Delaware Bay Archives - Page 4 of 4

$450K NOAA scallop camera snared by sunken ship; loss could affect scallop catch limits

May 25, 2016 — The following is an excerpt from a story published in the New Bedford Standard-Times today:

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Researchers on a NOAA-chartered vessel lost a $450,000 camera that was being towed underwater Friday when a cable apparently snagged on a sunken ship near Delaware Bay, delaying vital scallop surveys and frustrating representatives of scallopers in the northeastern U.S.

Government surveys affect future catch limits for scallops, which is the highest-value species, by far, in New Bedford’s $330 million fishing industry.

Teri Frady, spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said the Hugh R. Sharp research vessel was conducting scallop surveys about 75 miles southeast of Delaware Bay, which separates New Jersey from Delaware, when underwater equipment known as a HabCam “separated from the tow cable and the vessel” in about 80 meters of water.

“The surveying was occurring around a known wreck, that of the Bow Mariner, and it appears likely the tow cable snagged on it,” a NOAA statement said.

Frady said efforts to find the HabCam — short for “habitat camera” — will begin Wednesday, with NOAA crews using an underwater rover to search near the shipwreck.

She said NOAA expects to complete most of its planned scallop survey despite the costly mishap, by relying on dredge surveys — which scoop up portions of the sea floor — and resuming photo surveys after the lost HabCam is found and repaired, or replaced.

Frady said the lost HabCam is insured, and its $450,000 value would be roughly the cost of building a replacement.

The Washington, D.C.-based Fisheries Survival Fund, which represents more than 250 scallop vessels in the northeastern fishery, said the incident has broad implications.

“The loss of a key piece of scallop survey equipment demonstrates the need for an overhaul of how the federal government assesses the species,” said a Survival Fund statement released Tuesday.

Survival Fund attorney Drew Minkiewicz said he was “frustrated, to say the least,” by the HabCam’s loss.

“It’s an accident that shouldn’t have happened — the wreck is well-known and its location is well known, so the captain shouldn’t have been towing in that area,” Minkiewicz said. “It’s going to take them over a week, of the very limited time on the research vessel Sharp, to get back on the survey. …We’re going to lose data.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Atlantic Scallop Survey Halted Due to Lost HABCAM; Recovery Planned

May 23, 2016 — The following is from an email distributed this afternoon by the NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center on behalf of Dr. Bill Karp:

“The R/V Hugh R. Sharp was underway on Friday, May 20 conducting the NEFSC Atlantic sea scallop survey about 75 nm southeast of the entrance to Delaware Bay in 80 meters of water when the survey instrument known as the HABCAM separated from the tow cable and the vessel. We are planning several approaches for recovery, and those efforts should get underway on Wednesday May 25. The surveying was occurring around a charted wreck, that of the Bow Mariner, and it appears likely the tow cable snagged on it, although this is not yet confirmed.”

“Despite this set-back, we expect to complete most of the planned work, which involves both a dredge and the HABCAM. If we are unable to use a HABCAM, the gap is most likely to be in HABCAM coverage for the Mid-Atlantic. We are working now to ensure that dredge sampling is unaffected and to maximize what we can capture using a recovered and repaired HABCAM 4, and/or another HABCAM.”

PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY: Uniform flounder rules required throughout Delaware Bay

New Jersey (March 25, 2016) — Fisheries management has been so tough on South Jersey anglers that they’re grateful when they get a little consideration.

That happened earlier this month when the N.J. Marine Fisheries Council decided to allow summer flounder caught in Delaware Bay to be kept if they’re 17 inches, a one-inch reduction in the minimum size. Size matters in this case, with less than an inch often the difference between being able to keep (and eat) a fish and having to release it.

The council acted because Delaware has been allowing people fishing in the same bay to keep flounder just 16 inches. What’s more, Delaware lets people fish any day of the year, while those in New Jersey can only fish from May 21 to Sept. 25.

Read the full column at Press of Atlantic City

Jersey Shore Fishing: ASMFC approves NJ Delaware Bay 17-inch fluke

February 4, 2016 — This week’s Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) meeting of the Summer Flounder, Scup & Black Sea Bass Management Board in Alexandria, Virginia produced unanimous approval of New Jersey as its own region with the option to utilize a 17-inch fluke minimum in Delaware Bay and for shore fishing at Island Beach State Park while the rest of the state maintains the same regulations as New York and Connecticut.

New Jersey was forced last year into a region with those states after New York objected to having higher minimum sizes for fluke while often fishing in the same waters as New Jersey boaters. Yet, the same disparity applied to Jersey boaters at the southern end of the state in Delaware Bay as Delaware’s region had a 16-inch minimum. Since party and charter boats on the Jersey side of Delaware Bay draw most of their customers from Pennsylvania, anglers from that state usually opted to drive over the Delaware Memorial Bridge in order to bag 16-inch fluke rather than be restricted to an 18-inch minimum which is hard to come by in that bay.

The new one year agreement allows the DEP to set up separate Delaware Bay regulations with a 17-inch minimum for four fluke during a 128-day season. That’s still an inch over Delaware, but may be close enough to keep some Pennsylvania fishermen coming to New Jersey Delaware Bay ports. Meanwhile, the two fluke at 17 inches for shore-based anglers in Island Beach State Park can continue – and the DEP also has the opportunity to set up similar shore opportunities if they can be properly monitored.

The rest of the state will maintain the same fluke regulations as last year – an 18-inch minimum with five fluke during a 128-day season. The Marine Fisheries Council will set the opening and closing dates. Those regulations last year resulted in the entire region coming in well under the recreational quota. According to the 2015 assessment, summer flounder are not overfished, but overfishing is occurring. There were substantial illegal commercial catches, especially before the Research Set-Aside Program was discontinued, and the fishing mortality rate in 2014 was 16 percent above the reference point. Four year classes from 2010 to 2013 turned out to be overestimated – and the biomass has actually been trending downwards since 2010. As a result, the Acceptable Biological Catch limit of 16.26 million pounds for 2016 is reduced 29 percent from 2015 – and only 40 percent of that goes to the public.

Read the full story at NewJersey.com

Congressman Frank Pallone Calls for Less Restrictive Policies for Summer Flounder and Sea Bass

January 25, 2016 – The following was released by the office of Congressman Frank Pallone:

LONG BRANCH, NJ – Today, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) sent a letter to Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, regarding the Commission’s Draft Addendum XXVII to the Summer Flounder, Scup and Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan. In the letter, Pallone called for fair and less restrictive policies relating to two important fisheries in New Jersey: summer flounder and sea bass.

“My district has thousands of private anglers and attracts individual anglers from all over the nation. These anglers support local small businesses and drive the coastal economy of my home state,” Pallone wrote in the letter. “It is critical for New Jersey to receive fair treatment in the development of restrictions placed on key recreational species.”

Regarding summer flounder, Pallone requested that the Commission enable New Jersey to become its own region and allow anglers to have a more equitable size limit within the Delaware Bay area. With respect to sea bass, he expressed his support for a less restrictive quota than the proposed 23% reduction included in the draft addendum for recreational harvest. He also once again called for more reliable data collection to ensure that recreational anglers in New Jersey and along the Atlantic Coast have fair quotas based on sound science.

Read the full text of the letter here.

NEW JERSEY: Fluke fortunes may rise on Delaware Bay

January 7, 2016 — STAFFORD TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Southern New Jersey anglers gave hearty support this week to a plan that would boost fluke fishing in the Delaware Bay.

A crowd of about 50 anglers showed up at the Thursday night meeting here at the municipal building on East Bay Avenue to give opinions on 2016 regulations for black sea bass, scup and fluke, which is also called summer flounder.

The most important question of the night was whether to support Option 2B of the fluke plan that would allow the New Jersey side of the Delaware Bay to compete with Delaware. This support now goes to the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council when it makes decisions on 2016 fluke regulations in March.

The 2015 regulations for the New Jersey side of the bay included a minimum fish size of 18 inches, five fish per day, and a 128-day season.

In Delaware, Maryland and Virginia anglers were allowed a 16-inch fish, four fish a day and enjoyed a 365-day season. Option 2B would allow the New Jersey side to have a 17-inch fish, four fish a day and the 128-day season. It’s not equal to Delaware, but it is closer to parity.

Read the full story at Press of Atlantic City

ASMFC Horseshoe Crab Board Sets 2016 Specifications for Horseshoe Crabs of Delaware Bay Origin

November 5, 2015 — ST. AUGUSTINE, Fl. – The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board approved the harvest specifications for horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin. Under the Adaptive Resource Management (ARM) Framework, the Board set a harvest limit of 500,000 Delaware Bay male horseshoe crabs and zero female horseshoe crabs for the 2016 season. Based on the allocation mechanism established in Addendum VII, the following quotas were set for the states of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, which harvest horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin:

	Delaware Bay Origin Horseshoe Crab Quota (no. of crabs)	Total Quota
State	Male Only	Male Only
Delaware	162,136	162,136
New Jersey	162,136	162,136
Maryland	141,112	255,980
Virginia*	34,615	81,331

*Virginia harvest refers to harvest east of the COLREGS line only

The Board chose a harvest management program based on the Technical Committee and ARM Subcommittee recommendation. The ARM Framework, established through Addendum VII, incorporates both shorebird and horseshoe crab abundance levels to set optimized harvest levels for horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin. Previously the horseshoe crab abundance estimate was based on data from the Benthic Trawl Survey conducted by Virginia Polytechnic Institute, however, due to the Benthic Trawl Survey not having been conducted in recent years, a composite index of the Delaware 30ft Trawl Survey, New Jersey Delaware Bay Trawl Survey, and New Jersey Ocean Trawl Survey was used instead. Funding has been secured for the Benthic Trawl Survey to be conducted in 2016.

The Horseshoe Crab Technical Committee, Delaware Bay Ecosystem Technical Committee, and the ARM Subcommittee also recommended the ARM Framework be reviewed and updated in 2016. The Board agreed with this recommendation, with specific interest in re-considering the thresholds to allow the harvest of female horseshoe crabs, as well as the recent listing of red knot as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The ARM subcommittee will develop specific recommendations to the Board on changes to the ARM Framework in 2016.

For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, FMP Coordinator, at 703.842.0740 or krootes-murdy@asmfc.org.