IMHO the DEC, MRAC, and all the other agencies who "manage" our fisheries regulations have more excuses why they cannot make the right decision than they have reasons to correctly support either the fish themselves or the entire public, both recreational and commercial interests, Lack of government funds is just one of many of those excuses.
I attended this afternoon's meeting with high expectations, hoping to hear about more reasonable Black Sea Bass regulations for 2026. Unfortunately, what transpired was just another exercise in intense frustration.
While it has been announced that there will be a 20% liberalization of these regulations, the manner in which this "improvement" will be implemented will probably not be all that appealing to most of us. Aside from the modest turn out of recreational anglers and charter and party boat captains, the meeting was chaired by MRAC board members including fisheries scientists plus representatives from the for-hire, commercial and recreational fishing sectors.
We were first informed that about 2200 people responded to the survey asking about what methods should be used to implement the 20% liberalization change. Approximately 2,000 of the replies came from the recreational sector and 200 from the for-hire industry. The majority of the responses favored a lowering of the minimum size limit as their first priority, while the rest of the responses were tied between an increase in season length and bag limit as their second choice for how to achieve the 20% liberalization.
Then came the first and most serious blow. We were told to achieve the meaningful changes we would like to see the following liberalization percentages are necessary:
Change to 16" minimum size - 25%
Change to 15.5% minimums size - 55%
Open season on May 22 - 4%
Almost immediately it became clear that our chances of getting even a 0.5" reduction in minimum size is going to be a very long shot. A member of the commercial sector suggested that if the respondents to the survey knew in advance that a shift to 16" was impossible then they would have answered the request for the rank ordered changes differently. So, the suggestion was made that a new survey be sent out removing the minimums size reduction and asking the respondents to now rank order season open/close dates and bag limits.
What really shocked me was that both the recreational representative and one of the for-hire representatives actually thought this is a good idea! Myself, along with my colleagues from the North Fork for hire sector, along with some other captain's all pointed out the if we are already struggling to catch keepers at a 16.5" minimum how will anything change if we simply lengthen the season or increase the bag limits!
I also mentioned that reviewing my own landings over the past 8 years that the total number of Sea Bass caught has increased dramatically. However, the percentage of fish legally retained has dropped even faster since the 16" minimum was implemented. Up until 2024 my landings of keeper sized Sea Bass averaged about 45-50% of the total catch. Over the last 2 years, at 16" then 16.5", that ratio dropped to 15%.!!
Because of the way final regulations are generated, we are told that there is a chance that with some negotiations between NY and our bordering states we might still get a reduction to the 16" minimum. Based upon our prior experience I have little to no confidence this will actually happen.
Timetable for all of this is pretty short with the new surveys set to go out within days. The board hopes to have new options ready to go by early to mid-March with the final decisions on 2026 Sea Bass regulations to be finalized by late April.
Regarding the duration of the regulations for our most popular bottom species, all are on a 2-year plan right now. So, since Fluke and Porgy were revised last year, they remain the same for 2026. For the new Sea Bass Regulations, they will be in effect for 2026 and 2027.
Sory to be the bearer of bad news, but unless I grossly misunderstood what was said today this looks like the playing field we will have to live with for the new season.
.
