Saving Seafood

ASMFC Spiny Dogfish Board Approves Draft Addendum VI for Public Comment

August 22, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s Spiny Dogfish Management Board approved Draft Addendum VI to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Spiny Dogfish for public comment. New Hampshire and Rhode Island have scheduled hearings to gather public input on the Draft Addendum. The details of those hearings, as well as a public hearing webinar follow:

New Hampshire Fish and Game Department

September 3, 2019; 7 PM
Urban Forestry Center
45 Elwyn Road
Portsmouth, NH

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on a Control Date for the American Lobster Fishery

August 22, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is seeking comments on a control date (a date that may be used to establish eligibility) of April 29, 2019 for the American lobster fishery, as we consider ways to reduce threats of entanglement by fixed-gear fisheries to North Atlantic right whales.

In April 2019, NOAA Fisheries convened the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT) to discuss management measures to reduce the risk of serious injury and entanglement of endangered whales in fishing gear. At the meeting, the New England states and the offshore lobster industry committed to reducing the risk of serious injury and mortality from lobster gear to the North Atlantic right whale by 60 percent in all lobster management areas. The specific measures to achieve this goal are not yet finalized, but will focus on reducing the number, and lowering the breaking strength of, vertical lines used in the lobster trap fishery.

Following the TRT meeting the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s  Lobster Management Board established a control date of April 29, 2019, and recommended that NOAA Fisheries do the same for federal waters.

Read the full release here

States Schedule Public Hearings on Atlantic Striped Bass Draft Addendum VI

August 21, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board releases Draft Addendum VI to Amendment 6 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass for public comment. Atlantic coastal states from Maine through North Carolina, including Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission, have scheduled their hearings to gather public input on Draft Addendum VI. The details of those hearings follow. Massachusetts is still scheduling its hearings; a subsequent release will announce the details of those hearings once they are finalized.

Read the full release here

Geoffrey White Named ACCSP Director

August 20, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Robert E. Beal, Executive Director of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, has announced the selection of Mr. Geoffrey White as the Director of the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP). Mr. White has been with the Commission for more than 20 years and has worked in various capacities for ACCSP for the past 15 years. Since 2015, Mr. White has coordinated and managed the transition to and full implementation of state conduct of the Access Point Angler Intercept Survey (APAIS), an integral component of the Marine Recreational Information Program. Mr. White replaces Mr. Michael Cahall, who served as ACCSP Director from 2007 to May 2019.

“Geoff’s long-standing dedication to the Commission and ACCSP, combined with his outstanding record of accomplishments over two decades, made him a clear choice for ACCSP Director,” stated Robert Beal. “His leadership in overseeing the transition of APAIS from a federal contractor to state conduct for the states of Maine through Georgia is particularly notable. With an extensive background in both fisheries science and information technology, Geoff is ideally suited for this position. He understands the absolute necessity for high quality, dependable, and timely fisheries data, as well as the need to leverage technological innovations to improve efficiencies at all levels of data collection and management.”

Read the full release here

Atlantic Herring Area 1A Fishery Moves to Zero Landing Days on August 18, 2019

August 14, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) Atlantic herring fishery is projected to have harvested 92% of the Period 2 allocation by August 17, 2019. Beginning 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, August 18, 2019, the Area 1A fishery will move to zero landing days through August 31, 2019, as specified in Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring.

Vessels participating in other fisheries may not possess more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip per day harvested from Area 1A. In addition, all vessels traveling through Area 1A must have all seine and mid-water trawl gear stowed.

Read the full release here

Presentations and Audio Files from the ASMFC 2019 Summer Meeting Now Available

August 13, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The presentations and audio files from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2019 Summer Meeting are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2019-summer-meeting; go to the relevant board/committee header and click on either “Presentations” or “Audio.”  Audio files of this meeting and prior meetings can also be found on the Commission’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/ASMFCvideos. 

ASMFC 2019 Summer Meeting Press Releases, Summaries and Motions Now Available

August 9th, 2019 — The following was published by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Press releases, meeting summaries and motions from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2019 Summer Meeting are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/2019SummerMtg/2019SummerMeetingSummary.pdf. The document can also be obtained on the Commission website on the Meeting Archives page athttp://www.asmfc.org/home/meeting-archive.  Presentations and audio files from this week’s meetings will be posted to the 2019 Summer Meeting page (http://www.asmfc.org/home/2019-summer-meeting) next week. 

ASMFC Approves Atlantic Cobia Amendment 1

August 9th, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Migratory Group Cobia (Atlantic cobia). Amendment 1 establishes management measures that transition the FMP from complementary management with the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Councils to sole management by the Commission. Amendment 1 to the FMP was initiated in anticipation of the Councils’ Regulatory Amendment 31 to the Coastal Migratory Pelagics (CMP) FMP, which was approved earlier this year and removed Atlantic cobia from the Councils’ oversight.

Amendment 1 changes several portions of the Commission’s FMP that were previously dependent on the CMP FMP and institutes a long-term strategy for managing in the absence of a federal plan. Several of these changes establish processes for the Commission to carry out management responsibilities previously performed by the South Atlantic Council, including the setting of harvest quotas and sector allocations, defining stock status criteria and recommending management measures to be implemented by NOAA Fisheries in federal waters. Additionally, Amendment 1 transitions responsibilities of monitoring and closing (if necessary) commercial harvest to the Commission.

Moving forward, the Commission will recommend to NOAA Fisheries that fishing in federal waters be regulated according to the state of landing. If a vessel has licenses for multiple states with open seasons, they must follow the most restrictive license’s regulations. If a vessel has licenses for multiple states, only one of which has an open season, they may fish under the regulations of the open state. Regulations resulting from this recommendation would only apply in federal waters. Fishermen would still be required to follow state possession or landing limits in state waters.

Amendment 1 establishes a harvest specification process, which allows the Board to specify a limited set of management measures for up to 3 years. One of the measures that may be set through this process is a coastwide harvest quota. However, until the first specification process occurs, after completion of the ongoing stock in 2020, the current coastwide quota (670,000 pounds) remains in effect.

The Amendment also changes the units used to measure and evaluate the recreational fishery from pounds numbers of fish. To accommodate this change, the recreational harvest quota in pounds (620,000) is converted to numbers (22,142 fish) and allocated among the states, resulting in the following state recreational harvest targets:

· Virginia: 8,724 fish
· North Carolina: 8,436 fish
· South Carolina: 2,679 fish
· Georgia: 2,081 fish
· 1% De Minimis Set Aside: 222 fish

States still may set their own seasons and vessel limits to achieve their respective targets.

Finally, Amendment 1 establishes a de minimis status for the commercial sector that exempts states with small commercial harvests from in-season monitoring requirements. States are required to implement measures of Amendment 1 by July 1, 2020. Amendment 1 will be available on the Commission’s website, http://www.asmfc.org/species/cobia, by the end of August.

For more information, please contact Dr. Michael Schmidtke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mschmidtke@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board Approves Draft Addendum VI for Public Comment

August 9th, 2019 — The following was published by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board (Board) approved Draft Addendum VI for public comment. The Addendum was initiated in response to the 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment which indicates the resource is overfished and experiencing overfishing. The Draft Addendum explores a range of management alternatives designed to end overfishing and reduce fishing mortality to the target level in 2020.

“The Draft Addendum is a critical first step to stem overfishing as quickly as possible and begin efforts to rebuild the biomass,” said Board Chair Dr. Michael Armstrong with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. “Following approval of the Addendum, the Board will likely initiate a new amendment to consider a longer-term strategy to fully rebuild the resource.”

The Draft Addendum proposes management options for both commercial and recreational sectors in the ocean and in the Chesapeake Bay in order to reduce total fishery removals by 18% relative to 2017 levels. The proposed measures include reduced quotas for commercial fisheries, and changes in bag limits, minimum sizes, and slot size limits for the recreational sector. Since catch and release practices represent a significant component of overall fishing mortality, the Draft Addendum also explores the mandatory use of circle hooks when fishing with bait to reduce release mortality in recreational striped bass fisheries.

It is anticipated the majority of Atlantic coastal states will conduct public hearings on the Draft Addendum; a subsequent press release will announce the details of those hearings once they become finalized. Fishermen and other 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 be available on the Commission website (www.asmfc.org) under Public Input by August 19th. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on September 27, 2019 and should be forwarded to Max Appelman, 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: Draft Addendum VI). Organizations planning to release an action alert in response to Draft Addendum VI should contact Max Appelman at mappelman@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Read the press release here

ASMFC Awards Grants to 5 Aquaculture Pilot Projects

August 8, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) has selected five aquaculture pilot projects to receive funding. Through these pilot projects, emphasis is being placed on promising but less commercially developed technologies for finfish and shellfish, and other industry needs like increased permitting efficiency. As part of its efforts to foster responsible aquaculture and seafood security in the US, NOAA Fisheries provided $575,000 in funding to the Commission to support these projects. Following a rigorous review, which included an evaluation of the technical aspects of the proposals as well as their compliance with environmental laws, the following five projects were selected.  The projects, ranging from black sea bass production to aquaculture workforce development, will begin in August and are scheduled for completion in 2020.

Read the full release here