Saving Seafood

SAFMC to Meet in Cocoa Beach, FL on June 13-17, 2016

May 27, 2016 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Meeting Location:

Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront

1550 N. Atlantic Avenue

Cocoa Beach FL 32931

Phone: 800-445-8667 or 321-799-0003

Agenda Highlights

  • Mackerel Committee – Discussion on Atlantic cobia management.
  • Snapper Grouper Committee – Discussions on management of mutton snapper, red snapper, and hogfish.
  • Data Collection Committee – Discussion on electronic reporting for charter vessels.
  • Joint Dolphin Wahoo/Snapper Grouper Committees – Discussion on allocations for dolphinfish and yellowtail snapper.

Read more about the meeting at the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council

Virginia Defies Federal Mandate That Restricts Cobia Fishing Season

May 27, 2016 — This past Tuesday, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission voted 5-4 to keep the Commonwealth’s cobia season open until August 30th of this year. The debate lasted well over four hours. The National Marine Fisheries Service issued a South Atlantic Marine Fishery Council order that would have closed the cobia fishery starting June 20th spanning from Georgia to New York. As a response, this order didn’t sit well with Virginia anglers and others serviced by the fishing industry in the state.

Here is the deal the commission reached regarding the cobia fishery in Virginia:

The Commission did raise the size limit from 37 to 40 inches, kept a one-fish per person possession limit, instituted a two-fish daily vessel limit, allowing only one of those fish to be more than 50 inches, for all vessels including for-hire (charter and head boats). The Commission also voted prohibited the gaffing of cobia by recreational anglers. In addition, the Commission decided to close the fishery on August 30 and will begin a reporting system for recreational anglers to report their cobia catches to the agency. The Commission had been requested by the National Marine Fisheries Service to close the recreational cobia fishery on June 20 because federal data showed the Georgia-New York allowable recreational catch of cobia was greatly exceeded in 2015 and Virginia alone caught the entire coastal quota.

Read the full story at Wide Open Spaces

North Carolina votes to keep cobia season open

May 20, 2016 — The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries Commission voted Thursday to keep its state-waters cobia fishery open past a federally-ordered June 20 closing, putting the state in non-compliance with the South Atlantic Marine Fisheries Council.

But the commission made several drastic changes to size and bag limits, and severely cut the number of days that recreational anglers could keep the coveted species.

From May 23 to Sept. 30, charter boats will be able to fish every day with a four-fish limit per boat, with each fish measuring at least 37 inches. Pier and surf anglers also can fish every day, with one 37-inch minimum fish per person per day.

Read the full story at the Virginian-Pilot

Fishing forecast: Decision looms on whether to shut down cobia fishing

May 19, 2016 — Yes, it is starting to sound like a broken record. But the stakes are too high to not talk about cobia before an incredibly important meeting Tuesday at the Virginia Marine Resources Commission in Newport News.

The commission that afternoon will decide whether or not it will comply with federally ordered rules that will shut down cobia fishing along the East Coast on June 20.

North Carolina’s fisheries managers meet today and Friday to decide whether that state will go non-compliant. Should Carolina do so, the feds most likely would make the coastal closing date earlier.

The thing is, cobia in the two states are almost exclusively caught in state waters inside three miles. In the past, state agencies usually have adopted federal water rules in fear of suffering paybacks from the feds. But not always.

Read the full story at the Virginian-Pilot

NOAA Announces Gulf Red Snapper Harvest to Open June 1

April 29, 2016 — NOAA Fisheries has announced the recreational season for the harvest of red snapper in the federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico will open at 12:01 a.m. June 1, 2016. The bag and possession limit is two fish per person at a 16-inch minimum total length.

Last year, NOAA Fisheries, through the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council), made the decision to split the recreational red snapper quota into two distinct components – private anglers and charter vessels and headboats (for-hire). Each component has its own quota allocations based upon NOAA’s recreational red snapper harvest estimates. Private anglers will have a 9-day federal season running through June 9th closing at 11:59 p.m., and charter vessels / headboats will have a 46-day federal season, closing July 16th at 11:59 p.m.

The “Louisiana-only” season

The season for the recreational harvest of red snapper in Louisiana state waters is currently open, will remain open during the federal season, and will continue to be open after the federal season closes. LDWF monitors real-time red snapper harvest during 2016 through the LA Creel program.

Recreational Offshore Landing Permit

The Department reminds anglers that a Recreational Offshore Landing Permit is required in order to posses certain species, including red snapper. Anglers may obtain or new the permit, free of charge at https://rolp.wlf.la.gov.

The permit is required for any angler possessing tuna, billfish, swordfish, amberjacks, groupers, snappers, hinds, wahoo, cobia and dolphin, except for anglers under 16 years of age or anglers fishing on a paid-for-hire trip where the captain holds a permit.

Read the full story at The Fishing Wire

NORTH CAROLINA: Fraught year plunges fishermen into politics

April 25, 2016 — WILMINGTON, NC — When he took the podium at an N.C. Recreational Fishing Alliance meeting last week in Wilmington, Rep. Jimmy Dixon, R-Duplin, was about the only person in a suit and tie. Outfitted in baseball caps and T-shirts emblazoned with leaping marlins and big-mouth bass, some in the audience, Dixon suspected, might be in unfamiliar waters.

“Some of you in here don’t even know the definition of politics, and here you are trying to get involved in politics,” he said. Before diving into a speech on fisheries, Dixon broke down that definition.

“‘Poli,’ which means many,” he explained. “‘Ticks’: blood-sucking parasites.”

The crowd roared with laughter, and after the past year in North Carolina fisheries management you’d be hard-pressed to find a fisherman in the room who disagreed. A fight over flounder catch restrictions pitted commercial and recreational fishermen against each other and pulled state legislators into the fray; state cuts to cobia catch roiled sports-fishermen again; and in February Division of Marine Fisheries Director Louis Daniel abruptly resigned and moved to shellfish sanitation.

Just last week, the state Department of Environmental Quality gave coastal management director Braxton Davis control of marine fisheries. A news release states the divisions will stay separate, but officials will “examine ways in which the two divisions can achieve efficiencies in operations.”

Months of turmoil have left local anglers concerned the state is ignoring possible overfishing of some species, especially in North Carolina’s delicate estuaries. At the RFA meeting, Dixon was joined by other leaders — Rep. Ted Davis Jr., R-New Hanover; Rep. John Bell, R-Craven; Rep. Billy Richardson, D-Cumberland; and aides to Congressman David Rouzer — who told fishermen that they’re listening.

Read the full story at Star News Online

Councils to Hold Cobia Management Meetings in N.C.

April 19, 2016 — SAVE THE DATE – May 9, 2016!
Councils to Hold a Q&A Public Meeting on Cobia Management

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, will hold a Q&A Public Meeting in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to address cobia management issues.

DATE: May 9, 2016

TIME: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

LOCATION: The meeting is being held in Kitty Hawk, NC and is also being broadcast via webinar. Registration for the webinar only is required – see below for registration link.

Read the full story at The Fishing Wire

 

SOUTH CAROLINA: Spawning areas established to protect key Atlantic fish species

March 14, 2016 — South Atlantic Fishery Management Council officials approved five offshore areas as Spawning Special Management Zones, or SMZs on Friday at a meeting in Jekyll Island, Ga.

Among them are three off the South Carolina coast and another off of North Carolina at a meeting.

In addition, NOAA Fisheries announced during the meeting that the recreational fishery for cobia will close on June 20 in federal waters from Georgia to New York, which is the Atlantic group of the species.

The area off the coast of South Carolina that will be closed to snapper-grouper fishing is a 3.03-square mile tract of bottom that is part of the Georgetown Hole, located about 55 miles southeast of the Winyah Bay jetties.

Also to be closed to snapper-grouper fishing are two experimental artificial reef areas established by the state Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) known as Area 51 and Area 53, each approximately 3 square miles in size off the South Carolina coast.

A 5.1-square mile area off the coast of North Carolina known as the South Cape Lookout site will also be closed.

The fifth closure is a 3.6-square mile area off the east coast of the Florida Keys known as the Warsaw Hole, or 50 Fathom Hole.

Fishing for snapper-grouper species would be prohibited and anchoring not permitted in closed areas, but trolling for pelagic species such as wahoo, dolphin, tuna and billfish would be allowed.

If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, the five areas ranging in size from 3- to 5-square miles, and be the first such Spawning SMZs designated in federal waters off the South Atlantic coast.

“The selection of the Spawning SMZs has been a long and deliberative process, focusing on sites that are most beneficial for spawning snapper-grouper species such as speckled hind and warsaw grouper while balancing impacts to fishermen,” said South Atlantic Fishery Management Council chairperson Dr. Michelle Duval. “The council chose these areas based on scientific recommendations, input from its advisory panels, a great deal of public input, and the results from cooperative research with fishermen familiar with the unique habitat attracting species at selected sites.”

NORTH CAROLINA: Federal Closure Looms Over Cobia Season

February 25, 2016 — The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission voted in late February to reduce the daily creel limit for cobia from two fish to one in state waters, and fisheries officials are hoping to find more ways to delay a federal closure of the season that could come as soon as June 15.

Rereational fishermen caught almost a million pounds over their annual catch limit of 630,000 pounds in Atlantic Ocean waters north of the Florida-Georgia line last year, according to NOAA Fisheries, and federal regulations mandates a reduction in harvest this year.`

Dr. Louis Daniel, director of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, hopes that the creel-limit reduction, and perhaps an increase in the minimum size could allow North Carolina fishermen to have their season extended. States have an understanding with NOAA Fisheries and the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council (SAFMC) that measures adopted to reduce state-by-state catches could result in a longer 2016 season.

At its Feb. 17-19 meeting in Wrightsville Beach, the Commission voted 7-0, with Sammy Corbett, the chairman, abstaining, to lower the daily creel limit from two fish to one, effective Feb. 27. The NCDMF has asked the ASFMC how long raising the size minimum from 32 to 36 or 40 inches might extend the season.

Read the full story at the North Carolina Sportsman

NORTH CAROLINA: Proposed closure of Cobia fishing season has many concerned

February 17, 2016 — WILMINGTON, NC – Fisherman packed into the Blockade Runner on Wednesday night to voice their concerns and frustrations about the possibility of closing the recreational Cobia fishing season in June.

Louis Daniel, the director of the Division of Marine Fisheries, said the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is responsible for managing Cobia from the Florida Keys up through New York.

The Fishery Management Plan for Cobia sets an allowable recreational catch limit and if that limit is exceeded, then the council has to shorten the season to keep the harvest rates below the catch limit. Daniel said that is a federal law that they have to follow.

“We don’t really have a choice in whether or not there is a closure,” said Daniel. “Their only option would be to go against the federal regulation.”

The federal proposal is to close the season on June 15. The National Marine Fisheries Service, however, is waiting to see if North Carolina drops the Cobia bag limit from two fish to one fish.

If the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries votes to drop the bag limit, Daniel is hopeful the National Marine Fisheries Service will do some more calculations and be able to extend the season a little longer.

Read the full story at WECT