BLUEFISH MANAGEMENT 



MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1996 



House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Fish- 

 eries, Wildlife and Oceans, Committee on Re- 

 sources, 



Toms River, NJ. 

 The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:12 a.m., in 

 room 119, Freeholders Meeting Room, Ocean City Administration 

 Building, Toms River, New Jersey, the Honorable Jim Saxton 

 (Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding. 



STATEMENT OF THE HON. JIM SAXTON, A U.S. REPRESENTA- 

 TIVE FROM NEW JERSEY, AND CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE 

 ON FISHERIES, WILDLIFE AND OCEANS 



Mr. Saxton. I would like to call this field hearing of the Sub- 

 committee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans to order. This over- 

 sight hearing will focus on bluefish on the east coast, not nec- 

 essarily tuna fish on the west coast. 



There is a widespread perception that the bluefish population is 

 diminishing. This is troubling as bluefishing is one of the main 

 draws for tourists in New Jersey and reeling in a large blue at- 

 tracts many fisherman to this challenge. 



I might say for everyone's benefit here that fishing is really a 

 main cog in New Jersey's tourism industry and when people come 

 to the New Jersey shore to fish, there are lots of varieties of fish 

 that they fish for but from a recreational point of view there are 

 basically four. There are other people here who may say there are 

 more than that, but there are east cost tuna fish, there are fluke 

 and the flounder family, there are stripers which have had a great 

 success in helping to herald their comeback and bluefish. 



There are many questions about the condition of the bluefish 

 populations. If populations are declining as some claim, why is this 

 happening and what can be done about it? As the Chairman of the 

 Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans Subcommittee, I consider it my re- 

 sponsibility to help find the answers to these questions. 



By way of background, in 1989, a Bluefish Management Plan 

 was drawn up jointly by the Mid-Atlantic Council and the Atlantic 

 States Marine Fisheries Commission. The plan sought to maintain 

 the predominant recreational focus of the fishery by allocating 80 

 percent of the catch to the recreational sector. 



Although the commercial sector had traditionally been fishing 

 ten to 13 percent of the stock, the plan offered room for growth by 

 allocating a full 20 percent to the commercial sector. That growth 



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