Saving Seafood

MAFMC: Register for Summer Flounder Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) Virtual Workshops

March 23, 2021 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

As a reminder, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council has scheduled three virtual regional public workshops to solicit input on future management of the recreational summer flounder fishery. The dates and times of the workshops are listed below. You are encouraged to participate in the workshop for your region; however, all workshops are open to all individuals. Registration is required, and participants are encouraged to register at least 24 hours prior to a scheduled workshop.

  1. Massachusetts through Connecticut: Monday, March 29, 2021; 5:30 P.M. – 8:00 P.M. Register for the MA-CT Workshop
  2. New York through Delaware: Wednesday, March 31, 2021; 5:30 P.M. – 8:00 P.M. Register for the NY-DE Workshop
  3. Maryland through North Carolina: Monday, April 5, 2021; 5:30 P.M. – 8:00 P.M. Register for the MD-NC Workshop

Workshops will be held via Webex, which can be accessed using a computer, tablet, or smartphone. Participants can also join and participate in the workshop with a phone-only connection; however, you will not be able to see any presentations or other materials shared on the webinar. Once registered, you will receive an email from Webex with the webinar information including the webinar link, telephone number and access code, and a calendar invite.

Background

These workshops are part of the Council’s development of a management strategy evaluation (MSE) which will evaluate different management strategies designed to minimize discards in the recreational summer flounder fishery. Input provided during the workshops will build on the 800+ comments and suggestions that were submitted through a public comment form earlier this year. More information about this project can be found on the Summer Flounder Management Strategy Evaluation page.

During the workshops, participants will listen to a series of short background presentations and then provide input and feedback regarding summer flounder discard concerns, potential management objectives to address these concerns, and performance metrics and strategies to achieve these objectives. An agenda and additional briefing materials are available on the workshop web page.

Questions? Contact Brandon Muffley, bmuffley@mafmc.org, (302) 526-5260

New State of the Ecosystem Reports Document “Big Picture” Around Fishing

April 7, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Two newly issued reports provide a snapshot of the Northeast U.S. Shelf Ecosystem. They look at everything from phytoplankton production at the bottom of the food web to the fishery harvests at the top. One report focuses on Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine the other on the waters of the Mid-Atlantic Bight. These are the three major regions within the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem.

These annual reports are part of a larger, ongoing NOAA-wide initiative. It provides a consistent national approach to managing ecosystems that is flexible enough to accommodate regional needs. This Integrated Ecosystem Assessment approach is intended to help resource managers integrate physical, biological, economic, and social components of ecosystems into their decision-making. This will help them to balance trade-offs and determine which approaches are more likely to achieve their desired goals. The 2020 State of the Ecosystem Reports inform the New England and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils.

“This approach has helped give the council structure with specific steps to define what our management goals and objectives are, figure out how we can address them, and understand what that means for areas such as economics,” said Brandon Muffley, a fishery management specialist at the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

The State of the Ecosystem reports were produced by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, with additional collaborators from academic research institutions, non-profit organizations, and state agencies.

Read the full release here