Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Archives - Page 92 of 127

Days Before High-Stakes Menhaden Vote, Questions and Uncertainties Abound

Amendment 3’s new Ecological Reference Points in Center of Controversy

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — November 10, 2017 — By Marisa Torrieri:

As the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission prepares to vote on highly-contested benchmarks for managing menhaden next week, uncertainties about the potential ripple effect of new ecological reference points (ERPs) are fueling heated exchanges between environmental groups and fisheries.

On November 13 and 14, the Commission is expected to meet to vote on Amendment 3, which will establish management benchmarks, and consider ecological reference points for menhaden, a bony and oily forage fish that is a primary food source for bigger fish such as striped bass and humpback whales and is harvested commercially for oil and fertilizer. The Commission also plans to review and potentially update state-by-state quota allocations.

Should the commission vote for “Option E” under Amendment 3 — an approach largely favored by environmental groups — the ASMFC would establish interim ecological reference points that would set a target of 75 percent and a threshold of 40 percent of a theoretical unfished stock. The ASMFC’s Biological Ecological Reference Points Workgroup would continue to develop Menhaden Specific ERP.

Fishermen whose livelihoods depend on the fish say the impact of this option would be catastrophic to their business.

Jeff Kaelin, head of government relations for Lund’s Fisheries, Inc., in Cape May, N.J., said New Jersey would lose a lot of jobs and money, in the event that interim ERPs took effect.

“With Option E, if we fish at the target that the environmental community is advocating, we’ll have a 25 percent cut in the fishery we have today, and that’s significant,” says Kaelin. “In 2013, when the quotas were established … we lost access to 50 percent of the fish. This is worth about $2 million to the state of New Jersey if we take a 25 percent cut. That’s what would happen, and there’s no need for it because the science is so robust.”

Yet environmental groups have countered that Option E, if selected, would not trigger draconian changes — it would simply put new goals in place that would benefit everyone, which could be phased in based on an organization’s own time table.

“The ERP is the goal, what you’re trying to achieve,” said Joseph Gordon, a senior manager for Pew Charitable Trusts, who directs campaigns to conserve forage fish. “Option E doesn’t tell you how fast to get there and how much risk to take. If the Commission decides to move forward Option E, they will be opting to have a very high population [of menhaden] in the ocean. When we talk about Option E, the goal of that is to achieve and maintain a high biomass of fish in the ocean. That should support significant amounts of fishing in the case of menhaden, over time as the population grows. The benefits to everyone, including commercial fisheries, is the goal of management.”

Chris Moore of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation also suggested Option E isn’t as bad as fisheries are making it out to be.

“Option E would say ‘OK, we now have a new target … fisheries would need to make changes to ensure they’re hitting that target,” says Moore. “But it’s not ‘we shall do this, we shall do that.’ If you look at the last stock assessment, the last quota showed we’re increasing. There’s a lot of leeway for the managers to get to the target.”

Omega Protein Corporation, the largest participant in the menhaden fishery, is based in Reedville, Va., a state that is currently allocated 85 percent of the catch. It says comments from environmentalists in support of Option E sugarcoat the potential economic impact of the ERPs.

Omega Protein is in favor of the more conservative Option B, which keeps ERPs at the existing status quo levels, until better mathematical models for menhaden are available.

“To say that the current reference points are inadequate, and we want to change them, and then say, ‘we won’t mandate that the harvest be cut when over the target,’ that’s ludicrous,” says Monty Deihl, Vice President of Operations for Omega Protein. “The environmentalist solution is looking for a problem, and there is no problem! We only take 8 percent of the biomass per year. The current model says you could harvest 300,000 metric tons per year without overfishing. With Option E, there’s a 25 percent cut in the harvest.”

Shaun Gehan, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney who represents Omega Protein, said that environmentalists promoting Option E as a “phased approach” — while the language within the Option calls for a clear cut in fishing activities — are hypocritical.

“The real issue is if one believes that menhaden should be at 75 percent un-fished levels and the target [fishing mortality] helps achieve that, then it is hypocritical to advocate for anything but a cut,” he says. “It seems there is a lot of folks that want to have their cake and eat it too. That is, being able to say, ‘ecological reference points’ are being used, while avoiding harvest reductions they entail because no one thinks cuts are warranted in light of menhaden’s abundance.”

THE ROAD TO AMENDMENT 3

One of the biggest arguments for clamping down on menhaden fishing, one which has resonated with the public, is that concerns about menhaden weren’t on anyone’s radar until recently, when reports warned that the supply was in danger.

According to Pew, people started to “wake up” to the menhaden issue after a coast-wide decline in menhaden in the 1990s through the early 2000s that attracted a lot of attention: This decline was noticed on the water up and down the coast by recreational fishermen. The effects of this decline on predator species, especially striped bass, were especially noticed, since striped bass is a prized recreational fish – and the reason the ASMFC was created in the first place.

“Striped bass had been recovering from depletion, and many were interested and invested in this recovery,” Gordon noted. “But anglers were seeing signs of starvation and disease in striped bass, and it didn’t take long to trace many of the problems to the absence of adequate prey (menhaden) for them. That’s what led to the first cap on menhaden fishing in the Chesapeake Bay, in 2005.”

In 2012, with support from the Lenfest Ocean Program, the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University convened the Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force, a panel of 13 marine and fisheries scientists from around the world, to offer science-based advice for the management of species known as forage fish, because of their crucial role in marine ecosystems. In their report, “Little Fish, Big Impact,” researchers concluded fisheries managers “need to pay more careful attention to the special vulnerabilities of forage fish and the cascading effects of forage fishing on predators.”

Since then, ASMFC staff, scientists, and advisors have been developing and reviewing a range of ecological models and management strategies. In 2012, the ASMFC voted in favor of Amendment 2, which set a new coast-wide catch limit. In May of 2015, the ASMFC began drafting Amendment 3 to the menhaden management plan, with the goal of establishing ecological management, and to review and possibly update state-by-state quota allocations.

“What’s amazing to watch over time, and I’ve worked on this for about a decade, is we’ve gone from a situation where we didn’t have any coast-wide limit at all to a question of when it’s going to happen,” says Gordon.

CONSIDERING SCIENCE

The outcome of the vote on Amendment 3 is expected to have a powerful impact on the future of menhaden, as well as recreational anglers, tourism, conservationists and larger fisheries. Yet with so much on the line, figuring out the right path isn’t so clear cut.

For one, scientists and researchers who study menhaden are at odds with each other, some saying we are at a critical juncture and must make drastic moves to manage and protect menhaden, and others dismissing such reports as hysteria.

In a Q&A with Pew Charitable Trusts, Ellen Pikitch, a marine biology professor and director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University, said the state of menhaden appears to be in decent shape if you examine the population in isolation.

“But when you look at it from an ecosystem perspective—whether there are enough to feed predators—menhaden are much less numerous than they ought to be,” she said. “On the East Coast, menhaden used to range from Nova Scotia to Florida, but we haven’t seen that kind of distribution for probably 50 years.”

Pikitch led a group of more than 100 scientists who commented on the proposed Amendment 3 ERPs, and is pushing for the implementation of Option E.

But at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard on October 24, fisheries scientist Dr. Ray Hilborn, a professor at the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, said there was “no empirical evidence to support the idea that the abundance of forage fish affects their predators.”

Dr. Hilborn’s comments came in response to questioning from Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) about whether fisheries managers should manage forage fish according to a “rule of thumb” approach, where fisheries are managed according to a set of broad ecological and management principals, or a “case-by-case” approach, where management is guided by more species-specific information.

Hilborn, who was part of a team of fisheries scientists that recently examined the effects fishing for forage fish species had on predator species, has expressed concern that the 2012 report from the Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force may have overestimated the strength of the predator-prey relationship.

John Bull, commissioner for Virginia Marine Resources Commission, believes the latter. And while he’s heard environmental groups are trying to make Option E seem more palatable by saying it will result in “phased implementation,” he does not support the establishment of interim ERPs because it “doesn’t make sense, scientifically.”

“The science shows from a benchmark stock assessment a couple years ago that the stock is healthy, robust, and reproduction is good,” said Bull. “And in fact, a 30 percent increase on menhaden could be enacted with a 0 percent chance of overfishing. What Virginia would like to see is an increase in the quota on the East Coast of 5, 6, 7 percent.”

Marisa Torrieri is a freelance writer who lives in Fairfield, Connecticut, with her husband and two young sons. She possesses a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University, and has written and edited for dozens of publications, including the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, and the Village Voice.

Menhaden Fisheries Coalition Analysis Finds 92 Percent of Atlantic Menhaden Already Left In Water to Serve Ecological Role

Analysis Challenges Arguments That Interim Ecological Reference Points Are Urgently Needed

An analysis finds that 92 percent of Atlantic menhaden are left in the water to serve their ecological role. A high quality version of this infographic is available by clicking on the image.

WASHINGTON – November 9, 2017 – The following was released by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition:

A new analysis from the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) finds that current management leaves 92 percent of Atlantic menhaden to serve their ecological role as forage for predators. The analysis is based on data from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) 2017 update stock assessment of Atlantic menhaden. The MFC has produced an infographic illustrating this analysis, which is available here.

In recent weeks, numerous ENGOs and recreational fishing groups up and down the Atlantic Coast have published articles and op-eds arguing that menhaden are in dire need of greater protection. These groups include the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the American Sportfishing Association, and local activists from coastal states like Rhode Island and New Jersey. However, the MFC’s analysis challenges the assertion that fisheries take too many menhaden, and makes clear that the vast majority of fish are already left in the water to fulfill their ecological role.

The analysis tracks an average menhaden year class through its full life cycle. It finds that two-thirds of juvenile menhaden (younger than age 1) are either consumed by predators or die of natural causes. These juvenile menhaden are the preferred forage for predator species and are not targeted by the fishery, which takes less than 1 percent of these fish.

Over half of the menhaden that survive to age-1 are allocated to the ecosystem to be eaten by predators such as striped bass and marine birds or die of natural causes. Only 8 percent of age-1 menhaden are harvested by the fishery.

The menhaden fishery largely harvests menhaden over the age of 2, but even for this age group, it only harvests about 40 percent of fish. Overall, just 8 percent of a menhaden year class is harvested by the fishery. The overwhelming majority of fish – 92 percent – are not impacted by the fishery.

This MFC analysis is an update of a previous analysis that was based on the ASMFC’s 2015 benchmark stock assessment of Atlantic menhaden. That analysis was reviewed by the ASMFC last fall. Both the 2015 benchmark assessment and the 2017 update assessment found that Atlantic menhaden is neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing.

2017 American Eel Stock Assessment Update and Stock Assessment Overview Now Available

November 1, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The 2017 American Eel Stock Assessment Update and the Stock Assessment Overview, which provides a brief and simplified summary of the Update, are now available on the Commission’s website, www.asmfc.org, on the American Eel webpage under Stock Assessment Reports. Direct links to both documents follow:

http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/59fa2b39AmericanEelStockAssessmentUpdate_Oct2017.pdf

http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/59e8c077AmericanEelStockAssessmentOverview_Oct2017.pdf

ASMFC Releases 2017 Atlantic Sturgeon benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report, and Stock Assessment Overview

November 1, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The 2017 Atlantic Sturgeon Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report, and the Stock Assessment Overview, which provides a brief and simplified summary of the Report, are now available on the Commission’s website, www.asmfc.org, on the Atlantic Sturgeon webpage under Stock Assessment Reports. Direct links to both documents follow:

http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file//59f8d5ebAtlSturgeonBenchmarkStockAssmt_PeerReviewReport_2017.pdf

http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/59f8b1fdAtlanticSturgeonStockAssmtOverview_Oct2017.pdf

Supplemental Materials for the November 13-14, 2017 Atlantic Menhaden Board Meeting Now Available

October 31, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Supplemental materials for the November 13-14, 2017 meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board are now available at – http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/AtlMenhadenBoardNov2017/AtlMenhadenBoardSupplemental_Nov2017.pdf. Links to meeting materials may also be found on the ASMFC website, www.asmfc.org, under News/Meeting Archives. Please note the document is very large (over 3,000 pages) and will take some time to download; use Adobe Reader bookmarks to navigate within the document.

The meeting will be held at The BWI Airport Marriott, 1743 West Nursery Road, Linthicum Heights, Maryland. The room block is closed; please notify Cindy Robertson (crobertson@asmfc.org) if you need assistance.

In addition, the following timeline has been established for the submission of written comment for issues for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., comment will not be accepted on Draft Amendment 3).

1. Comments received 3 weeks prior to the start of a meeting week will be included in the briefing materials.

2. Comments received by 5:00 PM on the Tuesdayimmediately preceding the scheduled ASMFC Meeting (in this case, the Tuesday deadline will be November 7, 2017) will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting and a limited number of copies will be provided at the meeting.

3. Following the Tuesday, November 7, 2017 5:00 PM deadline, the commenter will be responsible for distributing the information to the management board prior to the board meeting or providing enough copies for the management board consideration at the meeting (a minimum of 50 copies).

The proceedings of the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board will be broadcast daily via webinar beginningMonday, November 13th at 1 p.m. and continuing until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 5 p.m.) onTuesday, November 14th. 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, go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5185069623952037379.

New England’s herring fishery to shut for 2 weeks

The closure will allow the fish to spawn.

October 30, 2017 — Part of the New England herring fishery will be shut down for two weeks to allow the fish to spawn.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says samples from Massachusetts and New Hampshire show a high number of spawning herring in the area. That means a stretch of coast and ocean from Cape Cod to southern Maine will close from Oct. 29 to Nov. 11.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

National Wildlife Federation Revives Menhaden Myths with Latest Petition

October 24, 2017 — The following was released by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition:

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is misleading the public on the health and history of Atlantic menhaden – an economically critical fish species along the East Coast. Pushing an online petition and enlisting the help of Hollywood celebrities to call for further restrictions on the menhaden fishery, NWF is repeating and amplifying oft-repeated misinformation on the species.

Menhaden were not overharvested, and quota cuts have not been responsible for their resurgence. NWF states that “fishing pressure” had reduced the coastwide menhaden population, and the species has only begun to recover thanks to harvest reductions that went into place in 2012. Neither of these claims is accurate. Five years ago, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the interstate body responsible for menhaden management, instituted harvest cuts based on an inaccurate and flawed stock assessment. But two improved, subsequent assessments, one released in 2015 and one earlier this year, instead confirm that menhaden are not overfished, nor are they experiencing overfishing.

More importantly, the assessments also found that this is not a recent development: menhaden have not been overfished at any point in the last decade, and menhaden fishing mortality has been on a long-term downward trend and is near the lowest it has ever been. Last year, the ASMFC considered the menhaden stock to be healthy enough that they voted to raise the coastwide quota.

The menhaden fishery does not heavily impact striped bass. Menhaden are one of the many forage species that are eaten by striped bass. But recent science finds that the menhaden fishery does not have as much of an impact on predator species as commonly thought. A study published this April by Dr. Ray Hilborn and a team of fisheries scientists concluded that the size of predator populations had little correlation to the number of forage fish available to them, and that other factors, including the location and naturally fluctuating populations of forage species, were just as influential.

It also found that, specifically in the case of menhaden, that predators such as striped bass are not in direct competition with menhaden fishermen: bass typically target smaller fish, while fishermen generally catch older fish.

Menhaden oversight did not begin in 2012. While 2012 marked the first time that a coastwide quota was put into effect, the NWF is wrong to suggest that this marks the beginning of menhaden oversight. The ASMFC has monitored the menhaden fishery since the late 1950s, and state-level catch limits and restrictions were in place long before the 2012 quota.

NWF surrogates are also wrong characterizing the current debate over menhaden reference points as the menhaden fishery wanting to “remove restrictions” on the species. Members of the menhaden fishery instead support quotas and reference points for menhaden that are supported by the science produced by the ASMFC, and reflect the healthy state of the menhaden population.

Menhaden are not “the most important fish in the sea.” Credible scientists do not consider any one species “most important.” The moniker “the most important fish in the sea” was coined by Rutgers University English professor H. Bruce Franklin in his 2007 book of the same name. The phrase stems from entirely qualitative judgments made by the author that lack scientific founding. There has been no scientific study that validates this claim, and studies that have attempted to analyze how menhaden affects other species and the ecosystem, like the Hilborn et al. study published earlier this year, have found that it is just one of many factors impacting predator species.

The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Menhaden Advisory Committee discussed the book upon its publication in a March 2008 meeting and concluded, “the book should be sold as a book of fiction and generally disregarded.” There is no scientific evidence supporting the hyperbolic statement that any one species of fish is “most important,” and this phrase represents only Dr. Franklin’s opinion, rather than any scientific consensus.

About the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition

The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition is a collective of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries. Comprised of businesses along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition conducts media and public outreach on behalf of the menhaden industry to ensure that members of the public, media, and government are informed of important issues, events, and facts about the fishery.

Meeting Details for ASMFC Atlantic Menhaden Board November 13 & 14, 2017 Meeting

October 24, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board will meet November 13-14, 2017 at The BWI Airport Marriott located at 1743 West Nursery Road, Linthicum Heights, Maryland. The meeting notice, travel authorization form and travel reimbursement guidelines are attached. Meeting materials are available on the Commission website at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/AtlMenhadenBoardNov2017/AtlanticMenhadenBoard.pdf. Supplemental materials will be available November 1^st at www.asmfc.org/home/meeting-archive.

A block of rooms is being held at The BWI Airport Marriott. Cindy Robertson will make Commissioner/Proxy reservations and will contact you regarding the details of your accommodations. Please notify Cindy of any changes to your travel plans that will impact your hotel reservations, otherwise you will incur no-show penalties. We greatly appreciate your cooperation.

For all other attendees, please reserve online or call The BWI Airport Marriott at 410.859.8300 as soon as possible and mention the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to obtain the group room rate of $159.00 plus tax single/dbl. Please be aware that you must guarantee your room reservation with a major credit card or one night’s advance payment. Hotel reservations must be made by Friday, October 27, 2017. Room availability will not be guaranteed beyond this date. Cancellations at The BWI Airport Marriott must be made prior to 48 hours of arrival to avoid penalty. If you have any problems at all regarding accommodations please contact Cindy at 703.842.0740 or at crobertson@asmfc.org.

Please note: If you intend to provide public comments on Draft Amendment 3, you must do so by 5 PM today. Comments may be submitted to comments@asmfc.org.

Public Comment Guidelines

With the intent of developing policies in the Commission’s procedures for public participation that result in a fair opportunity for public input, the ISFMP Policy Board has approved the following guidelines for use at management board meetings:

For issues that are not on the agenda, management boards will continue to provide opportunity to the public to bring matters of concern to the board’s attention at the start of each board meeting. Board chairs will use a speaker sign-up list in deciding how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.

For topics that are on the agenda, but have not gone out for public comment, board chairs will provide limited opportunity for comment, taking into account the time allotted on the agenda for the topic. Chairs will have flexibility in deciding how to allocate comment opportunities; this could include hearing one comment in favor and one in opposition until the chair is satisfied further comment will not provide additional insight to the board.

For agenda action items that have already gone out for public comment, it is the Policy Board’s intent to end the occasional practice of allowing extensive and lengthy public comments. Currently, board chairs have the discretion to decide what public comment to allow in these circumstances.

1. Comments received 3 weeks prior to the start of a meeting week will be included in the briefing materials.

3. Following the Tuesday, November 7, 2017 5:00 PMdeadline, the commenter will be responsible for distributing the information to the management board prior to the board meeting or providing enough copies for the management board consideration at the meeting (a minimum of 50 copies).

The submitted comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution. As with other public comment, it will be accepted via mail, fax, and email.

ASMFC Begins Preparations for Horseshoe Crab Benchmark Stock Assessment

October 24, 2017 — ARLINGTON, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will begin work on the 2018 benchmark stock assessment for horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) starting this month. The assessment will be used to evaluate the health of the stock and inform the management of this species. The Commission’s stock assessment process and meetings are open to the public, with the exception of discussions of confidential data such as biomedical data, when the public will be asked to leave the room.

The Commission welcomes the submission of data sources that will improve the accuracy of the assessment. This includes, but is not limited to, data on catch per unit effort, biological samples (sex, weight, prosomal width, life stage), life history information (growth, fecundity, natural mortality, sex ratio), stock structure (tagging data, genetics), bycatch and discard data, and biomedical data. For data sets to be considered, the data must be sent in the required format, with accompanying description of methods, to the Commission by December 20, 2017.

The Data Workshop date and location have yet to be determined, but it is anticipated to take place during January or February 2018. This workshop will review all available data sources for horseshoe crab and identify data sets to be incorporated in the stock assessment. For those interested in submitting data and/or attending the Horseshoe Crab Data Workshop (space is limited), please contact Dr. Kristen Anstead, Stock Assessment Scientist, at kanstead@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

ASMFC South Atlantic Board Selects Final Measures for the Interstate FMP for the Atlantic Migratory Group Cobia and Recommends Final Approval by the Commission

October 20, 2017 — NORFOLK, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board selected final measures for the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Migratory Group (AMG) Cobia and recommended Commission approval of the FMP at its next Business Session meeting, scheduled for November in Baltimore, MD.

The FMP was initiated in response to recent overages of the federal annual catch limit (ACL) for AMG Cobia. Managing the recreational ACL on a coastwide basis has resulted in federal closures and significant overages in 2015 and 2016, disrupting fishing opportunities and jeopardizing the health of the stock.

The Board-approved FMP complements many of the aspects of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s (SAFMC) cobia regulations from Georgia through New York. The recreational fishery will be managed with a one fish bag limit and minimum size limit of 36” fork length (FL) or total length equivalent. Vessel limits will be determined once individual states set their seasonal restrictions, but may not exceed six fish per vessel. State-specific allocations of a coastwide recreational harvest limit that is equivalent to the federal AMG cobia ACL of 620,000 pounds result in the following state-specific soft targets:

· Georgia: 58,311 pounds

· South Carolina: 74,885 pounds

· North Carolina: 236,316 pounds

· Virginia: 244,292 pounds

Recreational harvest overages of specific-state allocations will be evaluated over a three-year time period. If overages occur, states will be required to adjust management measures to reduce harvest in the subsequent three-year period.

The commercial fishery will maintain the current management measures as implemented through the SAFMC plan and continue to be managed with a 33” FL minimum size limit and 2 fish limit per person, with a 6 fish maximum vessel limit. The federal ACL of 50,000 pounds is allocated to the entire commercial fishery from Georgia through New York. The commercial AMG cobia fishery will close once the ACL is projected to be reached.

The FMP provides the opportunity for states to declare de minimis status for their recreational fishery if landings constitute less than 1% of the recreational AMG cobia harvest. States must submit implementation plans to the Commission by January 1, 2018 for Technical Committee review and Board approval at the February 2018 meeting in Alexandria, Virginia. Approved plans must be implemented by April 1, 2018. For more information, please contact Dr. Louis Daniel, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at ldaniel@asmfc.org or 252.342.1478.

A PDF version of the press release can be found here – http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/59e95456pr54CobiaFMP_BoardApproval.pdf