November 30, 2016 — The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s Division of Fish & Wildlife will host Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission public hearings on proposed changes to the interstate fishery management plans for Atlantic menhaden at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 8 in DNREC’s Lewes Facility, 901 Pilottown Road.
The Atlantic menhaden FMP hearing will be preceded by a 6 p.m. public hearing on a proposed addendum to the Jonah crab FMP.
As the first step in the amendment process, the ASMFC is seeking input from stakeholders and other interested groups about changes observed in the fishery/resource and potential management measures. Work on Draft Amendment 3 to the Atlantic menhaden plan was initiated following review by the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board, of which Delaware is a member, and acceptance of the 2015 Stock Assessment and Peer Review report, which found the menhaden resource in good condition — neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing. Population fecundity, a measure of reproductive capacity, was estimated to be about double the threshold value of 86.8 trillion eggs. Additionally, total fishing mortality was below the current target.
The ASMFC’s public information document — the precursor to the forthcoming draft amendment — outlines a number of issues in the Atlantic menhaden fishery and solicits feedback on how the resource should be managed. Specifically, the PID presents a suite of tools to manage the menhaden resource using ecological reference points and provides options to allocate the resource among the states, regions and user groups. In addition to the specific issues identified, comments are welcome on all aspects of the fishery and resource, including recommendations for future management.