Arlington, VA – Upon the direction of the Commission’s Interstate Fisheries Management Program (ISFMP) Policy Board, the Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board approved revised 2018 recreational measures for the Northern Region states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York (see Table 1). Further, the Board initiated new management action for the 2019 black sea bass recreational fishery and tasked the Plan Development Team to develop a white paper to consider the impacts of changes in black sea bass abundance and distribution to the management of commercial and recreational fisheries.
This action is taken in response to a Northern Region state appeal of the approved 2018 recreational measures under Addendum XXX. The appeal argued the Board’s action under Addendum XXX incorrectly applied technical data and was inconsistent with the Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan. After reviewing the appeal, Commission Leadership agreed there was adequate justification to bring portions of the appeal forward to the ISFMP Policy Board.
During the ISFMP Policy Board’s deliberations regarding consideration of the appeal, a potential management program for the 2018 black sea bass recreational fishery was presented to replace the allocations specified in Addendum XXX. The revised management program was developed to meet the needs of the Northern Region without impacting the remaining states, while still constraining harvest to the 2018 recreational harvest limit of 3.66 million pounds.
For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.
Table 1. Approved 2018 black sea bass recreational measures.
| State | Minimum Size | Possession Limit | Open Season |
| ME | 13″ | 10 fish | May 19–Sep 21; Oct 18–Dec 31 |
| NH | 13″ | 10 fish | Jan 1–Dec 31 |
| MA | 15″ | 5 fish | May 19–Sep 12 |
| RI | 15″ | 3 fish | Jun 24–Aug 31 |
| 7 fish | Sep 1–Dec 31 | ||
| CT, Private/Shore | 15″ | 5 fish | May 19–Dec 31 |
| CT, Authorized Party/Charter | 15″ | 5 fish | May 19–Aug 31 |
| 7 fish | Sep 1–Dec 31 | ||
| NY | 15″ | 3 fish | Jun 23–Aug 31 |
| 7 fish | Sep 1–Dec 31 | ||
| NJ | 12.5″ | 10 fish | May 15–Jun 22 |
| 12.5″ | 2 fish | Jul 1–Aug 31 | |
| 12.5″ | 10 fish | Oct 8–Oct 31 | |
| 13″ | 15 fish | Nov 1–Dec 31 | |
| DE, MD, VA, & NC (North of Cape Hatteras) | 12.5″ | 15 fish | May 15–Dec 31 |