The 2011 summer flounder season will run from May 7 to Sept. 25 and will allow anglers to keep up to eight fish at 18 inches or larger. This was Option 2, selected from four possible options on the table Thursday at the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Commission meeting in Absecon. The new regulations increase the number of fish that can be kept by two over last season and enable anglers to fish deeper into the fall.

The season will be 142 days long.

Paul Haertel of the Jersey Coast Anglers Association and an advisor on the fluke committee said Option 2 was by far the favorite among those in attendance at the packed meeting.

Haertel also said the matter of black sea regulations was raised at the meeting but that no decision was made. A recent ASMFC mandate has decreed that New Jersey must achieve a 40 percent reduction in black sea bass landings in 2011. It is possible this requirement will be appealed.