Cobia Archives - Page 8 of 10

South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Seeks Applicants for Federal Fishery Advisors

January 18, 2017 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is currently soliciting applicants for open advisory panel seats. Working at the grass roots level, advisory panel members provide information and guidance in the development and implementation of federal fishery management plans. The Council has twelve advisory panels composed of individuals who are engaged in the harvest of managed species, or are knowledgeable and interested in the conservation and management of the fishery or managed species. Members include recreational and commercial fishermen, seafood dealers and processors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), scientists, and concerned citizens.

Advisory panel members are appointed by the Council and serve for a three-year period, based on the frequency of meetings. As those appointments expire, members currently serving on the AP may reapply for their positions. These seats also become open to new applicants. Members may serve for three consecutive terms before reaching their term limit. AP members generally meet no more than once or twice each year and are compensated for travel and per diem expenses for all meetings. Applications are now being solicited for the following positions:

Habitat Advisory Panel

(1) North Carolina Recreational Seat
(1) At-Large Research Seat

Information & Education Advisory Panel

(3) Open Seats

Law Enforcement Advisory Panel

(1) Open Commercial Seat

Mackerel Cobia Advisory Panel

(2) Open Seats; (1) NGO Seat; and (1) Florida Seat for the Cobia Sub-panel

Snapper Grouper Advisory Panel

(2) North Carolina Open Seats; (4) Florida Open Seats; and (1) Consumer Representative

SEDAR Pool Advisory Panel (Pool)*

Open Seats

*Applicants appointed to the Southeast Data, Assessment and Review (SEDAR) Pool are eligible to serve on species-specific panels for future stock assessments.

Advisory Panel Applicants

If you are interested in serving as a member on the Council’s advisory panels, please contact Kim Iverson, Public Information Officer, at kim.iverson@safmc.net or call the Council office at 843/571-4366 (Toll Free 866/SAFMC-10). Application forms are available from the Council office and may also be downloaded from the “Advisory Panel” page of the Council’s website at www.safmc.net

Applications should be mailed to Kim Iverson, South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, 4055 Faber Place Drive, Suite 201, North Charleston, SC 29405 or submitted via email to the above address.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact area Council representatives to discuss their interest in serving. Contact information for all Council members is available from the “About Us” section of the Council’s website at www.safmc.net or through the Council office.

Advisory panel members will be selected during the Council’s March 6 -10, 2017 meeting in Jekyll Island, Georgia. Advisory panel applications must be received by February 10, 2017 for consideration by the Council during the March meeting.

See the full release at the SAFMC

Commercial Harvest of Atlantic Group Cobia in South Atlantic Waters Will Close on December 6, 2016

December 1, 2016 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Commercial harvest of Atlantic group cobia in South Atlantic waters will close at 12:01 a.m. (local time) December 6, 2016. The 2016 commercial annual catch limit is 50,000 pounds round or gutted weight. Updated landings data indicate that commercial harvest of cobia will likely reach the annual catch limit by that date. Commercial harvest will reopen at 12:01 a.m. (local time) on January 1, 2017.

The operator of a vessel that is landing cobia for sale must have landed and bartered, traded, or sold such cobia prior to 12:01 a.m., local time, December 6, 2016. The prohibition on sale and purchase does not apply to the sale or purchase of cobia that were harvested, landed ashore, and sold prior to 12:01 a.m. (local time) December 6, 2016, and were held in cold storage by a dealer or processor.

This closure is necessary to protect the cobia resource by preventing the commercial annual catch limit from being exceeded.

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission South Atlantic Board Releases Cobia PID for Public Comment

November 3, 2016 — The following was released by the ASMFC:

Arlington, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board releases for public comment the Public Information Document (PID) for the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Cobia. As the first step in the FMP development process, the PID provides stakeholders with an opportunity to inform the Commission about changes observed in the fishery and provide feedback on potential management measures as well as any additional issues that should be included in the Draft FMP. Specifically, the PID seeks comment on the management unit; goals and objectives of the plan; commercial and recreational measures; coastwide, regional or state-by-state measures; and other issues.

This action responds to a request by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) for the Commission to consider joint or complementary management of the resource in light of the significant overage of the 2015 recreational annual catch limit (ACL) and the impact of those overages to state management. Further, during most recent years, a majority of recreational landings of cobia along the Atlantic coast occurs in state waters. The Commission considered this request in August and agreed to move forward with the development of a complementary FMP.

Widely distributed throughout the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, cobia are managed as two distinct groups – the Gulf Migratory Group and the Atlantic Migratory Group. The Atlantic Migratory Group, which range from New York to Georgia, is managed by the SAFMC. The east coast of Florida falls under the Gulf Migratory Group. The SAFMC manages the east coast of Florida sub-ACL which is set by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. Recreational landings of the Atlantic Migratory Group in 2015 were approximately 1.5 million pounds, 145% over the ACL, resulting in a June 20, 2016 closure of the fishery by NOAA Fisheries. Commercial cobia landings in 2015 were 83,148 pounds, 38% over the ACL. Late landings reports in 2015 precluded a timely closure of the commercial fishery.

Concerns were expressed by some states whose recreational seasons would have been significantly reduced by federal waters closure due to the 2015 quota overage. Instead of following the federal closure, several states developed alternate management strategies to reduce economic impacts to their state fisheries which resulted in differing regulations for federal and state water fishing. An intent of the complementary Cobia FMP is to provide the states the flexibility to respond to changes in the fishery and stock that meet their state fisheries needs without impacting federal fishermen while meeting the goals and objectives of the FMP.

Stakeholders are encouraged to provide input on the PID either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. The PID can be obtained athttp://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/CobiaPID_PublicComment.pdf or via the Commission’s website,www.asmfc.org, under Public Input. Public comment will be accepted until 5 PM (EST) on January 6, 2017 and should be forwarded to Dr. Louis Daniel, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at ldaniel@asmfc.org (Subject line: Cobia PID).

It is anticipated states from Delaware through Florida will be conducting hearings over the next couple of months. The details of those hearings will be released in a subsequent press release. The Management Board will meet at the Commission’s 2017 Winter Meeting to review and consider public comment and provide direction to staff for items to be included in the Draft FMP. For more information, please contact Louis Daniel at ldaniel@asmfc.org or 252-342-1478.

Reminder! Atlantic Cobia Public Hearing via Webinar Scheduled for Tuesday, October 25th at 6 PM

October 24, 2016 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

REMINDER! October 25, 2016: SAFMC Public Hearing Webinar about Changes to the Recreational Fishing Season for Atlantic Cobia

Coastal Migratory Pelagics Amendment 30 includes one action to change the recreational fishing year for Atlantic cobia. In combination with the proposed changes to the recreational bag/vessel limit and minimum size limit in Framework Amendment 4 (approved by the SAFMC in September 2016), the change to the recreational fishing year is expected to reduce the risk of exceeding the recreational annual catch limit before participants in all states have opportunities to fish for cobia. The proposed measure would impact management of Atlantic cobia, which extends from the FL/GA border northward to NY.

Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Time: 6:00 PM

Location: The public hearing is being held via webinar only.

Registration for the webinar is required – Click this link to register.

Hearing Overview: Council staff will provide a presentation on the amendment and provide participants an opportunity to ask questions. Once the Q&A session is complete, staff will open the public comment portion of the hearing and participants will be able to provide verbal public comment via the webinar using the mics on their computer or phone.

Amendment Documents/Presentations: Access the amendment documents and a video presentation to learn more about the action in the amendment.

Feds propose new limits on cobia to avoid closing fishery

September 21, 2016 — Regulators have agreed to recommend changes to cobia limits in federal waters for next year that may prevent another near-debacle like this past summer in management of the popular fish.

If approved by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, the new regulations from the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council developed at their meeting last week in Myrtle Beach would be implemented in 2017 in waters beyond three miles from shore from Georgia to New York.

According to a news release from SAFMC, the changes are designed to help extend the season for recreational and commercial fishermen and help ensure stable fishing opportunities for the migratory stock.

Advocates for anglers and charter captains expressed satisfaction with the compromise but cautioned that there may be other restrictions adopted by individual states.

“The regulations for cobia in federal waters that were passed 7-to-6 last week at the SAFMC meeting were a direct result of the fishing community’s engagement in fisheries management,” said Southern Shores resident Billy Gorham, who owns Bowed Up Lures.

The SAFMC recommended that the recreational bag limit be cut to one fish per person, per day, with a vessel limit of six, and the recreational minimum size limit increased to 36 inches measured from the tip of the mouth to where the tail begins to split, known as the fork length.

A commercial trip limit of two fish per person per day, with no more than six fish per vessel per day, whichever is more restrictive, would also be established.

Read the full story at The Outer Banks Voice

Never Frozen: Why It’s So Hard to Find North Carolina Seafood

August 31, 2016 — JUST BEFORE sunrise in one of the last fishing villages on the Outer Banks, a widow stands at her back window and watches the lights from crab boats head into the bay, one by one. By this hour, she figures, her daughter must be about 150 miles west of here, on her way to Raleigh and Charlotte and Asheville with a load of cobia and Spanish mackerel and soft-shell crabs. Less than a mile away from the widow’s house— or, put another way, clear across the island—a woman wearing a mudstained Endurance Seafood T-shirt dives her hands into her family’s decades-old live boxes to see if any crabs shed their shells overnight. Nearby, her 82-year-old father pulls on his fluorescent yellow slicker.

When you step into the morning darkness on Colington Island, you can’t fake being from here or not from here. It’s evident in your accent, your look, your last name. On this Friday morning in May, in the middle of soft-shell crab season in the soft-shell crab capital of North Carolina, an outsider opens the door to his Chevy Suburban and slips into the leather seats. It’s 5:51 a.m., but the promise of a good day for his business hits him as he turns the key.

“Ah, yeah,” he says, “there’s that familiar smell.”

Two and a half years ago, Sean Schussler quit a six-figure job as vice president of sales for a printing company to start a seafood market. Catch On Seafood is a small shop in Plaza Midwood, a trendy Charlotte neighborhood where people drive eco-friendly cars with bumper stickers that read “Eat Local.”

Read the full story at Charlotte Magazine

VIRGINIA: Cobia hearings will play a role in future regulations

August 10, 2016 — The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is holding public hearings this week and the input from anglers could play a role in the future management of cobia.

The SAFMC is proposing regulations that will further reduce next year’s allowable catch. The council forced closures in federal waters this year to reduce the catch, leaving North Carolina and Virginia to adopt tighter regulations that include a reduced season in state waters.

Opponents of increased closures and tighter regulations are asking that anglers attend as many of this week’s meetings as possible.

Read the full story at The Virginian-Pilot

ASMFC Initiates Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Cobia

August 3, 2016 — The following was released by the ASMFC:

Alexandria, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved the initiation of a new Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Atlantic Migratory Group of Cobia to complement fishery management efforts of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). This action responds to a request by the Council for the Commission to consider joint or complementary management of the resource in light of the significant overage of the 2015 recreational annual catch limit (ACL), the impact of those overages to state management, and the observation that approximately 82% of reported recreational landings are harvested in state waters.

Widely distributed throughout the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, cobia are managed as two distinct groups – the Gulf Migratory Group and the Atlantic Migratory Group. The Atlantic Migratory Group, which ranges from New York to Georgia, is managed by the Council. Recreational landings of the Atlantic Migratory Group in 2015 were approximately 1.5 million pounds, 145% over the ACL, resulting in a June 20, 2016 closure of the fishery by NOAA Fisheries. Commercial cobia landings in 2015 were 83,148 pounds, 38% over the ACL. Late landings reports in 2015 precluded a timely closure of the commercial fishery.

Concerns were expressed by individual states whose recreational seasons were significantly reduced by the closure due to the overage of the 2015 quota. North Carolina and Virginia developed alternate management strategies to avoid the June 20, 2016 closure enacted by NOAA Fisheries for federal waters. South Carolina has recently implemented more restrictive measures that are consistent with the actions of NOAA Fisheries in some areas. A complementary Commission FMP for cobia will provide the states the flexibility to respond to changes in the fishery and stock that meet their state fisheries needs while staying within the ACL

SAFMC Reminder: Public Hearing/Scoping Meeting Series Begins this Week

August 1, 2016 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Tonight (August 1)

Atlantic Cobia (GA to NY)
6:00 PM
Public Hearing and Q&A
via Webinar

Tuesday, August 2

Mutton Snapper
6:00 PM
Public Hearing and Q&A
via Webinar

Wednesday, August 3

Atlantic Cobia
6:00 PM
In-Person Public Hearing
Crowne Plaza Hotel
North Charleston, SC

Thursday, August 4

Public Scoping
Allocations for Dolphin and Yellowtail Snapper
6:00 PM
via Webinar

Registration required for webinars – it’s easy! Click here and scroll down the page for registration links.

South Atlantic Fishery Management Council

Public Hearing and Scoping Meetings

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is holding a series of public hearing/scoping meetings and webinars between August 1 and August 17 to collect public input on proposed management measures for several species managed by the Council. See below for an overview.

For details on meeting locations, webinar registration, amendment documents/presentations, new interactive story maps, and instructions on how to submit written comments, visit the Council’s website –

Public Hearing & Scoping Meetings

Written comments are due by 5:00 PM on August 19, 2016.

ASMFC 2016 Summer Meeting Supplemental Material Now Available

July 27, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Supplemental materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2016 Summer Meeting have been posted here for the following Boards/Committees (click on “Supplemental” following each relevant committee header to access the information).

Executive Committee – Memo on Plan Development Team Member; ACCSP Governance (Transition Document, Draft MOU, Staff Flowchart)

South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board – Cobia Management White Paper; FMP Reviews for Atlantic Croaker and Red Drum

Tautog Management Board – 2016 Tautog Regional Stock Assessments for Long Island Sound and New Jersey/New York Bight; Regional Assessment Desk Review; Tagging Trial Preliminary Results

Horseshoe Crab Management Board – Revised Draft Agenda and Meeting Overview; Memo on Ecobait Trials; Draft Recommendations for ARM Framework Review; Draft Biomedical Exceedance Recommendations;

Coastal Sharks Management Board – FMP Review; Advisory Panel Nomination and Request for Review of New Membership

Atlantic Menhaden Management Board – Advisory Panel Report on Draft Addendum I; Draft Public Information Document for Amendment 3; Public Comment

ACCSP Executive Committee – ACCSP Governance (Transition Document, Draft MOU, Staff Flowchart)

Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board – FMP Review

ISFMP Policy Board – Cobia Management White Paper; Risk and Uncertainty Policy Workgroup Memo; Habitat Committee Memo on Seismic Testing; MAFMC Correspondence to BOEM; SCWF Correspondence to SAFMC

ACCSP Coordinating Council – ACCSP Governance (Transition Document, Draft MOU, Staff Flowchart)

American Eel Management Board – New York Yellow Eel Allocation Proposal

American Lobster Management Board – American Lobster Technical Committee Memo on the Effect of Gauge Changes on Exploitation, SSB, Reference Abundance, and Catch; GARFO letter to ASMFC on the Southern New England Stock of American Lobster; American Lobster Plan Review Team & Advisory Panel Comments on Maine Conservation Equivalency Proposal

For ease of access, supplemental meeting materials have been combined into one PDF here.

As a reminder, Board/Section meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning at 10:15 a.m. on August 2^ndand continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 4:00 p.m.) on Thursday August 4^th. 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. Please go here to register.