As there is no commercial fishery in NJ, their commercial allocation is transferred to a bonus fish for the recreational sector. CT used to have the very same thing but did away with it in 2020. The harvest that results from the bonus fish results in a very low number of the actual allocation being harvested. For instance, in 2018 they only harvested 3.1% of the quota.
That said, everyone likes to jump on NJ for being the demon when it comes to fishery management. In this case, while I don't agree with distributing the commercial quota to the rec side, it's nowhere near the harvest taking place in 1000 other places up and down the coast which no one ever complains about.
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