August 13, 2015 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
Presentations and audio links of Board/Section proceedings from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2015 Summer Meeting are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2015-summer-meeting under the relevant Board/Section. Past meeting materials can also be accessed on the website (www.asmfc.org) under News/Meeting Archives.
August 11, 2015 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC):
The document containing the press releases, meeting summaries and motions from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2015 Summer Meeting has been revised with the inclusion of the following American Lobster Management Board which had been inadvertently removed.
Motion to adopt the following biological measures for commercial Jonah crab harvest:
· For Issue 2 – Minimum size – Option 5: a minimum size of 4.75”
· For issue 3 – Commercial minimum size tolerance – Option 1: No tolerance for undersize crabs.
· For Issue 5 – Egg-Bearing Females – Option 2: Prohibit retention of egg-bearing females.
Motion made by Mr. Adler and seconded by Mr. Keliher. Motion passes unanimously.
The revised document can be obtained at the following link – http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/Summer2015/2015SummerMeetingSummary.pdf.
August 7, 2015 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has released a preliminary assessment of the U.S. Atlantic coast lobster stock, and it presents a mixed picture. The Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank has seen a record high abundance of lobster, while Southern New England’s stock has diminished, due in part to rising water temperatures, a report indicates.
“The Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank stock is not overfished and not experiencing overfishing,” according to a panel assessment representing the Commission, in an Aug. 5 news release. “The Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank were previously assessed as separate stock units and are now combined into one stock unit due to evidence of seasonal migratory patterns and connectivity between the two areas. Conversely, the Southern New England stock is severely depleted with poor prospects of recovery, necessitating protection.”
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is an interstate compact, working with the federal government. The Commission was established in 1942 to sustain healthy fisheries along the U.S. coastline.
Read the full story at Penobscot Bay Pilot
August 6, 2015 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC):
Press releases, meeting summaries and motions from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2015 Summer Meeting are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/Summer2015/2015SummerMeetingSummary.pdf. The meeting summary, as well as summaries and materials for past meetings, can also be found on the Commission website at http://www.asmfc.org/home/meeting-archive. Presentations and audio files for the Boards/Sections that met during the Summer Meeting will be posted to the website early next week at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2015-summer-meeting.
August 6, 2015 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC):
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has approved the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Jonah Crab. The FMP implements a suite of measures to manage and monitor the Jonah crab resource for the first time along the U.S. Atlantic coast. The Plan limits participation in the trap fishery to only those vessels and permit holders that already hold an American lobster permit or can prove prior participation in the crab fishery. All others harvesters using non-trap gear must obtain an incidental permit. It also establishes a 4.75” coastwide minimum size and requires the landing of whole crabs except for individuals from New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia who can prove a history of claw landings before the control date of June 2, 2015.
The FMP seeks to cap effort and protect spawning stock biomass in the absence of a range-wide stock assessment. The Plan was initiated in response to concern about increasing targeted fishing pressure for Jonah crab, which has long been considered a bycatch in the American lobster fishery. Since the early 2000s, growing market demand has increased reported landings by more than six-fold. The vast majority of Jonah crab are harvested by lobstermen using lobster traps. With the increase in demand for crab, a mixed crustacean fishery has emerged that can target both lobster or crab or both at different times of year based on modifications to the gear and small shifts in the areas in which traps are fished. The mixed nature of the fishery makes it difficult to manage a Jonah crab fishery completely separate from the American lobster fishery without impacting the number of vertical lines and traps in state and federal waters. Furthermore, a lack of universal permitting and reporting requirements makes it difficult to characterize catch and effort to the full extent in order to manage the fishery. In federal waters, the crab resource is not directly regulated but rather is regulated incidentally by the American lobster regulations. Therefore, in the absence of a comprehensive management plan and range-wide stock assessment, increased harvest of Jonah crab may compromise the sustainability of the resource.
The FMP establishes commercial, recreational, and fishery-dependent monitoring measures for the Jonah crab fishery. In addition to the issues of minimum size, permitting, and crab part retention addressed above, the Plan also establishes a non-trap incidental bycatch limit of 200 crabs per calendar day, 500 crabs per trip extending longer than one calendar day and prohibits the retention of egg-bearing females. For fishery-dependent sampling, the plan requires 100% harvester reporting and 100% dealer reporting with port and sea sampling. Jurisdictions that currently require less than 100% harvester reporter are required to, at a minimum, maintain their current programs and extend them to Jonah crab. In the recreational sector, the FMP establishes a possession limit of 50 whole crabs per person per day. Finally, the FMP specifies that states whose commercial landings are less than 1% of the three-year coastwide average may qualify for de minimis status. De minimis states are not required to implement fishery-independent or port/sea sampling.
Since the fishery primarily occurs within federal waters, the Board has recommended that NOAA Fisheries implement the provisions of the Jonah Crab FMP in federal waters, pursuant to the NOAA’s authority under the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act. The New England Fishery Management Council, which will meet in the fall to set its management planning activities for 2016, will consider whether the development of a Council Jonah Crab FMP will be one of its priorities. Regardless of its decision, the Commission and its federal partners will continue to work closely on Jonah crab management.
The FMP, which will be implemented by June 1, 2016, will be available by the end of August via the Commission’s website, www.asmfc.org, on the American Lobster page under Fishery Management Plans. Upon recommending the FMP’s final approval by the Interstate Fisheries Management Program Policy Board, the American Lobster Management Board agreed to move forward on the development an addendum to identify management measures for crab-only trap fishermen (e.g., trap and landing limits). The Board will discuss the specific measures to be included in the addendum at its next meeting. For more information, please contact Megan Ware, FMP Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — August 5, 2015 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC):
The 2015 American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report indicates the American lobster resource presents a mixed picture of stock status, with record high stock abundance and recruitment in the Gulf of Maine (GOM) and Georges Bank (GBK), and record low abundance and recruitment in Southern New England (SNE). The GOM/GBK stock is not overfished and not experiencing overfishing. GOM and GBK were previously assessed as separate stock units and are now combined into one stock unit due to evidence of seasonal migratory patterns and connectivity between the two areas. Conversely, the SNE stock is severely depleted with poor prospects of recovery, necessitating protection.
Stock Status
Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank
GOM/GBK stock abundance has increased since 1979 and at an accelerated pace since 2007. Recruitment and spawning stock abundance have remained high between 2008 and 2013. Current stock abundance is at all-time highs. Exploitation (fishing mortality) declined after 1979 until the mid-1990s and then remained stable with higher exploitation on males than females. Current exploitation rates remain on par with the 2008-2013 average.
Southern New England
SNE stock abundance increased from the early 1980s, peaked during the late 1990s, then declined steeply through the early 2000s to a record low in 2013. Both the assessment and peer review support the finding that the SNE stock is severely depleted. Declines in population abundance are most pronounced in the inshore portion of the stock where environmental conditions have remained unfavorable to lobsters since the late 1990s. The stock has collapsed and is undergoing recruitment failure. Despite attrition among the fleet and fewer traps fished for lobster, declines have continued. These declines are largely in response to adverse environmental conditions including increasing water temperatures over the last 15 years combined with sustained fishing mortality.
Declines in catch and fishery-independent survey indices in the offshore portion are evident as well; however they are not as severe. It is believed the offshore area of SNE depends on nearshore larval settlement and offshore migration as the source of recruits (e.g., young of the year lobsters). Therefore, unless fishing effort is curtailed, the offshore component will be in jeopardy in the future when the poor year classes fail to materialize offshore. The Peer Review Panel noted while the SNE stock is not experiencing overfishing based on the current reference points, these reference points were established “without considering the possibility that the stock could be at the lowest abundance level ever and the production of recruits in the inshore area (on which the offshore area depends) could be brought to an extremely low level. It is noted that pre-recruits are not measured in the offshore surveys, so the effects of recruitment failure in the inshore would not be seen in the offshore until years later when the lobsters become available to the fishery and surveys. Hence, by any reasonable standard, it is necessary to protect the offshore component of the stock until increased recruitment can be observed.”
Peer Review Panel Recommendations
For SNE, the Panel recommends close monitoring of stock status along with implementing measures to protect the remaining lobster resource in order to promote stock rebuilding. Stock indicators should be updated annually and reported to the Management Board for appropriate action. Given the good condition of the GOM/GBK stock, the Panel recommended stock indicators be monitored prior to the next benchmark assessment to detect signs of changing recruitment or other conditions.
Landings
Total U.S. landings in the fishery have steadily increased in the past 35 years. Up until the late 1970s, landings were relatively constant at about 30.87 million pounds. However by 2000, landings almost tripled to roughly 86 million pounds and by 2006 grew to 92.61 million pounds. Landings in 2013 were roughly 149.94 million pounds. These landings are primarily comprised of catch from inshore waters (0 to 12 nautical miles). GOM supports the largest fishery, constituting approximately 76% of the U.S. landings between 1981 and 2007 and accounting for approximately 87% of landings since 2002. Landings in the GOM were stable between 1981 and 1989, averaging 32.13 million pounds, and then increased dramatically from 42.34 million pounds (1990) to 141.12 million pounds (2013). Landings averaged 112.46 million pounds from 2008-2013. GBK constitutes a smaller portion of the U.S. fishery, with landings averaging 4.93 million pounds between 2008 and 2013. Like the GOM, landings were stable in the 1980s and then quickly doubled in the early 2000s to a high of 5.29 million pounds in 2005. Before 2011, SNE was the second largest fishery, accounting for 19% of the U.S. landings between 1981 and 2007; however, a sharp decline in the population has significantly reduced catch. Landings peaked in the 1990s, reaching a high of 21.91 million pounds in 1997. Since this time, landings have precipitously dropped to a low of 3.31 million pounds in 2013.
The Board accepted both the stock assessment and peer review report for management use. In response to the findings regarding the status of the SNE stock, the Board established a working group of Board and Technical Committee members to review the assessment and peer review findings and develop recommendations for Board consideration. The final report will be available by mid-August via the Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org on the American Lobster page under Stock Assessment Reports. For more information, please contact Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator for Management, at 703.842.0740 or mware@asmfc.org.
August 5, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
NOAA Fisheries is proposing a modification to the Lobster Conservation Management Area 4 seasonal closure at the recommendation of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which leads the management for American lobster.
Under the proposed rule, the Area 4 closure would be changed from February 1-March 31 to April 30-May 31.
This measure is designed to better reduce fishing effort on the Southern New England lobster stock, which is in poor condition. This area closure shift has already been implemented by states adjacent to Area 4.
Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register.
The comment period is open through September 4. Submit your comments online through Regulations.gov or by mailing your comments to:
John K. Bullard, Regional Administrator
NMFS,Greater Atlantic Regional Office
55 Great Republic Drive
Gloucester, MA 01930
Please mark the outside of the envelope: Comments on American Lobster Proposed Rule.
Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, at 978-281-9175 or Jennifer.Goebel@noaa.gov.
July 29, 2015– The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
Supplemental meeting materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2015 Summer Meeting have been posted at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2015-summer-meeting for the following Boards (click on “Supplemental Material” following each relevant board header to access information).
Executive Committee – Review of Commission Guidance Documents
American Lobster Management Board – Draft Proceedings from May 2015; Public Comment Summary and Submitted Public Comment on the Draft Jonah Crab Fishery Management Plan (FMP); Reports of the Law Enforcement Committee and Jonah Crab Advisory Panel on the Draft FMP; Letter from Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries; and Technical Committee Report on NMFS Observer Coverage of the American Lobster Fishery
American Eel Management Board – Revised Meeting Overview and Delaware Annual Compliance Report
Tautog Management Board – Draft Public Information Document for Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Tautog
Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board – Public Comment and Draft 2015 Fishery Management Plan Review
Atlantic Menhaden Management Board – Atlantic Menhaden Allocation Working Group Conference Call Summary; ASMFC Press Release on Atlantic Menhaden Ecosystem Management Objectives Workshop; and Public Comment
ISFMP Policy Board – 2015 Annual Stock Performance
South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board – Draft Proceedings from May 2015
For ease of access, all supplemental meeting materials (with the exception of ACCSP materials) have combined into one PDF –http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/Summer2015/CombinedSupplemental.pdf. As a reminder, Board/Section meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning at 10:15 a.m. on August 4th and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 12:15 p.m.) on August 6th. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board/section deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. No comments or questions will be accepted via the webinar. Should technical difficulties arise while streaming the broadcast, the boards/sections will continue their deliberations without interruption. We will attempt to resume the broadcast as soon as possible. To register for the webinar, please go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/453851280130891265.
July 29, 2015 — ARLINGTON, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Comission:
July 26, 2015 — Decades of animosity don’t disappear overnight. But a conversation is a good place to start.
Officials from Omega Protein met with recreational charter captains Tuesday night to discuss the conflict between two groups that depend on the same waters to earn a living.
Reedville-based Omega is the East Coast’s only menhaden reduction fishery. Recreational anglers often have blamed the company for harming certain fisheries. Omega reduces the small, oily fish to produce Omega 3 fish oil supplements and pet food.
There also are small fleets that catch menhaden to sell as bait for commercial and recreational fishermen. In Virginia, Omega often gets blamed for just about any problem caused by the bait industry.
The menhaden fishery is highly regulated by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and must report its catches and mishaps. Omega even employs a Norfolk-based company to take care of spillages or beachings of spilled fish.
Menhaden also are a vital food source for a vast majority of game fish targeted by anglers. And they are considered a filter feeder that is vital to the health of the environment.
Read the full story at the The Virginian-Pilot