January 8, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Ecological Reference Points (ERP) Workgroup and Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Subcommittee (SAS) will be meeting April 1 – 5, 2019 at the Commission’s office, 1050 N. Highland Street, Suite 200A-N, Arlington, VA. The ERP Workgroup will meet April 1 – 3 and the SAS will meet April 3 – 5. Both groups will be exploring various modeling approaches to evaluate the health of the stock and inform the management of the species in an ecological context. The deadlines for the submission of data and alternate single-species and multispecies/ecosystem models have passed.
It is anticipated a second round of workshops will be held in June or July 2019 to finalize both assessments for peer review in late 2019 through the SouthEast Data Assessment Review process. Visit the Commission’s website calendar (http://www.asmfc.org/calendar/) for information on the dates and times of those meetings.
All Commission assessment workshops are open for public attendance. Time may be allotted for public comment at the discretion of the Chairs of the ERP Workgroup and SAS, but may also be limited to keep the workshop on schedule. Due to the use of confidential data in this assessment, some portions of the workshop may be “closed door,” for which only members of the ERP Workgroup and SAS with clearance to view confidential data may be present. Additionally, to ensure adherence to confidentiality laws, there will be no remote public access via webinar or conference call for this meeting.
For more information about the assessments or attending the upcoming workshops (space will be limited), please contact Max Appelman, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mappelman@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.