Long Island Towns have to band together and get the DEC to Stock Winter Flounder

[BAYHAWK]

P.S. to my prior statement I miss spoke It's the D.E.C. not the E.P.A.

 

[pequa1]

I never saw cormorants when I had my first boat from 1978 to 1986. and yes, I filled a spackle bucket of flounder a couple of times right off Matzohpizza. Would launch by late March and prior to bringing it in in mid November would fish off Amityville for a few nice size flounder. Back then most people still mowed their own lawns and fertilized once or twice a year. Now, the so-called "landscapers" fertilize a lot more than that ! Less population also meant even those homes not connected to sewers polluted less as well. I have had 90% zoysia since the mid 90s so no more use of chemicals by me, and I only water the lawn once or twice a season and only if people are coming over for a barbecue to "liven" it up. But the cormorants !! I got back into saltwater fishing in 1999 and huge flocks of the damn things covered that beach on the south entrance to Swift Creek and on every dock in Massapequa Cove. Damn things are so brazen they catch fish right in front of me on the kayak. So tempted to take along a ... never mind.

 

[Pangaroo]

If Flounder were the only species that declined I might agree it's the environment, predators etc. But Flounder declined the same time Whiting, Ling , Cod , Blackfish and Fluke declined. Fluke were wiped out in the late 1980's during the winter and every other fish went into decline shortly afterward. I saw it with my own eyes, I had a new Downeast Lobster Boat and I wanted to catch all those fish. Had a brief time early in the 1990's when Flounder, Whiting were still pretty abundant. 2 years later they were all gone. The Party Boats all switched to Blackfish in the winter and pounded them down.
The Commercial Fleet couldn't catch enough Fluke to stay in business, they targeted every other fish . If Fluke had been regulated correctly in the 1980's , there's a good chance the Whiting and Ling would have survived. Cod Fishing up North was basically shut down during the 1990's , The New England draggers came down to fish off Long Island. Wonder what they caught ? I had a great Wreck off Shinnecock that was great for Cod. One year it was there and the next it was gone and couldn't be located again. Bet some New England Dragger ran over that Wreck and destroyed it. Some how the Commercials got the Okay to use roller Gear and they flattened great fishing grounds like 17 Fathoms. One group shouldn't be allowed to take everything and leave nothing for other groups. You should be able to go fishing and have a good chance to catch every species and keep a reasonable number for dinner.

 

[Pangaroo]

Wherever the Nets can't go the fish survive. Whiting in the Mud Hole when the foreign fleets were here, Raritan Bay Flounder. Whenever they banned or limited commercial catch the fish have always come back - striped bass, Fluke, Porgies, Sea Bass. Maybe the DEC won't do anything about flounder because they'd have to completely shut down inshore commercial fishing ? Makes you wonder ?