The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Conn. moves to protect bluefish population
As bluefish populations continue to decline along the Atlantic coast, Connecticut and other shoreline states are moving to protect and restore the popular sport fish.
Connecticut anglers by spring could face shorter bluefish seasons, longer length limits and reductions in how many fish they can keep — possibly from 10 a day to five.
“There is no doubt that in the Long Island Sound region we are seeing big time reductions in the abundance, starting back in 2013,” said Justin Davis, assistant director of fisheries for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
“We used to consistently catch bluefish from
Memorial Day to Halloween,” Davis noted. “Now they are sparse in the summer and don’t show until August, and don’t stick around as long.”
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which regulates salt water fishing from Maine to North Carolina, voted this week to restrict the daily recreational bluefish take to three fish a day and five for those on charter boats.
The commission also voted to reduce the recreational and commercial striped bass harvest by 18 percent due to similar concerns.
While bass fishing is very popular, Bluefish are a legendary catch in the region and the star of numerous annual festivals and tournaments. Bridgeport’s baseball team is named for the aggressive fish.
The final limits for anglers in Connecticut and other states will likely vary because of conservation equivalency rules that allow each state to meet lower seasonal quotas by different means.
Connecticut, for example, could decrease the length of its bluefish season in exchange for a higher daily catch limit.
New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation is already proposing a five bluefish per day recreational limit and a 64 percent reduction in its commercial catch, which is a far larger industry than in Connecticut.
New York fisherman can now keep 15 blues as long as the last five are at least 12 inches in length.
Vanishing blues
The bluefish yearly catch — used to determine population sustainability — has been showing a drastic decline for years, figures compiled by the MidAtlantic Fisheries Management Council show.
The Atlantic recreational catch dropped from nearly 80,000 metric tons in 1987 to about 15,000 metric tons in 2018, the council said.
The catch fluctuated over the years, with an upward tick in 2001 and a sharp downward trend since 2011.
The recreational catch in Connecticut dropped from 2.3 million pounds in 2014 to 340,666 pounds in 2018, the data shows.
The council concluded that bluefish have been overfished and the remedy is measures to reduce pressure on the stock from commercial and recreational fisherman.
“The Atlantic bluefish stock is overfished, based on the best scientific information available,” said Michael Pentony, the council’s regional administrator
“Based on the updated overfished status, the council must prepare and implement a rebuilding program for Atlantic bluefish within 2 years,” Pentony noted.
Davis agreed with the conclusions of the MidAtlantic council.
“We are overfishing and removing too many fish from the population,” said Davis.
Jack Conway, a long time North Branford fisherman who has served on various fishery boards and commissions, told the council in an email that bluefish and other populations are dropping.
“The summer flounder fishery for ‘keepers’ is dismal and Connecticut waters used to have great striped bass fishing,” Conway wrote.
“That has also disappeared with the downturn in that fishery” Conway added. “The bluefish population in [Long Island Sound] has also ‘crashed.’”
But while the bluefish decline is being blamed on overfishing, the exact cause is under debate. Some speculate that warmer water due to climate change is a factor.
“I don’t fully know,” said Davis, referring to the cause.
“There are indications that right now fishing pressure is too high,” Davis said. “Would I say fishing is the cause? I don’t know if I would say that.”
Davis said bluefish suffer from what’s called “poor recruitment,” which means not a lot of young fish are being born.
“It always varies from year to year,” Davis explained. “It may be luck of the draw that we have had poor production.”
Davis added “The scientific process would see the population reduced [based on local catches]” and conclude that overfishing is the cause.
“Bluefish live all the way to Florida so they actually like warmer water,” Davis said, referring to the warm temperature theory.
“There is plenty of food in the Sound and the water is fine,” Davis noted.
Catch negotiations
Davis said the three fish limit adopted by the fisheries commission is subject to negotiation by each state, which will submit their own proposal to meet the new harvest quota.
But the option of doing nothing is not on the table, Davis said, adding Connecticut will consider the popularity of the fish when setting restrictions.
“They make a recomendation and everyone has to enact it,” Davis said. “There is no way Connecticut can say we are not doing anything. We are doing the right thing here. The stock needs some conservation.”
But Davis said it’s possible the final Connecticut rule, expected by spring after a series of public hearings, will be a combination of size restriction, a shorter season and various catch limits for snapper blues — the small, shorebased version of the fish — and the larger deep water fish.
“We can say we will lose part of the season and have a size limit and a higher bag limit,” Davis said. “You can offset gains with losses somewhere else. That is in play for bluefish.”
New York regulators have already proposed a five fish daily limit, a drop from the 15 fish now allowed.
The proposed commercial restrictions would drop New York’s bluefish harvest to 287,00 pounds next year compared to the more 800,000 pound allowable catch.
New York commercial fisherman in 2018 landed more than 552,000 pounds of bluefish.
Connecticut in 2018 had a bluefish commercial quota of about 92,000 pounds and fisherman caught just over 48,000 pounds.