’s just getting ridiculous,” he said.
Customers, he said, “don’t drive to Montauk for three fish. If they can take more fish somewhere else,” including Rhode Island, they will.
Quaresimo said he'd prefer a season that stayed open with the migrating fish, one that adjusted to the notion that fish are moving with changing water temperatures throughout the season, he said. “Why close it?” he said. The fish “leave when they leave, and they get here when they get here.”
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
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