October 24, 2017 — ARLINGTON, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will begin work on the 2018 benchmark stock assessment for horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) starting this month. The assessment will be used to evaluate the health of the stock and inform the management of this species. The Commission’s stock assessment process and meetings are open to the public, with the exception of discussions of confidential data such as biomedical data, when the public will be asked to leave the room.
The Commission welcomes the submission of data sources that will improve the accuracy of the assessment. This includes, but is not limited to, data on catch per unit effort, biological samples (sex, weight, prosomal width, life stage), life history information (growth, fecundity, natural mortality, sex ratio), stock structure (tagging data, genetics), bycatch and discard data, and biomedical data. For data sets to be considered, the data must be sent in the required format, with accompanying description of methods, to the Commission by December 20, 2017.
The Data Workshop date and location have yet to be determined, but it is anticipated to take place during January or February 2018. This workshop will review all available data sources for horseshoe crab and identify data sets to be incorporated in the stock assessment. For those interested in submitting data and/or attending the Horseshoe Crab Data Workshop (space is limited), please contact Dr. Kristen Anstead, Stock Assessment Scientist, at kanstead@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.