ASMFC Black Sea Bass Draft Addendum XXXIII/MAFMC Black Sea Bass Commercial State Allocation Amendment Public Hearing Presentation Now Available

October 2, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) have scheduled a series of public hearings to gather public input on the Commission’s Draft Addendum XXXIII and the Council’s Black Sea Bass Commercial State Allocation Amendment. The Commission initiated the Draft Addendum in October 2019 to consider adjusting the commercial black sea bass allocations based on current distribution and abundance of the stock. In December 2019, the Council initiated an amendment, which will consider including the allocations in the Council fishery management plan (FMP), modifying the state-specific allocations, and other changes to federal regulations.

Overview of Proposed Action

Draft Addendum XXXIII proposes alternative approaches for allocating the coastwide black sea bass commercial quota among the states. The following options are proposed: A) status quo; B) increasing Connecticut’s allocation to 5%; C) dynamic allocations partially based on regional stock distribution and partially on historic allocations; D) a trigger-based approach where only coastwide quota above a certain level would be distributed according to a different allocation scheme; E) another trigger-based approach where quota above the trigger would first be used to increase Connecticut and New York’s allocations to 5% and 9%, respectively; and F) distributing a percentage of coastwide quota using initial allocations and the remaining proportion differently. A variety of sub-options are included to set the scale and pace of the allocation changes. Several options incorporate information on regional stock biomass; therefore, options are also proposed to define regions.

The Draft Addendum and Council Amendment also propose options to consider changes to federal regulations and Council management of state allocations. These options address whether the state allocations should be added to the Council’s FMP or remain only in the Commission’s FMP, whether changes should be made to the regulations regarding paybacks of state quota overages if added to the Council’s FMP, and whether to modify regulations regarding federal in-season closures.

Hearing Schedule

The Commission and Council have scheduled seven public hearings to gather public input on the Draft Addendum and Council Amendment. Members of the commercial fishing industry and other stakeholders are encouraged to provide input either by participating in the public hearing webinars or providing written comment. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all hearings will be conducted via webinar, with designated hearings for individual states and regions. You are encouraged to participate in the hearing for your state or region; however, all hearings are open to all individuals. Please note that in order to comment during the hearings you will need to use GoToWebinar. If you call in without using GoToWebinar, you will be in listen only mode and will not be able to provide input. Webinar registration links and call-in information are provided in the Webinar Instructions below.

Webinar Instructions