Saving Seafood

Cuts Coming to Bluefish Recreational Fishing Limits

December 18, 2019 — According to federal fishery managers, one of the most popular sport fish in the Chesapeake and the Atlantic Ocean is overfished. Consequently, recreational anglers will see significant cuts to help rebuild the stock.

Under new rules approved last week, anglers fishing in state and federal waters will be limited to three bluefish per day while people fishing from charter boats may take home five.

The decision came at a joint meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), which oversees migratory species in state waters along the coast, and the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Council (MFC), which manages fish three to 200 miles off the Mid-Atlantic coast.

Maryland’s current minimum size limit is eight inches with a 10-fish daily limit. Delaware and Virginia have no size limits and a 10-fish per-day per angler possession limit. It’s a 365-day season all around, and the current rules are the same for charter boats and individual anglers.

The current limit in federal waters from three to 200 miles offshore is 15 fish per person with no minimum size restriction. For 2020, no restrictions were made to minimum fish size or seasons. This amounts to a predicted 18 percent reduction in the recreational harvest. The commercial fishery will see a 64 percent reduction in quota.

Read the full story at the Chesapeake Bay Magazine

Press Release, Summaries and Motions from the Joint ASMFC/MAFMC December 2019 Meeting Now Available

December 17, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The press release, meeting summaries and motions from the December 2019 Joint Meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/ASMFC_MAFMCSFlounderScupBSBBluefish_Dec2019.pdf. The document can also be obtained on the Commission website on the Meeting Archives page at http://www.asmfc.org/home/meeting-archive.

Council and Commission Recommend Recreational Bluefish Management Measures for 2020

December 17, 2019 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Last week, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) recommended and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) approved new recreational fishing regulations for the 2020 Atlantic bluefish fishery from Florida to Maine. These measures, which include a 3-fish bag limit for private anglers and shore-based fishermen and a 5-fish bag limit for for-hire fishermen, represent a substantial reduction compared to the federal 15-fish bag limit that has been in place since 2000. The Commission’s actions are final and apply to state waters (0-3 miles from shore), while the Council will forward its recommendation for federal waters (3 – 200 miles from shore) to the NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Administrator for final approval.

The most recent operational assessment of the Atlantic bluefish stock concluded that the stock is overfished but not experiencing overfishing. During their joint meeting in October, the Council and Commission adopted a recreational harvest limit (RHL) of 9.48 million pounds for 2020 and 2021, which is an 18% decrease compared to the 2019 RHL. Using the current regulations, the recreational sector is projected to land 13.27 million pounds, which will exceed the RHL by 28.56%. Therefore, the Council and Commission met last week to approve new recreational management measures to constrain harvest to the reduced RHL.

The Council and Commission considered several combinations of bag limits and minimum size limits, including options to set a single set of regulations for all fishing modes or different regulations for shore/private modes and the for-hire mode. Although the Council’s Bluefish Monitoring Committee recommended a coastwide 3-fish bag limit, the majority of comments from the public and Bluefish Advisory Panel (AP) members expressed opposition to this option, noting that it would have severe economic consequences for the for-hire sector, which was only responsible for 3.6% of coastwide landings from 2016 to 2018. Additionally, AP members and the public emphasized that these proposed reductions come at a challenging time for for-hire stakeholders as they are also facing new restrictions on striped bass, black sea bass, summer flounder, and scup.

After an extensive discussion and thorough consideration of public comments, the Council recommended and Commission approved a 3-fish bag limit for private and shore modes and a 5-fish bag limit for the for-hire mode. No restrictions were made to minimum fish size or seasons.

“For many years, bluefish has been one of our most abundant recreational fisheries,” said Council Chairman and ASMFC Board member Mike Luisi. “The Council and Commission are fully committed to the effective conservation and management of this stock, but we also recognize that a sudden change in regulations could have severe socioeconomic consequences for some stakeholders. After evaluating a wide range of options and considering numerous comments from the public, we feel that this approach is the most fair and effective way to achieve the necessary reduction in harvest next year.”

The Council and Commission are continuing to work on development of a rebuilding plan as part of the Bluefish Allocation and Rebuilding Amendment. Additional information and updates on this action are available at http://www.mafmc.org/actions/bluefish-allocation-amendment.

Shutdown of New England Shrimp Fishery to Continue in 2020

December 10, 2019 — New England’s shrimp fishing industry will remain shut down next year and likely beyond.

Interstate regulators met on Dec. 6 to consider the future of the industry, which has been shut down since 2013 and is under a moratorium until 2021. A regulatory panel with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission briefly discussed the possibility of reopening the fishery, but members said that might prevent the shrimp population from recovering.

The shrimp population in the Gulf of Maine is suffering due to the impacts of warming waters. Recent surveys show the species’ abundance at or near all-time lows, according to materials provided by the fisheries commission.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

New Jersey submits striped bass measures to federal commission

December 10, 2019 — At the close of last month, New Jersey submitted a range of striped bass conservation equivalency measures to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, or ASMFC, for review.

Just what those options were, Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection, didn’t disclose.

The ASMFC recommended states adopt a one-fish bag limit and a 28- to 35-inch recreational limit for ocean fisheries in order to reduce the coastwide harvest by 18 percent. This was on the ASFMC’s findings that striped bass are being overfished.

However, states are free to develop their own option as long as it achieves the required reduction.

Hajan said the ASMFC’s Striped Bass Technical Committee will review the measures and whatever options it approves will be made public and presented to N.J.’s Marine Fisheries Council.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Herring Fishing To Be Limited Off New England For Months

December 4, 2019 — The inshore waters of the Gulf of Maine from Cape Cod to the Canadian border have been closed to herring fishing through the end of the year to prevent overharvesting.

Federal regulators cut this year’s catch limit for Atlantic herring based on last year’s stock assessment. Kirby Rootes-Murdy, with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, says regulations mandate that the fishery must be closed when 92% of the area catch limit has been harvested.

“There is a by-catch allowance, which is the non-directed fishery,” says Rootes-Murdy. “Two thousand pounds can be taken incidentally, but the directed fishery is closed.”

Read the full story at Maine Public

Regulators to consider coming shrimp season

December 4, 2019 — The fate of the shrimp fishery for the coming year, if any, will likely be determined Friday afternoon when the Northern Shrimp Section of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission meets to review the 2019 Stock Assessment Update Report and updates from the section’s Summer Survey Work Group and the Northern Shrimp 2019 Summer Survey Results.

The meeting will be held by telephone and interested parties may listen to the proceedings by joining in the conference call or by signing in to a webinar to follow the meeting.

To no surprise, the news is not good for shrimp fishermen, or for Northern shrimp.

In 2018, ASMFC regulators extended an existing moratorium on commercial shrimp fishing through 2021. The three-year moratorium was established in response to continuing low numbers of shrimp in the water and to low levels of “recruitment,” a measure of the number of shrimp that survive long enough to enter the fishery.

According to the most recent stock assessment, in 2018 the northern shrimp resource in the Gulf of Maine was depleted, and the size of the spawning stock, shrimp old enough to reproduce, had remained “extremely low” since 2013.

The most recent analysis of 2019 data, prepared by the shrimp section’s technical committee last month, indicated no improvement. Indices measuring abundance — the weight of the entire shrimp population and spawning stock biomass, a measure of shrimp of reproductive age — were at the lowest levels since scientists began collecting data. The recruitment levels was the third lowest measured.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

REVISED: States Schedule Public Hearings on Atlantic Croaker and Spot Draft Addenda (Public Hearing Webinar Moved to January 18th)

December 4, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board (Board) releases two documents for public comment: Draft Addendum III to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Croaker and Draft Addendum III to the Omnibus Amendment to the Interstate FMPs for Spanish Mackerel, Spot, and Spotted Seatrout. The states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina have scheduled their hearings to gather public input on the Draft Addenda. The details of those hearings, as well as an ASMFC Public Hearing webinar, follow.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources

December 3, 2019 at 6 PM

  • Tawes State Office Building
  • C1 (Lobby) Conference Room
  • 580 Taylor Avenue, Annapolis, Maryland 21401
  • Contact: Lynn Fegley at 410.260.8285

December 16, 2019 at 6 PM*

  • Wor-Wic Community College
  • 32000 Campus Drive, Hazel Center Room 302, Salisbury, MD 21804
  • Contacts: Lynn Fegley at 410.260.8285 and John Clark at 302.739.9914
    • * Held jointly with the DE Division of Fish & Wildlife

Virginia Marine Resources Commission

  • January 7, 2020 at 6:30 PM
  • 380 Fenwick Road, Ft. Monroe, VA 23651
  • Contact: Adam Kenyon and Somers Smott at 757.247.2200

North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries

  • December 5, 2019 at 6 PM
  • N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Southern Regional Office
  • 127 Cardinal Drive Extension, Wilmington, NC 28405
  • Contact: Chris Batsavage at 252.808.8009

REVISED: ASMFC Public Hearing Webinar

The Board initiated the development of the Draft Addenda for Atlantic croaker and spot to incorporate updates on the annual traffic light approach (TLA) and propose changes to the management program. In the absence of an approved stock assessment, which is the case for both species, the TLA is conducted each year to evaluate fishery trends and develop management actions (e.g. bag limits, size restrictions, time and area closures, and gear restrictions) when harvest and abundance thresholds are exceeded. The TLA assigns a color (red, yellow, or green) to categorize relative levels of indicators on the condition of the fish population or fishery. For example, as harvest or abundance increases relative to its long-term average, the proportion of green in a given year will increase and as harvest or abundance decreases, the amount of red in that year will increase. The Board annually evaluates the proportion of red against threshold levels to determine if management action is required. In recent years, fisheries for both Atlantic croaker and spot have experienced declines in harvest, but not declines in abundance as indicated by fishery-independent surveys used in the TLA. Therefore, management action has not been triggered. The lack of triggering management action with these harvest declines has raised concerns, leading to re-evaluation of TLA methods and the proposal of changes to management.

Both Draft Addenda present updates to resolve issues with the TLA analyses in order to better reflect stock characteristics, based on recommendations from the Atlantic Croaker Technical Committee and Spot Plan Review Team. Each Draft Addendum also presents options for four issues that address the TLA management triggering mechanism, triggered management responses for the recreational and commercial fisheries, and evaluation of the population’s response to triggered management actions.

The Draft Addenda are available athttp://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/AtlCroakerDraftAddIII_PublicComment_Oct2019.pdf and http://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/SpotDraftAddIII_PublicComment_Oct2019.pdf or via the Commission’s website at http://www.asmfc.org/about-us/public-input. Fishermen and other stakeholders are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addenda either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. Public comment will be accepted until 5 PM (EST) on January 10, 2020 and should be sent to Dr. Michael Schmidtke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at comments@asmfc.org(Subject line: Croaker and Spot Draft Addenda III).

The Board will meet at the Commission’s Winter Meeting in February to review public comment and consider final approval of the Addenda.

Webinar to discuss state of northern shrimp in US Gulf of Maine

December 3, 2019 — A panel within the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is scheduled to hold a two-hour webinar beginning at 1 p.m. on Friday (Dec. 6) to discuss the state of northern shrimp in the New England region of the US, the Associated Press reports.

The shrimp fishery has been shut down since 2013, and is in the middle of a moratorium that is scheduled to last until 2021, the wire service noted. The webinar is expected to deliver a stock assessment but not recommend any drastic changes, because the shrimp population is still suffering, a problem blamed in particular on warming Gulf of Maine waters.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News