In 2016 commercial landings of summer flounder in Point Judith exceeded 1.3 million pounds, more than any other port in the nation. Suffice it to say the popular and pricey fish, also known as “fluke,” is a staple for Rhode Island-based commercial fishermen and local restaurants.
That’s why two temporary shutdowns of the local fluke fishery this year due to concerns about overfishing had an outsized impact locally, compared to other states also grappling with a controversial quota system.
Local fishermen insist the system used to set the quotas is flawed, and they have a case.
Point Judith commercial fisherman Chris Roebuck this past summer led a 10-day test that found potential flaws in the type of net used in federal surveys of the fluke population along the Eastern Seaboard.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which conducts the most significant survey of the fluke fishery, agrees Roebuck’s findings point to some undercounting. The problem for local fishermen is that NOAA is not the regulatory body setting the uneven quotas for the 11-state U.S. fluke fishery.
That responsibility curiously falls to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, whose 21 voting members – not surprisingly – don’t include any New England members.
Next year regulators will conduct a full assessment of the fluke population. The state’s congressional delegation can seek legislative changes in that byzantine management process and must use that threat, if necessary, to ensure local fishermen are heard.
