Longtime fishing advocate named to interstate panel

Longtime fishing advocate named to interstate panel


TOMS RIVER — Longtime recreational fishing advocate Thomas P. Fote was confirmed this week as a New Jersey representative to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the interstate panel that coordinates fisheries management and conservation policies among East Coast states.
The commission is best known for its work on reviving the striped bass population,
widely considered a major success story in a field that is as much about political
arts as fisheries science.

Fote was confirmed as the governor's appointee by the state Senate on Monday, a post he first served in from 1990 to 1996.

Between that term, another in 2002-2005, and serving as proxy for other New
Jersey representatives, Fote figures he's spent 14 years making the case for New
Jersey fishermen at commission meetings.

Fote said his first goal is "to make sure the process is as open as possible ... The commission needs to be more accessible to fishermen.'' Economic impacts of management decisions loom even larger now, considering the recession, he added.

Federal regulators at the National Marine Fisheries Service "still refuse to use the economic data,'' Fote said. With restrictions on summer flounder, "we killed the party and charter boat business in New York, and we're killing it in New Jersey,'' he said. "The commission really needs to go its own way, and not always follow the lead of NMFS.''

I remember when he was 'relieved' of his appointment in 2006. I felt he got screwed on that becvause he was so outspoken, but I could be wrong. Good to see him back where he belongs. He's a good guy who represents interests of all fishermen, and has years of experience doing it. :clapping: