UNITED BOATMEN
OF NEW JERSEY AND NEW YORK

Dear Members,

Things are happening fast and furious as of late. While there are a number
of things to discuss in this letter I want to take the first part of this
letter to discuss the situation in New York, and our inability to prevent
what is a disastrous turn of events. The Fluke and Scup regs for the state
this year are pathetic. It seems ridiculous to ask people to send in
membership dues when they are trying to figure out how they will stay in
business. I personally cannot think of what else we or anyone else could
have done to prevent this, but we are still trying. United Boatmen, RFA and
NYFTTA worked hand-in-hand on this issue, we simply were not able to
prevent the final outcome, only influence it to a degree.

We took a major stride forward in getting the state of NY to go
out-of-compliance on the Fluke regs for this season. Yes, 3 fish at 17"
with a season from Mid-May to early September is a joke in my mind, but the
alternative was actually worse. Also, the state is currently working on
trying to address, at least partially, the Scup issue as well. Many of the
NY members have been contacted about gathering financial information
regarding the 2 week October closure. Please, this is your only shot at
getting any relief. Please work with the state and Dennis Kanyuk and others
to gather this information quickly. We cannot afford to have as poor an
effort as we did when we asked for Fluke information earlier this year and
got 22 total responses. 22 boats out of the entire state gave us the
information we needed to help make our argument, and the response to our
data (or lack thereof) was proportional to the effort given.

This is an outside chance at best, but its the only chance at this point.

Lastly on this topic, we need to show our unity on these issues. Comments
about what NJ or CT or Mass. regs are do not make any sense and only serve
to show infighting amongst the For-Hire sector, weakening our arguments.
What happens in another state has nothing to do with that state, or anyone
in it, "doing" something better or worse as it relates to these two
fisheries. Simple fact is that MRFSS says NY overfished its Fluke
allocation, now they have to cut back. MRFSS says the other states did not
overfish; therefore they do not have to cut back. Its that
straightforward. MRFSS says every state from NY through Mass. overfished
its Scup allocation, therefore every one of those states has to cut back.
Some people have suggested that NY must have the same regs as its
neighbors, and then reference last years regs. Communications such as this
with the state and our managers only serves to weaken our arguments as
well. We need to know all the facts before going off half-cocked. CT is
going to have to cut its Scup regs by the same percentage as NY. If anyone
wants information on a particular issue or has a problem or suggestion,
please contact me directly. I have included my work and cell numbers as
well as my e-mail on every newsletter but rarely hear from anyone other
than the 4 or 5 people that are actively involved already. My purpose in
taking this position is to make sure we do what we can, whenever we can,
for everyone we can. Please contact me if you need answers, information,
whatever.

Now, on to what else we are doing

We are currently working on a course of action to address the many problems
we have with the way our fisheries are being managed, not the least of
which is our problem with MRFSS. We are currently in the negotiation stage
with someone from a southern university to take up the task of doing our
scientific research/review. In addition, Dusty Rhodes has offered his
services to do research/data collection work and I am in the process of
giving him a list of items I think we will need at our disposal. Also, Jim
Donofrio from RFA has offered their services in any way they can to assist
us along the way. I have also spoken to John Mantione from NYFTTA about
this topic as well. Where this work leads us remains to be seen, but we are
considering all options, legal and otherwise. As I said at the last
meetings in NY and NJ a couple months ago, unfortunately this action is not
going to help us with this years problems. To move ahead without the
proper research and information at our disposal dooms us to failure before
we start.

RFA and Rutgers have submitted an RSA (Research Set-Aside) proposal
regarding Summer Flounder (Fluke). If accepted, the upcoming 2005 Fluke
season will see a special project aboard partyboats to gather data on Fluke
slot-size limits. This project from RFA and Rutgers (along with support and
input from United Boatmen) will be the first of its kind from the
recreational sector. Hopefully while gathering information vital to
addressing some of our problems with the way things are done in fisheries
management it will also provide some additional money for the boats that
partake in the effort and show people we are serious about trying to fix
the problems we face, not just complain about them.

The outlook for Bluefin Tuna is also fairly bleak. While no concrete
information has been made available to date, the rumors abound and they are
mostly bad. For those of you that are unaware or unfamiliar with this
topic, NMFS has gone back and revisited our 2002 landings data for Bluefin
Tuna. At this time they now claim we are so far over quota (even though at
the time they said we were not) that the possibility of severe cutbacks in
seasons and bag limits is very real. We have been in constant contact with
RFA on this issue and have been following their lead and supporting them
completely. They have made an all out effort on the political front to
address both the effects of this re-calculation of the numbers as well as
the underlying cause. Those of you who are RFA members have no doubt
received the mailers from them on this topic. Please do all you can to help
them, and ourselves, in this fight.

After much pushing and prodding by many, many from NY, including United
Boatmen, we have also seen a move by the state to finally raise the
bluefish limit from 10 to 15 as is allowed under the FMP. (and has been for
some time) The next step is weakfish.

There have been many good things that have come out of all that has been
going on lately, they have simply been overshadowed by the disaster that is
the Fluke and Scup regs for the state of NY.

I would be remiss if I did not mention several groups and individuals,
without whom we could not have accomplished what we have. The support that
both RFA and NYFTTA have given us has been overwhelming, and it is much
appreciated. The coalition building we have been able to do the past year
or two has finally begun to show results. Also, while there have been
people from Montauk to Cape May that have answered my calls for help in one
form or another, Dennis Kanyuk has gone way beyond the call of duty. The
man has taken so much of a load off of me I cannot begin to describe it
here without going on even longer (I know, this is a long newsletter!)
Thank you Dennis for all your help and efforts, it is much appreciated by
me and I am sure by others as well.

At my MAFMC meeting earlier this month in exotic Secaucus, NJ the hot topic
for discussion at one of the committees was a coast-wide saltwater fishing
license. The push is on ladies and gentlemen, the push is on. Between the
individuals from NY who have taken this as their "flag waving" issue and
the likes of the US Oceans Commission and Bill Hogarth recommending a
license, we are going to see this come at us from all sides. At least the
motion from the MAFMC was changed to say we support the concept of having
ACCSP develop a strategy for identifying the recreational "universe" of
anglers and not simply "we support a license" period. This is the next "big
thing" on a lot of peoples plates, and we will be served shortly.

On the NJ side of things I will be at a meeting Friday May 14th in Trenton
with the state to discuss Striped Bass. Within the next month or so the
state will likely be holding public hearings to decide what our regs are
going to be for the rest of the year. The current 1 fish @ 24" to 28" and
one fish over 28" regulations are coming to an end. We will have several
choices from which to pick, one being the coastwide benchmark of 2 fish at
28" or greater and also a couple of true slot size options will be there as
well. Once the state announces the dates and the final options we will of
course update everyone involved.

There are a few other issues developing, but nothing specific to write
about here. As more develops with the White Marlin lawsuit (which could
also impact Tuna fishermen as well as Marlin fishermen) we will let you
know, along with the other topics we are dealing with.

It was great to see a number of new members join over the past couple
months, particularly from the east end of Long Island and even from
Connecticut. The renewals are still very slow in coming. I know the
problems being faced by everyone; times are tough right now. We have a
decent war chest building, but the project mentioned above is going to drain that quite quickly.
Please do what you can, when you can, it will certainly help us all.

Again if anyone has any questions/complaints/whatever, please feel free to
contact me.

Below is my contact information:
Tony Bogan  Work: 732-528-8673    Cell: 732-245-5392  
E-mail: capttb@aol.com

This newsletter will not only be going out by mail but also by e-mail.
Every newsletter I can e-mail saves a stamp, envelope, paper and time. If
you do not receive a copy of this newsletter attached to an e-mail from
Ubsecretary@aol.com it is because I do not have your e-mail address. Please
send us your e-mail address as soon as possible.  (UBsecretary is my wife
Lisa, the secretary, and the e-mail address is the one she uses for all
things United Boatmen) If you have given your e-mail address and did not
receive a copy of this via e-mail, or cannot open the document, please
contact Lisa Bogan at the above e-mail address (or me at mine) and she or I will take care of it.  Also, if there has been a change in your mailing address, phone number, etc. please send us the new information.

Sincerely,
Tony Bogan