Saving Seafood

Meeting Summary and Motions from the August 12 Joint Meeting of the MAFMC & ASMFC Management Boards for Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass, and Bluefish

August 21, 2026 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The meeting summary and motions from the August 12th joint meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and Commission Management Boards for Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass, and Bluefish can be found at https://asmfc.org/resources/management-quarterly-meetings/meeting-summary-and-motions-from-the-joint-meeting-of-the-mafmc-asmfc-management-boards-for-summer-flounder-scup-and-black-sea-bass-and-bluefish-august-2026/

Atlantic Herring Eastern Maine Spawning Closure in Effect Starting August 28, 2026 through October 8, 2026

August 21, 2026 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic herring Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in Eastern Maine, Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire. The Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board approved a forecasting method that relies upon at least three samples, each containing at least 25 female herring in gonadal stages III-V, to trigger a spawning closure. However, if sufficient samples are not available then closures will begin on predetermined dates.

There are currently no samples from the Eastern Maine spawning area to determine spawning condition. Therefore, per the Addendum II default closure dates, the Eastern Maine spawning area will be closed starting at 12:01 a.m. on August 28, 2026 extending through 11:59 p.m. on October 8, 2026. The Eastern Maine spawning area includes all waters bounded by the following coordinates:

Maine coast 68° 20’ W
43° 48’ N 68° 20’ W
44° 25’ N 67° 03’ W
North along the US/Canada border

Vessels in the directed Atlantic herring fishery cannot take, land or possess Atlantic herring caught within the Eastern Maine spawning area during this time. The incidental bycatch allowance of up to 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip per day applies to vessels in non-directed fisheries that are fishing within the Eastern Maine spawning area. In addition, all vessels traveling through the Eastern Maine spawning area must have all seine and mid-water trawl gear stowed.

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

The press release can also be found at https://asmfc.org/news/press-releases/atlantic-herring-eastern-maine-spawning-closure-in-effect-starting-august-28-2026-through-october-8-2026/

ASMFC Stock Assessment Happenings Upcoming Meetings: Atlantic Striped Bass Assessment Workshop, Cobia Methods Workshop, and Spot Stock Assessment Committee Planning Webinars

August 20, 2026 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s stock assessment staff, working in conjunction with state and federal stock assessment scientists, continue to make progress on a number benchmark stock assessments. Additionally, in the coming month, the Commission will post a species-specific Benchmark Stock Assessment Tracker webpage, much like our Action Trackers, to increase transparency in our stock assessment process by enabling stakeholders to track benchmark assessment development and where we are in the assessment process. A press release will announce their availability. In the interim, here’s a snapshot of recent and upcoming assessment activities.

Atlantic Croaker
The Atlantic Croaker Benchmark Stock Assessment Peer Review was conducted July 27-30, 2026, in Arlington, VA. The results of both the benchmark stock assessment and peer review will be presented to the Sciaenids Management Board for consideration in November 2026 at the Commission’s Annual Meeting in Newport, Rhode Island.

Atlantic Migratory Group Cobia
In March and April of this year, the Commission conducted a series of Data Workshops for the upcoming Cobia Benchmark Stock Assessment. At the first three workshops, the Technical Committee, Stock Assessment Subcommittee, and federal data partners focused on data sources for commercial and recreational fishery removals, biosampling, and life history; and available fishery-independent survey data and initial literature review findings. The final workshop included a discussion about indices of abundance, tagging data, preparation for the next workshop on assessment methods, and other items as needed from the previous workshops.

A Methods Workshop, to be held September 22-25, 2026, in Raleigh, NC, will include an evaluation of models and analyses developed to estimate stock status, with the Stock Assessment Subcommittee making final selections regarding data and model structure. The Assessment Workshop is scheduled for December 2026, with the peer review being conducted through the SouthEast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) process in May 2027.

Atlantic Striped Bass
A Data Workshop was held in October 2025, followed by a Methods Workshop in March 2026. The
Atlantic Striped Bass Stock Assessment Workshop will be held August 24-28, 2026, at the Commission office at 1050 N. Highland Street, Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, VA. This workshop, which is accessible online and in-person, will focus on evaluation of models and analyses developed to determine stock status. The Commission’s stock assessment meetings are open to the public, with the exception of discussions of confidential data, when the public will be asked to leave the room. Public comment will be allowed if time permits at the discretion of the Stock Assessment Subcommittee Chair. More information on the Workshop can be found here.

The peer review will be conducted through Northeast Regional Stock Assessment process in May or June 2027, with the Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board scheduled to consider the benchmark assessment and peer review in August 2027 at the Commission’s Summer Meeting.

Atlantic Sturgeon
In July and August of this year, the Commission conducted a series of Data Workshops for the upcoming Atlantic Sturgeon Benchmark Stock Assessment. At these workshops, the Technical Committee and the Stock Assessment Subcommittee reviewed and evaluated available data sources for the assessment, including indices of abundance, life history information, bycatch estimation, and tagging data.

The Methods Workshop will be conducted in early 2027, and the Assessment Workshop will be held in early fall 2027. The assessment will be peer-reviewed through the Commission’s external peer review process in 2028.

Spot
The Commission first initiated a benchmark stock assessment for spot back in 2023. An initial Data Workshop was held in 2023, but the assessment process was put on hold so that the Atlantic Croaker Technical Committee and Stock Assessment Subcommittee, which consists of many of the same members as the Spot Committees, could focus on the Atlantic croaker benchmark assessment and peer review. With the completion of the Atlantic croaker peer review in July, the Spot Stock Assessment Committee has reinitiated the spot assessment and will conduct its first two meetings on August 31 and September 3. The focus of these meetings will be to review available data sources, as well as discuss potential models for development. Next steps, including additional workshops, will be scheduled following these two meetings; information on future meetings will be posted to the Meetings page of the Commission’s website.

ASMFC StoryMap Highlights Newly Updated Commission Guide to Fisheries Science and Stock Assessments

August 18, 2026 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission has updated its popular publication on the science of stock assessments. The new edition of the Guide to Fisheries Science and Stock Assessments (Guide) is currently available in StoryMap format and will be available in PDF format in the coming weeks. The new version of the Guide substantially revises the prior version, updating and streamlining content to be approachable and accessible to those interested in learning more about stock assessments and their use in management. Following is an excerpt from the Guide:

“Management of coastal and marine resources is a complex process that balances what we know about the fish populations we are managing (like the size of a fish population, its habitat, and the food it relies on, and the factors that affect its growth, reproduction, and life span) and the people that use the resources. The tricky part is we can’t easily count how many fish are in a population, so we have to use stock assessments to calculate these numbers. That’s why we created this guide – to show you what goes into a stock assessment, from what types of information are collected to how various models work to how the assessment results are considered for management.”

Commission could revisit how menhaden quota is divided among states

August 17, 2026 — Atlantic menhaden management could face another major discussion this fall, this time over how the coastwide catch is divided among East Coast states.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) is expected to consider in November whether to begin a process to reallocate state menhaden quotas, according to the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP), which is pushing for changes to a system based largely on historical landings.

TRCP argues the current allocations no longer reflect where menhaden are being found or how fishermen use the resource today.

Virginia receives more than 75 percent of the state allocation, supporting the East Coast’s only remaining large-scale menhaden reduction fishery, operated by Omega Protein and supplied by Ocean Harvesters. Farther north, menhaden are an important bait source for lobster, crab and other commercial fisheries, with states relying in part on set-asides and quota transfers to meet demand.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

After gauge fight, lobster managers rethink strategy

August 14, 2026 — After the collapse of controversial lobster gauge changes, managers are taking a different approach to the future of the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank fishery. This time, they are starting with a broader question: What should lobster management be trying to accomplish?

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) is beginning a process that is expected to bring fishermen and other industry members into the conversation before any new major management measures are proposed.

At the American Lobster Management Board’s Aug. 4 meeting, ASMFC staff outlined how that process could work. Eventually, it could lead to what is known as a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE), which essentially allows managers to test different management approaches on paper before putting them into practice.

But ASMFC isn’t there yet.

First, managers want to hear from the industry about what the future of the fishery should look like and what needs to be protected, from the lobster resource itself to fishermen’s businesses and coastal communities.

The discussion comes as managers continue to watch changes in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank lobster stock. The 2025 stock assessment found the stock was not depleted, but lobster abundance had fallen 34 percent from the high identified in the previous assessment.

That decline raised concerns and led the Lobster Board to begin looking at what might need to happen next.

Rather than immediately developing another set of regulations, however, ASMFC’s Technical Committee recommended first figuring out what fishermen and managers actually want future management to accomplish.

ASMFC’s Caitlin Starks called that a “critical first step” during the Aug. 4 meeting.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ASMFC petitioned to consider menhaden reallocation, will make decision on fishery cap in Chesapeake

August 13, 2026 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) is being petitioned to initiate a reallocation process for the menhaden fishery as it also considers its options to reduce the Chesapeake Bay Reduction Fishery Cap by up to 50 percent.

The menhaden fishery is spread across the U.S. east coast, and allocated across several U.S. states, with each state getting a different share of the fishery. Historically the U.S. state of Virginia has received the largest portion of the quota, and has also been the largest fisher of the species, with companies like Omega Protein and Ocean Harvesters processing and harvesting most of the catch, respectively.

Now, conservation groups are petitioning the ASMFC to reallocate the quota of the fishery, claiming the shifting patterns of the species mean the quotas should shift too.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ASMFC 2026 Summer Meeting Summaries/Motions/Press Releases, Presentations and Recordings Now Available

August 7, 2026 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The press releases, meeting summaries, and motions from the Commission’s 2026 Summer Meeting are now available at https://asmfc.org/resources/management-quarterly-meetings/2026-summer-meeting-summary-august-2026/.  Links to presentations and recordings from this week’s meetings are now available athttps://asmfc.org/events/2026-summer-meeting/; just scroll down to the relevant board/committee to access the links (links follow the respective agendas).

 
Recordings are also available on the Commission’s YouTube channel athttps://www.youtube.com/ASMFCvideos.

Public will get to weigh in on proposed changes to Chesapeake Bay menhaden harvest

August 7, 2026 — Officials who regulate the Atlantic menhaden industry have debated in recent years how to balance the historic fishery in the Chesapeake Bay with growing concerns about the ecosystem.

On Wednesday, they took their latest step. The Menhaden Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission advanced a document for public comment with potential changes to harvesting menhaden in the bay.

The commission helps manage fisheries along the East Coast, including 15 states from Florida to Maine.

The proposal outlines options for cutting the amount of menhaden the industry can catch by up to 50% and spreading the harvest more evenly throughout the season.

Ocean Harvesters, the company that harvests menhaden in the bay, said in a statement that the proposal is “a solution in search of a problem.”

“The addendum assembles observations, uncertainties and hypotheticals but never demonstrates that Chesapeake Bay menhaden availability has declined because of the reduction fishery or that the proposed measures would produce any biological benefit,” the company stated.

Ocean Harvesters, which operates a fishing fleet to supply Omega Protein, harvests up to 51,000 metric tons of menhaden in the bay each year using large walls of netting called purse seines. Omega processes, or “reduces,” them into fishmeal and fish oil at a plant in Reedville.

Environmentalists and sportfishers believe purse seines are removing too many menhaden, affecting species that rely on them, such as striped bass and osprey. They want the reduction industry to be banned from the bay or more heavily restricted.

The public comment period will run through September and October, with the board meeting again in November to consider final approval, according to the commission’s website.

Read the full article at WHRO

ASMFC advances Atlantic menhaden proposal

August 6, 2026 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) has voted to advance Draft Addendum II to Amendment 3 of the Atlantic Menhaden Fishery Management Plan for public comment, reviving a proposal that had been delayed earlier this year as commissioners sought additional work on the document.

The Aug. 5 vote by the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board marks the next step in a management debate that has divided industry representatives, conservation organizations and fisheries managers over whether additional restrictions are needed in the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery.

The company cited comments made during the meeting by Virginia ASMFC Commissioner Adele McClure, who questioned whether the public comment process should move forward before additional research is completed.

“Without that complete picture, without the proper Bay-specific data, I feel like we are putting the cart before the horse instead of availing ourselves to the upcoming studies and data that could finally guide us,” McClure said during the meeting, according to Ocean Harvesters’ summary of the discussion.

McClure also pointed to ongoing research efforts that she said could provide managers with more complete scientific information before making future management decisions.

“We finally got that funded in Virginia at $4.5 million. We have three studies, and this could guide us in the context of good science, which is good for both the public, for union workers, and the fisheries,” she said

Read the full article at the National Fisherman