2024 Fluke/Sea Bass/Porgy Seasons Set

Almost.

Although the options were approved by a 7-1 vote of the NJ Marine Fisheries Council, the finalization will occur with the signature of the NJ DEP commissioner. From this corner, there is no reason why his sign off will not occur. And with it, the immediate re-opening of the porgy (scup) season.

That the March 7 public meeting of the Council at the Atlantic County Library on Jimmie Leeds Road in Galloway was well attended would be an understatement. “Packed” was more like it, with the seats filled a half hour before the 5pm start and attendees standing along both sides of the room, in the back, and spilling beyond the doors into the hallway. Attendance was estimated close to, if not slightly over 100, and there were 142 others registered for the webinar.

It was decided to immediately address the seasons/bag limits of the aforementioned species as per the crowd, commencing with other topics after the vote. That the swell of attending humanity was there for this reason was evident as what looked like 90% departed as soon as the vote was verified and a call for a short break recommended.

Kudos to the Council and the Bureau of Marine Fisheries for how well the meeting was conducted...and to the attendees who kept the for or against comments brief, with no distracting interruptions or other nonsense.

So here it is for 2024 pending the DEP boss’ approval.

Fluke: three fish at an 18 inch minimum. It’s three at 17 inches for Delaware Bay and two at 16 inches from the surf at Island Beach State Park. The 145 day season extends from May 4 through September 25.

Porgy: 30 fish at a 10 inch minimum. The 304 day season runs from January 1 through June 30 and again from September 1 to December 31.

The fluke and porgy regs are on a two year calendar. (Depending on how things shake out, 2026 could prove a boon or a bomb. We’ll worry about that later.)

The sea bass season/limits mirror 2023: a uniform 12.5 inch minimum length with dates set at May 17-June 19 (10 fish), July 1-August 31 (one fish), October 1-31 (10 fish) and November 1-December 31 (15 fish).