Dan Radel

@DanielRadelAPP

Wilbur Ross meet New Jersey's summer flounder fishermen.

Ross is the newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Commerce. As the department's boss, he oversees management of fisheries through its Fisheries Office and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service.

He's the person the Christie Administration, and state delegates are now trying to hook, and win over to their side on the summer flounder issue.

They wasted no time to petition Ross this week and ask him to put a hold on the new summer flounder regulations approved by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission on Feb. 2.

The regulations call for a 30-percent reduction in the coastwide harvest of summer flounder on the Atlantic Coast. The regs were voted on after federal regulators reported the coastwide summer flounder population from Maine to North Carolina declined and fishermen overfished their quota last year

To meet the cut, New Jersey anglers will have a season with a larger 19-inch size limit, smaller three-fish daily bag limit and less days on the water. Last year anglers had an 18-inch size limit on summder flounder and a five-fish daily bag limit.

In the petition state environmental commissioner Bob Martin called the regulations a "de facto moratorium" because only 15-percent of summer flounder on New Jersey's coast are 19 inches or bigger.

MORE: Party boat captains irate over summer flounder cuts

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He said the regulations would "effectively cripple the state’s fishing industry and have far-reaching impacts on the shore tourism economy."

Martin also called the science used to determine the summer flounders population and angler catch landings "antiquated," and "flawed." He's asking Ross for a new stock assessment with updated data collecting methodology.

Dan Radel: 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com