Atlantic herring Archives - Page 14 of 28

New England Council Update – March 20, 2019

March 20, 2019 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

Here’s a roundup of upcoming meetings and new developments that are relevant to the New England Fishery Management Council’s stakeholders.

SCALLOPS: New Bedford and Chatham, MA are the next two stops on the scoping meeting circuit for Amendment 21 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. The New Bedford meeting is today, Wednesday, March 20, and Chatham is up tomorrow, Thursday, March 21. Both meetings begin at 6 p.m. Also, a webinar is scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m., and more scoping meetings will be held next week in Virginia and New Jersey. The series caps off in Gloucester on April 3. Visit the Amendment 21 webpage to see the complete lineup and download the scoping document, press release, and staff presentation.

COMMERCIAL eVTRs: The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is developing an Omnibus Framework to considerrequiring commercial vessels that carry federal permits for Mid-Atlantic Council-managed species to submit Vessel Trip Reports electronically (eVTRs). This action, if approved, will apply to New England fishermen who obtain Mid-Atlantic permits for summer flounder/scup/black sea bass, bluefish, mackerel/squid/butterfish, and other species. The Mid-Atlantic Council has scheduled a webinar for Monday, March 25 beginning at 9 a.m. to collect input from its Advisory Panels. Details are available at AP webinar about commercial eVTRs.

ATLANTIC HERRING: The New England Council’s Herring Advisory Panel (AP) will meet for a half-day on Wednesday, March 27 at the Holiday Inn in Mansfield, MA. The Herring Committee will meet in the same location the following day, Thursday, March 28. The AP and Committee both will discuss upcoming herring actions, work priorities, 2019-2021 specifications, and more. The agenda and meeting materials are available at Herring AP and Herring Committee.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: The Council’s Executive Committee will meet Wednesday, March 27 in Wakefield, MA. More information will be available soon at Executive Committee meeting.

SCIENTIFIC AND STATISTICAL COMMITTEE (SSC): The Council’s SSC will meet via webinar on Friday, March 29, 2019 to discuss and comment on the Council’s research priorities. Learn more at SSC webinar.

GROUNDFISH: The Council’s Groundfish Advisory Panel (AP) will meet on Monday, April 1 at the Hilton Garden Inn at Logan Airport. The Groundfish Committee will meet in the same location the following day, Tuesday, April 2. Both will discuss Groundfish Monitoring Amendment 23, the Council’s Gear Standards Policy, and 2019 groundfish priorities. More information will be available soon at Groundfish AP and Groundfish Committee.

ECOSYSTEM-BASED FISHERY MANAGEMENT (EBFM): The Council’s EBFM Committee will meet on Thursday, April 4 and again on Monday, April 15. Both meetings will be held at the Radisson Airport Hotel in Warwick, RI beginning at 9:30 a.m. The committee will discuss issues related to the development of a draft example Fishery Ecosystem Plan (eFEP) for Georges Bank. More information and related documents will be posted as they become available at EBFM April 4, 2019 and EBFM April 15, 2019.

RECREATIONAL GROUNDFISH: The Council has scheduled a series of listening sessions to solicit comments and gauge public interest on whether it should develop a limited access program for the recreational groundfish party/charter fishery under the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. The sessions, which include a webinar, will run from April 4 through May 10 from Maine to New Jersey. For more information and complete details about the times and locations of the listening sessions, read the press release, public notice, and download the background document.

MID-ATLANTIC COUNCIL: The Mid-Atlantic Council will be discussing several issues relevant to New England stakeholders during its April 8-11 meeting in Avalon, NJ. The Commercial eVTR Omnibus Framework described above is on the agenda, and the New England Council will be holding one of its Recreational Groundfish Party/Charter Fishery listening sessions in the same location on Monday, April 8. Take a look at the agenda at MAFMC Avalon, NJ.

NEW ENGLAND COUNCIL: The full New England Fishery Management Council will meet April 16-18, 2019 at the Hilton Hotel in Mystic, CT. The agenda and meeting materials will be available soon at NEFMC Mystic, CT.

MONKFISH: The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, NOAA Fisheries) announced that it is implementing 2019 monkfish specifications as recommended by the New England and Mid-Atlantic Councils in Framework Adjustment 10 to the federal Monkfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The Monkfish FMP is a joint plan between the two Councils with New England having the administrative lead. The framework contains specifications for fishing years 2017-2019. At the time the framework was implemented, NMFS approved 2017 specifications, along with “projected specifications” for 2018 and 2019. This week, NMFS said it does not expect 2018 catch limits to be exceeded, so 2019 specifications will go into place on May 1 as initially developed by the Councils. These include a total allowable landing limit of 6,338 metric tons (mt) in the Northern Fishery Management Area and 9,011 mt in the southern area. Find out more in the Federal Register notice and permit holder bulletin.

NOAA Fisheries Announces Atlantic Herring Management Area 2 Sub-ACL Harvested

March 7, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

At 00:01 hours on March 9, 2019, a 2,000-lb herring possession limit per trip or calendar day will become effective for Area 2 and will be in effect until the 2020 fishing year begins on January 1, 2020.

Under the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan, when 92% of the Herring Management Area 2 catch limit is projected to be harvested, no person may, or attempt to, fish for, possess, transfer, receive, land, or sell more than 2,000 lb of herring per trip or per calendar day in or from Area 2 for the remainder of the fishing year from a vessel issued and holding a valid herring permit.

For more information read the bulletin on our website or the rule as filed in the Federal Register this afternoon.

Please note: This action prohibits federally permitted dealers from purchasing, possessing, receiving, selling, bartering, trading or transferring, or attempting to purchase, possess, receive, sell, barter, trade, or transfer more than 2,000 lb of herring per trip or calendar day from Management Area 2 through 24:00 hr local time, December 31, 2019, unless it is from a vessel that enters port before 00:01 local time on March 9, 2019.

Maine’s lobster industry braces for ‘catastrophic’ cuts to bait fish catch

February 21, 2019 — For the second year in a row, federal regulators have dramatically reduced the amount of Atlantic herring fishermen can haul after scientists counted far fewer juvenile Atlantic herring in the waters from Canada to New Jersey.

While determining that Atlantic herring, the chief bait used by lobstermen, is not overfished, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said “recruitment” — the number of juvenile herring — is so low that last Friday they finalized a rule reducing by more than half the amount of Atlantic herring that fishermen may catch in 2019, from 50,000 metric tons to 21,000 metric tons.

Regulators hope the dramatic cut will prevent or reduce the risk of the fishery becoming depleted, NOAA said in a release.

The new limit has prompted predictions of bait shortages and sky-high prices and has members of Maine’s fishing community describing the situation as “catastrophic” and “devastating.”

“It’s huge,” Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, said. “Prices are going to go up, and lobstermen are going to be struggling to find as much bait as they are accustomed to.”

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

ME, NH & MA Schedule Hearings on Atlantic Herring Draft Addendum II

February 20, 2019 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The States of Maine and New Hampshire, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have scheduled their hearings to gather public input on Draft Addendum II to Amendment 3 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring. An additional hearing will also be conducted via webinar. The details of the hearings follow.

Maine Department of Marine Resources

March 6, 2019 at 5 PM

ME DMR Augusta Office

Room 118

32 Blossom Lane

Augusta, Maine

Contact: Pat Keliher at 207.624.6553

New Hampshire Fish and Game

April 2, 2019 at 7 PM

Urban Forestry Center

45 Elwyn Road

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Contact: Doug Grout at 603.868.1095

Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries

April 1, 2019 at 6 PM

MA DMF Gloucester Office

Annisquam River Station

30 Emerson Avenue

Gloucester, Massachusetts

Contact: Cate O’Keefe at 617.626.1512

Webinar Hearing

March 26, 2019 at 6 PM

Webinar link – https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/121211557

For Audio, dial 1.888.585.9008 and
enter the passcode: 853-657-937

Contact: Kirby Rootes-Murdy at 703.842.0740

The Draft Addendum proposes options to strengthen spawning protections in Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine). The Draft Addendum responds to the results of the 2018 benchmark stock assessment, which show reduced levels of recruitment and spawning stock biomass over the past five years, with 2016 recruitment levels the lowest on record.

Currently, the Board uses a series of closures to protect spawning aggregations in the Gulf of Maine. These closures, which were implemented through Amendment 3, use biological samples to annually project the start of spawning. The closures are initially implemented for four weeks but can be extended by two additional weeks if samples indicate the continued presence of spawning herring. Recent analysis by the Atlantic Herring Technical Committee found that while the current spawning closure system was significantly improved under Amendment 3, the protocol could continue to be strengthened by considering when, and for how long, a closure is initiated. Specifically, the analysis showed, under the current protocol, spawning closures are initiated when there are approximately 25% spawners in the fishery; greater protection could be provided by initiating a closure when a lower percentage of the population is spawning and extending the closure for a longer time. As a result, Draft Addendum II considers extending the length of the spawning closures as well as altering the point at which closures are triggered in order to provide greater protection to the stock.

Fishermen and others interested in Atlantic herring management are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum by attending state public hearings, participating in the webinar hearing, or providing written comment. The Draft Addendum is available here. It can also be obtained via the Commission website (www.asmfc.org) under Public Input. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on April 4, 2019 and should be forwarded to Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Senior FMP Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, Virginia 22201; 703.842.0741 (fax) or at comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Herring Draft Addendum II). For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

PR19-08

A PDF of the press release can be found here

The Draft Addendum can be found here

Deep cut for fishermen of herring amid population loss

February 8, 2019 — Fishermen of an important species of lobster bait will have to contend with a deep cut in quota this year due to concerns about the fish’s population.

Atlantic herring are the source of a major fishery on the East Coast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced on Thursday that it’s cutting this year’s herring quota from nearly 110 million pounds to about 33 million pounds.

Read the full story at WRAL

NOAA Fisheries Adjusts the Atlantic Herring Specifications for 2019

February 7, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, we are adjusting Atlantic herring specifications for 2019. This in-season adjustment reduces 2018 Atlantic herring specifications and sub-annual catch limits (ACLs) for 2019 to prevent overfishing and lower the risk of the stock becoming overfished. All other Atlantic herring specifications, including river herring and shad catch caps, remain unchanged from 2018.

The 2018 Atlantic herring stock assessment concluded that while Atlantic herring was not overfished and overfishing was not occurring in 2017, Atlantic herring catch would need to be reduced to prevent overfishing and lower the risk of the stock becoming overfished.

At its September 2018 meeting, the New England Fishery Management Council requested we use an in-season adjustment to reduce Atlantic herring catch limits for 2019 to prevent overfishing. We published a proposed rule in November 2018. The herring acceptable biological catch (ABC) we proposed for 2019, as well as the resulting ACL and sub-ACLs, while consistent with methods used to set recent specifications, were higher than limits recommended by the Council.

The Council reviewed our proposed Atlantic herring catch limits for 2019 at its December 2018 meeting and recommended that we further reduce herring catch limits to better account for scientific uncertainty and achieve conservation and management objectives. For these reasons, we are reducing the herring specifications and sub-ACLs for 2019 consistent with the Council’s recommendations.

For more information read the rule as filed in the Federal Register and posted on our website.

ASMFC Atlantic Herring Board Approves Draft Addendum II for Public Comment Draft Addendum Considers Measures to Protect Spawning Herring in Area 1A

Febrary 6, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board approved Draft Addendum II to Amendment 3 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring for public comment. The Draft Addendum proposes options to strengthen spawning protections in Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine). This action responds to the results of the 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment which showed reduced levels of recruitment and spawning stock biomass over the past five years, with 2016 recruitment levels the lowest on record.

Interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. The Draft Addendum will available on the Commission website (www.asmfc.org) under Public Input by February 20, 2019. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on April 3, 2019 and should be forwarded to Megan Ware, FMP Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, Virginia 22201; 703.842.0741 (fax) or at comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Atlantic Herring Draft Addendum II). It is anticipated some states will conduct public hearings on the Draft Addendum; the details of which will be released via a press release once they are finalized. For more information, please contact Megan Ware at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

ASMFC 2019 Winter Meeting Preliminary Agenda and Public Comment Guidelines

December 18, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Please find attached and below the preliminary agenda and public comment guidelines for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2019 Winter Meeting, February 5-7, 2019, in Arlington, VA. The agenda is also available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2019-winter-meeting. Materials will be available on January 23, 2019 on the Commission website at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2019-winter-meeting.

A block of rooms is being held at The Westin Crystal City, 1800 S. Eads Street, Arlington, VA 22202. Meeting attendees can make reservations online via Star Group Website at http://www.starwoodhotels.com/ or call The Westin Crystal City at 703.486.1111 as soon as possible and mention the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to obtain the group room rate of $181.00 plus tax single/dbl. Please be aware you must guarantee your room reservation with a major credit card or one night’s advance payment. Hotel reservations must be made by Monday, January 7, 2019. Room availability will not be guaranteed beyond this date. If you are being reimbursed by ASMFC for your travel, please make your reservation directly with the hotel. Reservations made through travel websites do not apply toward our minimum number of required reservations with the hotel. Please note, cancellations at The Westin must be made by 4:00 p.m. two days prior to arrival to avoid penalty and an early departure fee of $100.00 will apply when checking out prior to the confirmed date. If you have any problems at all regarding accommodations please contact Cindy at 703.842.0740 or at crobertson@asmfc.org.

Read the full agenda here

October/November 2018 issue of Fisheries Focus Now Available

November 19, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The October/November 2018 issue of Fisheries Focus is now available at http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/5bef3628FishFocusOctNov2018.pdf. Wishing you all a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Upcoming Meetings

page 2

Report from the Chair
Reflections on Our Past and Future

page 3

Species Profile

Atlantic Herring

page 4

Fishery Management Actions

Coastal Sharks

Horseshoe Crab

Northern Shrimp

Spiny Dogfish

page 6

Proposed Management Actions

Summer Flounder

Scup

Black Sea Bass

page 8

Science Highlight

Living Shorelines

page 9

ACCSP

What Do You Do?

page 10

On the Legislative Front

page 11

Past issues of Fisheries Focus can be found at http://www.asmfc.org/search/%20/%20/Fishery-Focus

New England Council eying more monitoring of some fisheries

November 16, 2018 — The New England Fisheries Management Council wants to standardize future industry-funded monitoring incorporated into other fisheries beyond the Northeast multispecies groundfishery and the scallop fishery.

The council is soliciting public comment on a proposal to increase industry-funded monitoring in certain fisheries “to assess the amount and type of catch and reduce uncertainty around catch estimates,” according to the summary of the proposed rule published in the Federal Register.

The proposal specifically would increase industry-funded monitoring in the Atlantic herring industry, as well.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily News