from the new york post.
Posted: 3:42 am
August 3, 2008
AS SCIENTISTS come to the conclusion that recreational anglers are not overfishing summer flounder stocks, another fishing group files suit against the federal government.
The Fishermen's Conservation Association (FCA) filed papers to intervene in New York State's federal lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn.
The suit, initially filed by New York's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in June, is on behalf of New York's recreational anglers. FCA is joining the suit because of concerns that New York's challenge to state-by-state regulations (known as conservation equivalency) for the summer flounder fishery, does not include the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) as a defendant.
According to the group's attorney Philip Curcio, inclusion of the ASMFC is necessary to ensure that the challenged state-by-state management regime cannot be implemented in state waters in the event that New York prevails in its suit against NMFS.
"The fluke fishery is jointly managed by NMFS and ASMFC. NMFS jurisdiction over the fluke fishery only covers federal waters from 3 miles to 200 miles offshore, while ASMFCs jurisdiction covers state waters from the beach to 3 miles offshore, where 90 percent of the recreational fishery takes place," Curcio said.
Tony DiLernia, FCA senior fisheries advisor, said, "A win against NMFS alone would be a hollow victory because ASMFC would still be free to implement state-by-state regulations in state waters unless they are included as co-defendants. It is unfortunate that we had to resort to legal action to help the recreational fishermen of New York, but we have had enough."
This comes on top of a recent report from the Stock Assessment Review Committee, which stated what recreational anglers have been screaming for years, that overfishing of summer flounder stocks is not occurring.
