Saving Seafood

ASMFC American Lobster Management Board Webinar Scheduled for December 6 from 1 – 3 PM

November 5, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Management Board will meet via webinar on December 6th from 1 – 3 PM. The purpose of the meeting is to consider approval of Draft Addendum XXIX: Electronic Vessel Tracking in the Federal American Lobster and Jonah Crab Fisheries for public comment. The Draft Agenda is available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/AmLobsterBoardDec2021/AmLobsterBoardDraftAgenda_Dec2021.pdf. Meeting materials will be available by November 30th.

To register for the webinar go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2167530362779140620(Webinar ID: 826-323-515). If you are joining the webinar but will not be using VoIP, you can also call in at +1 (415) 930-5229. A PIN will be provided to you after joining the webinar; see webinar instructions for details on how to receive the PIN. For those who will not be joining the webinar but would like to listen in to the audio portion only, you can do so by dialing +1 (415) 930-5229, access code 324-415-385.

The webinar will allow registrants to listen to the Board’s deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur.  The Board will provide the public the opportunity to bring matters of concern to the Board’s attention at the start of the meeting. The Board Chair will ask members of the public to raise their hands to let the chair know they would like to speak. Depending upon the number of commenters, the Board Chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.

Public Comment Guidelines

With the intent of developing policies in the Commission’s procedures for public participation that result in a fair opportunity for public input, the ISFMP Policy Board has approved the following guidelines for use at management board meetings:

For issues that are not on the agenda, management boards will continue to provide opportunity to the public to bring matters of concern to the board’s attention at the start of each board meeting. Board chairs will ask members of the public to raise their hands to let the chair know they would like to speak. Depending upon the number of commenters, the board chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.

For topics that are on the agenda, but have not gone out for public comment, board chairs will provide limited opportunity for comment, taking into account the time allotted on the agenda for the topic. Chairs will have flexibility in deciding how to allocate comment opportunities; this could include hearing one comment in favor and one in opposition until the chair is satisfied further comment will not provide additional insight to the board.

For agenda action items that have already gone out for public comment, it is the Policy Board’s intent to end the occasional practice of allowing extensive and lengthy public comments. Currently, board chairs have the discretion to decide what public comment to allow in these circumstances.

In addition, the following timeline has been established for the submission of written comment for issues for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to proposed management action).

1.Comments received by 5 PM on Monday, November 29 will be included in the meeting materials.

2.Comments received by 10 AM on Friday, December 3 will be distributed electronically to Board members prior to the meeting.

The submitted comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution.  As with other public comment, it will be accepted via mail, fax, and email.

Atlantic Herring Area 1A Fishery Moves to Four Landing Days Per Week Starting November 8

November 4, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts met November 4 via webinar to consider changes to days out measures for the 2021 Area 1A fishery for Season 2 (October through December) following the reallocation of 1,000 metric tons (mt) from the management uncertainty buffer to the Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) based on catch information from the New Brunswick weir fishery.

The Area 1A fishery will move to four (4) consecutive landing days per week starting November 8 at 12:01 a.m. Fishing for and possessing herring onboard prior to November 8 is allowed in accordance with published state regulations.

Estimates indicate approximately 1,083 mt of the Area 1A sub-ACL remains available to harvest, which accounts for the increase of 1,000 mt based on catch information from the New Brunswick weir fishery, the overage from Season 1 (June through September), the 30 mt fixed gear set-aside, and the 8% buffer (Area 1A closes at 92% of the sub-ACL).

Please contact Emilie Franke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at efranke@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740 for more information.

The announcement can also be found at http://www.asmfc.org/files/AtlHerring/ChangestoAtlHerringDaysOutSeason2_11_4.pdf

 

Request for Nominations: Northeast Trawl Advisory Panel (NTAP)

November 1, 2021 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council & the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The Northeast Trawl Advisory Panel (NTAP) is seeking qualified candidates to serve on the panel. Current members and all interested parties are encouraged to apply. The deadline for submitting applications is Friday, November 19, 2021 by 5:00 p.m.

The NTAP is a joint advisory panel of the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils. It is comprised of Council members, as well as fishing industry, academic, and government and non- government fisheries experts who provide advice and direction on the conduct of trawl research. It is supported by NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC). Additional information about the NTAP is available at http://www.mafmc.org/ntap.

The panel consists of 20 members as follows:

  • Two members each from the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils (4 total)
  • Up to three fishery stakeholder representatives appointed by each Council (6 total)
  • Two academic and non-academic scientists appointed by each Council (4 total)
  • Two members from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (2 total)
  • Four staff members from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (4 total)

Read the full release from the NEFMC

ASMFC Atlantic Herring Area 1A Days Out Meeting Scheduled for November 4

November 1, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from the States of Maine, New Hampshire and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will meet via webinar on November 4, 2021 from 9 to 11 a.m., to consider adjusting the landing days for Season 2 (October 1 – December 31) for the 2021 Area 1A fishery (inshore Gulf of Maine). At the September 2021 days out meeting, the landing days were set at zero (0) for Season 2. The webinar and call information is included below:

Atlantic Herring Days Out Meeting

November 4, 2021

9:00 – 11:00 a.m.

You can join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone at the following link:https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/881890621. If you are new to GoToMeeting, you can download the app ahead of time (click here) and be ready before the meeting starts. For audio, the meeting will be using the computer voice over internet (VoIP), but if you are joining the webinar from your phone only, you can dial in at +1 (224) 501-3412 and enter access code   881-890-621 when prompted. The webinar will start at 8:30 a.m., 30 minutes early, to troubleshoot audio as necessary.

The 2021 Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) is 2,373 metric tons (mt) after adjusting for the increase of 1,000 mt based on catch information from the New Brunswick weir fishery, the carryover from 2019, the 30 mt fixed gear set-aside, and the 8% buffer (Area 1A closes at 92% of the sub-ACL). There is no research-set-aside (RSA) for 2021 because the participants in the program will not continue their RSA project in 2021.

The Board established the following seasonal allocations for the 2021 Area 1A sub-ACL: 72.8% available from June 1 – September 30 and 27.2% available from October 1 – December 31.

Please contact Emilie Franke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0716 or efranke@asmfc.org for more information.

The announcement can also be found at http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/617bf260AtlHerringNov2021DaysOutMeetingNotice.pdf

 

Electronic tracking requirement for lobstermen in pipeline

October 29, 2021 — The Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission could consider final approval of an electronic tracking requirement for lobstermen in federal waters as early as spring 2022, officials said last week.

The commission’s American Lobster Management Board went over a potential timeline for the action at its fall meeting and staff said that a draft of the requirement could be ready for public comment by December.

The board initiated the idea to collect spatial and effort data from lobster and Jonah crab fishermen.

The potential data could help address challenges with stock assessments, interactions with protected species and offshore enforcement. It could also be crucial to help record exactly how much space the U.S. lobster fishery covers, as officials look at the expanded use of aquaculture, protected marine areas and offshore wind energy.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

 

Fishery managers set deadline on rockfish rebuild

October 27, 2021 — At its 2021 Annual Meeting last week, the Atlantic Striped Bass Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) took a positive step toward rebuilding our beloved rockfish stock from its currently depleted condition.

The move came in response to news from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MD DNR) that its 2021 Juvenile Striped Bass Index was 3.2, well below the annual average of 11.4 for the third consecutive year. In fact, it
has been below average for ten of the past 16 years. Virginia’s index of 6.30 was closer to, but still below, its long-term average of 7.77.

Concern about rockfish has been building for at least five years, and ASMFC’s Striped Bass Board initiated development of a new amendment (number 7, but the first since 2003) to the fishery management plan last winter. The Board’s May meeting sketched out six priorities for the Commission’s Plan Development Team to build into the amendment. The team submitted its draft for Board approval at last week’s meeting.

Read the full story at Chesapeake Bay Magazine

 

Presentations and Audio Files from the ASMFC 2021 Fall Meeting Webinar Now Available

October 25, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Presentations and audio files from the Commission’s 2021 Fall Meeting Webinar are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2021-fall-meeting-webinar under the respective Board/Committee headers.

Past meeting recordings can also be found on the Commission’s YouTube channel athttp://www.youtube.com/user/ASMFCvideos.

 

ASMFC 2021 Fall Meeting Webinar Press Release, Summaries, and Motions Now Available

October 22, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Press releases, meeting summaries and motions from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2021 Fall Meeting Webinar are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/2021FallMeeting/2021FallMeetingSummary.pdf. The document can also be obtained on the Commission website on the Meeting Archives page at http://www.asmfc.org/home/meeting-archive.

Presentations and audio files from this week’s meetings will be available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/meeting-archive (under the respective Board header) early next week.

ASMFC Horseshoe Crab Board Sets 2022 Specifications for Horseshoe Crabs of Delaware Bay Origin

October 21, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board approved the harvest specifications for horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin under the Adaptive Resource Management (ARM) Framework. The Board established a harvest limit of 500,000 Delaware Bay male horseshoe crabs and zero female horseshoe crabs for the 2022 season based on the harvest package recommended by the Delaware Bay Ecosystem Technical Committee and ARM Subcommittee. Per the allocation mechanism established in Addendum VII, the following quotas were set for the States of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland and the Commonwealth of Virginia, which harvest horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin:

The ARM Framework, established through Addendum VII, incorporates both shorebird and horseshoe crab abundance levels to set optimized harvest levels for horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin. The horseshoe crab abundance estimate was based on data from the Benthic Trawl Survey conducted by Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech). This survey, which is the primary data source for assessing Delaware Bay horseshoe crab abundance, does not have a consistent funding source. Members of the Delaware and New Jersey U.S. Congressional Delegations, with the support of NOAA Fisheries, have provided annual funding for the survey since 2016.

For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0740 or cstarks@asmfc.org.

 

ASMFC: Tautog Regional Assessments Update Show Improvements in Stock Status

October 21, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Tautog Management Board reviewed the results of 2021 Regional Stock Assessments Update, which found improvements in most regions. Stocks within the Long Island Sound (LIS) and Delaware/ Maryland/Virginia (DelMarVa) regions are not overfished, with improved stock status for both regions from the last assessment in 2017. For LIS, New Jersey/New York Bight (NJ-NYB), and DelMarVa, fishing mortality also decreased with the stock not experiencing overfishing in any regions; also an improvement from the previous assessment. In the Massachusetts and Rhode Island (MARI) region, stock status remains unchanged with the stock not overfished nor experiencing overfishing.

Each regional assessment used information through 2020, including calibrated recreational data from the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP). Over 90% of the total harvest of tautog across all regions comes from the recreational fishery. In addition to regional indices of abundance from fishery- independent surveys, a catch per unit effort index was developed using MRIP data for each region because tautog are not easily sampled by standard fishery-independent surveys. The new MRIP estimates resulted in higher estimates of spawning stock biomass (SSB) and recruitment in all regions, but had less of an impact on fishing mortality.

The regional assessments for MARI and LIS indicated strong year classes in recent years have contributed to increasing trends in SSB. In the DelMarVa region, landings and fishing mortality have declined significantly since 2012, resulting in an increase in SSB over the time period. While the NJ-NYB region remains overfished, the SSB has been trending upward since the last assessment update.
 
Since no regions are experiencing overfishing, the Board choose to not make any management changes at this time. A more detailed overview of the tautog regional stock assessment update is available on the Commission website at 
http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/61705d532021TautogAssessmentOverview_Oct2021.pdf. It was developed to aid media and interested stakeholders in better understanding the results. The assessment update will be available on the Commission website on the tautog webpage the week of October 25th.
 
For more information on the stock assessments, please contact Katie Drew, Stock Assessment Team Lead, atkdrew@asmfc.org; and for more information on tautog management, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Senior FMP Coordinator, at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org.