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Chairman Saxton, Subconunittee members and staff, thank you 

 for this opportunity to testify about a species as 

 important as bluefish. 



By way of background, I'll direct a word or two toward my 

 credentials relating to these fish and fishery management 

 in general. 



I currently hold an At-Large seat from New Jersey on the 

 Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and 

 serve as New Jersey's recreational bluefish advisor to the 

 Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). I'm 

 also chairman of the ASMFC's Bluefish Advisory Panel. 



ISSUE 1. 



As a recreational fisherman whose first exposure to marine 

 angling was aboard partyboats, I have watched bluefish 

 stocks run in cycles since the 1950s, a phenomenon noted 

 by marine scientists. Nevertheless, the relative lack of 

 inshore abundance the past few years has given rise to 

 valid concern for this species. That's not to say, 

 however, that lack of abundance and reduced catches are in 

 themselves proof of sharp bluefish stock decline. 



Because of their cyclical nature, their on-the-move 

 predation and their proclivity to "ride the waves of 

 feeding opportunity," bluefish might well be more a 

 barometer of local feeding conditions than we realize. 

 How accurately can we judge fish abundance and changes to 

 that biomass without also assessing the condition of the 

 inshore food chain and the competitive feeding field? I 

 know of no such interactive study as yet applied to 

 bluefish analysis or any species, for that matter. 



Given a fishery management philosophy which isolates 

 species from the marine interaction logic otherwise tells 

 us exists, it's easy to confuse reduced catches with 

 reduced abundance. Indeed, with bluefish more than other 

 species we run a significant risk of over-regulating by 

 assuming fishing pressure dominates the biomass paradigm. 



Yet I recognize that such pressure might well dominate, 

 notwithstanding arguments to the contrary. Therefore, I 

 suggest that with this species above all others, 

 on-the-water information from recreational and commercial 

 sectors should flavor the scientific "soup" of data before 

 we draw inferences from recent catch declines. The massive 

 body of smaller bluefish reported well offshore in recent 

 years, the unusually huge schools seen in far New England 

 waters and the relatively recent swarms of slammer blues 

 reported in the Florida Keys suggest we reexamine 

 traditional bluefish notions. 



