February 5, 2024 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The majority of Atlantic coastal states from New Hampshire through Virginia have scheduled hearings to gather public input on Draft Addendum VII to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Eel. Draft Addendum VII considers management measures to reduce the commercial yellow eel coastwide harvest cap in response to the 2023 benchmark stock assessment, which found the stock remains depleted. The Draft Addendum also considers options to modify monitoring requirements based on recommendations from the stock assessment and Technical Committee. Some hearings will be conducted in-person, and some hearings will be conducted via webinar, or in a hybrid format. If your state does not hold a hearing, or you are unable to participate in your state’s scheduled hearing, you are welcome to participate in any of the virtual or hybrid hearings. The public hearing details follow:
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State/Agency
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Contact
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Tuesday, February 20
Webinar Hearing
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
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New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection
The webinar registration link is available here, and additional webinar instructions are below.
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Joe Cimino
609.748.2063 |
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Tuesday, February 27
Webinar Hearing
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
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New Hampshire Fish and Game Dept.
The webinar registration link is available here, and additional webinar instructions are below.
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Cheri Patterson
603.868.1095 |
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Tuesday, March 5
Webinar Hearing
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
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New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation
The webinar registration link is available here, and additional webinar instructions are below.
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Jesse Hornstein631.444.0714
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Thursday, March 7
In-person Hearing
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
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Virginia Marine Resources Commission
Hearing Location:
Virginia Marine Resources Commission
380 Fenwick Road, Building 96
Fort Monroe, VA, 23651
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Shanna Madsen757.247.2247
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Tuesday, March 12
In-person Hearing
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
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Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources
Hearing Location:
Tawes State Office Building, C-1
580 Taylor Avenue
Annapolis, MD 21401
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443.758.6547
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Wednesday, March 13
In-person Hearing
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
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Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife
Hearing Location:
Dover Public Library
35 Loockerman Plaza
Dover, DE 19901
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John Clark302.739.9108
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The Board initiated Draft Addendum VII in August 2023 in response to findings of the 2023 Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report. The results of the assessment indicate the stock is at or near historically low levels due to a combination of historical overfishing, habitat loss, food web alterations, predation, turbine mortality, environmental changes, and toxins, contaminants, and disease. The assessment and peer review recommend reducing fishing mortality on the yellow eel life stage, while also recognizing that stock status is affected by other factors. The benchmark assessment proposed a new index-based tool for setting the yellow eel coastwide cap, since there is no statistical model for estimating the population size of American eel. This tool, called ITARGET, is an index-based method that needs only catch and abundance data from surveys to provide management advice on coastwide landings.
Draft Addendum VII also proposes options to reduce the requirements for biological sampling during young-of-year surveys conducted by the states, based on the stock assessment finding that individual length and pigment stage data are not useful for evaluating population trends. In addition, it considers changing the requirements for the collection of trip-level harvester data on catch per unit effort, and the policy used to determine if a state qualifies for de minimis status and can be exempt from implementing fishery regulations and monitoring requirements.
Webinar Instructions
In order to provide comment at any virtual or hybrid hearings, you will need to use your computer (voice over internet protocol) or download the GoToWebinar app for your phone. Those joining by phone only will be limited to listening to the presentation and will not be able to provide input. In those cases, you can send your comments to staff via email or US mail at any time during the public comment period. To attend the webinar in listen only mode, dial 562.247.8422 and enter access code 796-096-508. If your state does not hold a hearing, or you are unable to participate in your state’s scheduled hearing, you are welcome to participate in any of the virtual or hybrid hearings.
For all virtual or hybrid hearings, please click HERE and select the hearing(s) you plan to attend from the dropdown menu to register for a public hearing webinar. Hearings will be held via GoToWebinar, and you can join the webinar from your computer, tablet or smartphone. If you are new to GoToWebinar, you can download the software by (clicking here) or via the App store under GoToWebinar. We recommend you register for the hearing well in advance of the hearing since GoToWebinar will provide you with a link to test your device’s compatibility with the webinar. If you find your device is not compatible, please contact the Commission at info@asmfc.org (subject line: GoToWebinar help) and we will try to get you connected. We also strongly encourage participants to use the computer voice over internet protocol (VoIP) so you can ask questions and provide input at the hearing.
Hearing Presentation Recording
For those who cannot attend any in-person or virtual hearings, the Commission will also post a recording of the hearing presentation on the Commission’s YouTube page so that stakeholders may watch the presentation and submit comment at any time during the comment process. This recording will be available by mid-February.
Submitting Comments
The Draft Addendum is available athttps://asmfc.org/files/