New Jersey’s tautog season will continue through April 30 despite some rumblings from ASMFC that indicated that they would have to shut the season down as of April 1. New Jersey’s regulations were set as of Tuesday, April 18. The state will allow anglers to keep four fish through April 30, with a closed season May-July 15, then one fish from July 16-Nov. 15 and six fish Nov. 16-Dec. 31.
The original ASMFC notification letter follows but is not valid (just for fun, we’ll include it here):
Tautog Status and Management
Tautog Biology
ASMFC Notification Letter
New Jersey Notification Letter
Federal Register Notice
NOAA Fisheries Service found that the State of New Jersey has failed
to implement measures necessary to fulfill its responsibilities under
the tautog interstate fishery management plan and which are crucial
for conservation of the salt water fish. As a result, NOAA will close
New Jersey’s commercial and recreational fishery for tautog on April
1.
Tautog is a popular recreational species whose stock is overfished.
Landings data indicate that New Jersey’s harvest is significant
compared with that of other states, and that its recreational landings
more than tripled in 2006. Accordingly, its failure to implement
management measures will undermine the interstate conservation plan
for the species.
Under the rebuilding plan, each of the Northeastern states are
required to reduce tautog fishing effort by about 26 percent over 2003
to 2005 average levels. On February 7, the Atlantic States Marine
Fisheries Commission determined that New Jersey had not taken such
measures as required by the fishery management plan.
Under the Atlantic Coastal Act, NOAA’s Fisheries Service was obliged
to conduct a review and make a decision within 30 days as to whether
it concurred with the Commission’s findings, and whether the mandated
measures are necessary for the conservation of the tautog resource
April 1 was selected for the closure date because it provides
significant conservation benefits while allowing enough time to ensure
that anglers, commercial fishermen and dealers are aware of the
effective closure date.
The most recent landings data from 2006 find New Jersey recreational
anglers landed about 700,000 pounds of tautog, and commercial
fishermen about 70,000 pounds. In 2006, Northeast fishermen landed
about 4.3 million pounds of tautog, most of which was taken by
recreational anglers.
Tautog is managed within the framework of the Atlantic States Marine
Fisheries Commission. The Commission, comprising representatives from
the Atlantic coastal states, develops fishery conservation and
management strategies for certain coastal species and coordinates
state efforts to achieve those objectives.
