Washington, DC – The Commission's Winter Flounder Management Board has approved the release of Draft Addendum I to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for the Inshore Stocks of Winter Flounder for public review and comment. The Draft Addendum proposes a suite of management measures to reduce fishing mortality on the inshore stocks of winter flounder (0 to 3 miles). The range of management measures include recreational bag limits, recreational seasons, and commercial possession limits.

Atlantic coastal states from Maine through New Jersey have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment. The dates, times, and locations of the scheduled meetings follow:


Maine Department of Marine Resources
April 21, 2009; 6:00 PM
Wiscasset Fire Station
Station Route 1
Wiscasset, Maine
Contact: Terry Stockwell at (207) 624-6553

New Hampshire Fish and Game
April 22, 2009; 7:00 PM
Urban Forestry Center
45 Elwyn Road
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Contact: Doug Grout at (603) 868-1095


Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
April 23, 2009; 6:00 PM
Whaler Banquet & Conference Center
500 Hathaway Road
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Contact: Melanie Griffin at (617) 626-1528


Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife
April 20, 2009; 6:00 PM
URI Bay Campus, Corless Auditorium
215 South Ferry Road
Narragansett, Rhode Island
Contact: April Valliere at (401) 423-1939


Connecticut Dept. of Environmental Protection

April 14, 2009; 7:00 PM
Marine Headquarters Boating Education Center
333 Ferry Road
Old Lyme, Connecticut

Contact: David Simpson at (860) 434-6043

New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation
April 9, 2009; 7:00 PM
205 North Belle Meade Road, Suite 1
East Setauket, New York
Contact: Steve Heins at (631) 444-0436

New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife
April 16, 2009; 7:00 PM
Ocean County Administration Building, Room 119
101 Hooper Avenue
Toms River, New Jersey
Contact: Tom McCloy at (609) 292-7794


The Board initiated the Draft Addendum in response to the findings of the 2008 Groundfish Assessment Report Meeting (GARM III), which estimates that the Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic stock is at 9 percent of the target biomass (overfished) with overfishing occurring and that the Gulf of Maine stock is likely to be overfished with overfishing likely to be occurring.

Another factor influencing the Board’s action is pending federal management measures on groundfish stocks, which will significantly reduce fishing mortality on federally-managed groundfish stocks in offshore waters (3 – 200 miles). Options under Draft Addendum I will seek to enhance stock rebuilding efforts throughout the species range by reducing fishing related mortality on inshore spawning stocks.

Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on Draft Addendum I, either by attending public hearings or providing written comments. Copies of the Draft Addendum can be obtained by contacting the Commission at (202) 289-6400 or via the Commission's website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM on April 30, 2009 (EST) and should be forwarded to Christopher Vonderweidt, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, 1444 'Eye' Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Winter Flounder Draft Addendum I). The Board will meet again in May, during the Commission's Spring Meeting, to review public comment and advisory panel input, and consider final action on the Addendum. For more information, please contact Christopher Vonderweidt, at (202) 289-6400 or cvonderweidt@asmfc.org.

The draft addendum can be found at www.asmfc.org/speciesDocuments/winterFlounder/fmps/draftAddendumIforPublicComment.pdf

"the Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic stock is at 9 percent of the target biomass (over-fished) with overfishing occurring and that the Gulf of Maine stock is likely to be over fished with overfishing likely to be occurring. "


1) Winter flounder is hardly fished by recs in southern NE anymore. (when was the last time you saw a whole bunch of boats out there in April pounding the winter flounder?) I don't even know anyone who even goes anymore.

2) Clearly we didn't get to 9% overnight. This problem has been going on for and getting worse for years in spite of the "expert" management we have.

Let me make a couple of suggestions.

a) Your problem is most likely the endless INSHORE DRAGGING and unreported (by) catches.

b) Fisheries Management should not negotiate with commercial (or recs) on the rules. Do what is right and FIX IT ASAP! Shut it down if need be. Just FIX IT and quit #^&#^&#^&#^&ing around for decades.

c) there might be another cause that should be looked into. Perhaps the SB ( or seals or some predators) are eating them because of lack of other forage fish. IMO this is a root cause on why the lobster population in southern NE is low as well (not the shell disease) ). I find it hard to believe that it was overfishing by recs that did this...there are simply too few fishermen who target winter flounder to make this happen. Maybe in NJ and in some bays in NY but not in Southern NE. Before saying things like that they should untie the the boats from the dock and go out (every day during the season) and actually count the boats fishing winter flounder, instead of relying on bogus models that have a ridiculously high error.

My only written comment will be that they should request a bail out from Obama, issue themselves a big bonus then retire. Really, I would pay these guys to leave.


One more thing...what is WAVE? I don't see it defined in the .pdf