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.