Alexandria, Va., — August 9. 2013 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Management Board approved Addendum XXI to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster and moved the issues pertaining to single and aggregate ownership caps in Lobster Conservation Management Area (LCMA) 3 into Draft Addendum XXII for public comment.Addendum XXI implements changes to the transferability program for LCMAs 2 (Southern New England) and 3 (offshore waters). These changes are designed to allow for flexibility in the movement of traps as the consolidation program for LCMAs 2 and 3 is implemented to address latent effort (unfished traps) in the fishery. The measures are also intended to provide a mechanism for industry to maintain a profitable fishery as trap reductions occur. Through Draft Addendum XXII, the Board will further explore the issue of single and aggregate ownership caps in LCMA 3 as well as clarify resulting trap limits after trap reductions are implemented.
Under Addendum XXI, LCMA 2 and 3 fishermen purchasing traps with multi-area trap history may fish those traps in any area the traps have history. Previous regulations required recipients of partial trap transfers to choose a single LCMA the transferred traps are authorized to fish in. This new measure aligns the rules for the sale of partial traps with those for full business sales of multi-area history traps. For LCMA 2 only, the Board approved a single and aggregate ownership cap of 1,600 traps (800 active and 800 banked). The ownership cap allows for the purchase and accumulation of traps over and above the current LCMA 2 trap cap of 800 active traps. The single ownership cap sunsets two years after the last trap reduction occurs under Addendum XVIII. For LCMA 3 only, the Board approved an active trap cap of 2,000 traps, which will be reduced over five years to 1,548 traps (5% per year). The management measures contained in Addendum XXI will be implemented by November 1, 2013.
Addendum XXI and Draft Addendum XXII will be available on the Commission website – www.asmfc.org – under Breaking News or by contacting the Commission at 703.842.0740. States may be conducting public hearings on Draft Addendum XXII; the Commission will announce the hearing details once they are finalized. For more information, please contact Kate Taylor, Senior FMP Coordinator, at ktaylor@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.