WGMD Fishing Report 11-30-19
Friday was still a bit windy with the remnants of the Thanksgiving gale being felt.
To continue our discussion of what new regulations may look like in 2020 and 2021 it appears we will see a 28.78% reduction in bluefish landings for both recreational and commercial fisheries. The stock is over fished so cuts must be taken and this is the figure the fisheries managers have come up with.
It would appear that this can be achieved by reducing the bag limit to three fish. A minimum size limit would not be good because most folks would like to keep smaller bluefish as they have a milder taste than the bigger ones. As with the other possible regulations nothing has been finalized, but these are the ideas the managers are considering.
In Delaware a three-fish bluefish bag limit would not be catastrophic. A few folks will keep a ten fish limit, but not many. In New Jersey and New York where head and charter boats run night bluefish trips and people do box their limit on a regular basis, I suspect this will have a major impact.
This is Eric Burnley with your WGMD fishing Report.
