April 23, 2026 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has initiated a benchmark stock assessment for Atlantic sturgeon to be completed in the fall of 2028. The goals of the assessment are to evaluate the health of stocks along the Atlantic coast and inform management of this species. The Commission’s stock assessment process and meetings are open to the public, with the exception of discussions of confidential data.
The Commission welcomes the submission of data sources that will contribute to the goals of the assessment. This includes, but is not limited to, data on abundance trends (e.g., surveys), tagging data, biological samples (sex, maturity, age, weight, length), life history information (growth, fecundity, natural mortality, sex ratio, spawning history), stock structure, mortality (predator-prey interactions, anthropogenic sources such as vessel strikes and bycatch). For data sets to be considered, the data must be sent in the required format, with accompanying description of methods, to the Commission by July 1, 2026.
The Commission will hold three Data Webinars (July 23, 28 and 30, 2026) and one in-person session (August 10-12, 2026) to review all available data sources and identify datasets to be incorporated in the stock assessment. The Data Webinars and Workshop are open to the public.
Please contact James Boyle at jboyle@asmfc.org or visit https://asmfc.org/