Business & Tech

Extending Porgy Fishing Season Makes Local Tackle Shops Happy

New York State DEC extends porgy fishing season by 90 days.

Porgies (also known as scup) are a small fish, popular among anglers because they provide constant action. Snag enough of them and they also make for a delicious meal. Like snapper fishing, porgy fishing is a good way to introduce children to the sport since a school of them will provide a day of fun.

Recently, Connecticut and Rhode Island both extended their porgy fishing seasons and New York State followed suit on Tuesday. The New York State Department of Conservation commissioner approved the extension until Dec. 25, giving anglers an extra 90 days to catch the species.

It's not just good for fishermen. The people who supply bait and tackle to anglers are happy to hear the news as well.

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“It is making a difference,” said someone who answered the phone at located in Kings Park when we surveyed local businesses on what the extension will mean to them.

In a tough economy, bait and tackle stores have been feeling the pressure along with everybody else, so the extension is a little good news in a business that is also at the mercy of strict regulations.

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Stan Hentschel from has been in business for 37 years. He said that in the last couple of decades, tackle shops throughout the island have been “going out of business left and right.” He blames both limited access to fishing on the north shore as well as tightening of regulations on fishing by the DEC.

“The season and regulations have put such a hurt on us,” he said. “We used to start getting busy around St, Patrick’s Day. Now we don’t start until May 1st.”

He said that the extension will definitely benefit his business, estimating that the economic benefit will be between $4,000 and $5,000 per week.

With the warmer waters this year helping to keep the porgies around the area longer, Hentschel thinks that it will be a boon to local anglers.

Candy Caraftis who runs Caraftis Fishing Station in Port Jefferson sees the downside of the announcement. Like many bait and tackle store owners she likes the idea of extending the season but she said that it may be too little, too late at this point in the game.

“It’s a little too late in the season to let people know and now it's hard to get the word out to the people who mainly rent my boats,” she said.

Many of her fishing boat rental customers are Spanish speaking only and don’t have access to the internet to check on updates.

“I don't think most of them are on the computer and they barely speak English,” Caraftis said.

Despite the last minute announcement, the consensus among bait store owners is that it will help boost sales.

“I think the extension of the porgy regulations does a lot for everybody,” said Mark McGowan, owner of . “It gives a big break to the recreational fisherman who don’t have to go out on the party boats to go porgy fishing.”

He estimated that the extension will help give him an additional 15 percent in sales.

“We need it in this economy,” McGowan said. “Every time we get a regulation it hurts.”

The DEC said the reason they considered this move is that porgy are abundant and between commercial and recreational fishing, the take is expected to be 10 million lbs. short of this year’s allowable harvest.

Another hope of the DEC is that by extending the porgy season it “could redirect fishing effort and reduce the ecological risks faced by the local tautog population which has been declared overfished.”

The season for tautog (also known as blackfish) starts on Saturday, Oct. 1.

Cow Harbor's McGowan agrees that from a conservation standpoint it makes sense.

"The really good thing about the extension of the regulation is that it takes a lot of pressure off blackfish," he said.

A statement from the DEC said that shore and private boat anglers must adhere to the minimum 10 ½ inch size limit, with a maximum of 10 fish kept; no change from the regular season regulations.

Alternately, for passengers on a party or charter boat the current 40-fish limit remains in place only up to Oct. 11. The bag limit returns to 10 fish after that date. The DEC said that the limit on party and charter boats for hire remains at 11 inches throughout the extended season.

While the Long Island Sound is not affected, in Federal waters (three miles off shore in the Atlantic Ocean), the porgy season still ended on Sept. 27.

Caraftis also pointed out that a 90-day extension was unnecessary.

“Thirty would have been plenty,” she said. “By the end of October most of the guys are out of the water and the porgies are gone so it's good but the decision should have been made when business was still going strong.”

Regardless, with blackfish season starting on Saturday and the porgy season overlapping, it’s looking like an especially good fall fishing season, according to Caraftis.

“Go have some fun,” she said.


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