Saving Seafood

Meeting Details for ASMFC Atlantic Menhaden Board November 13 & 14, 2017 Meeting

October 24, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board will meet November 13-14, 2017 at The BWI Airport Marriott located at 1743 West Nursery Road, Linthicum Heights, Maryland. The meeting notice, travel authorization form and travel reimbursement guidelines are attached. Meeting materials are available on the Commission website at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/AtlMenhadenBoardNov2017/AtlanticMenhadenBoard.pdf. Supplemental materials will be available November 1st at www.asmfc.org/home/meeting-archive.

A block of rooms is being held at The BWI Airport Marriott. Cindy Robertson will make Commissioner/Proxy reservations and will contact you regarding the details of your accommodations. Please notify Cindy of any changes to your travel plans that will impact your hotel reservations, otherwise you will incur no-show penalties. We greatly appreciate your cooperation. 
 
For all other attendees, please reserve online or call The BWI Airport Marriott at 410.859.8300 as soon as possible and mention the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to obtain the group room rate of $159.00 plus tax single/dbl. Please be aware that you must guarantee your room reservation with a major credit card or one night’s advance payment. Hotel reservations must be made by Friday, October 27, 2017.  Room availability will not be guaranteed beyond this date.  Cancellations at The BWI Airport Marriott must be made prior to 48 hours of arrival to avoid penalty. If you have any problems at all regarding accommodations please contact Cindy at 703.842.0740 or at crobertson@asmfc.org.
 
The proceedings of the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board will be broadcast daily via webinar beginningMonday, November 13th at 1 p.m. and continuing until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 5 p.m.) onTuesday, November 14th. 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. To register, go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5185069623952037379.
 
Please note: If you intend to provide public comments on Draft Amendment 3, you must do so by 5 PM today. Comments may be submitted to comments@asmfc.org. 
 

Public Comment Guidelines

With the intent of developing policies in the Commission’s procedures for public participation that result in a fair opportunity for public input, the ISFMP Policy Board has approved the following guidelines for use at management board meetings:
 
For issues that are not on the agenda, management boards will continue to provide opportunity to the public to bring matters of concern to the board’s attention at the start of each board meeting. Board chairs will use a speaker sign-up list in deciding how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.
 
For topics that are on the agenda, but have not gone out for public comment, board chairs will provide limited opportunity for comment, taking into account the time allotted on the agenda for the topic. Chairs will have flexibility in deciding how to allocate comment opportunities; this could include hearing one comment in favor and one in opposition until the chair is satisfied further comment will not provide additional insight to the board.
 
For agenda action items that have already gone out for public comment, it is the Policy Board’s intent to end the occasional practice of allowing extensive and lengthy public comments. Currently, board chairs have the discretion to decide what public comment to allow in these circumstances.
 
In addition, the following timeline has been established for the submission of written comment for issues for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to proposed management action). 
 
1.    Comments received 3 weeks prior to the start of a meeting week will be included in the briefing materials.
2.    Comments received by 5:00 PM on the Tuesdayimmediately preceding the scheduled ASMFC Meeting (in this case, the Tuesday deadline will be November 7, 2017) will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting and a limited number of copies will be provided at the meeting.
3.    Following the Tuesday, November 7, 2017 5:00 PMdeadline, the commenter will be responsible for distributing the information to the management board prior to the board meeting or providing enough copies for the management board consideration at the meeting (a minimum of 50 copies).
 
The submitted comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution.  As with other public comment, it will be accepted via mail, fax, and email.

Big decision looms over little oily fish that feeds so many others

Fishery managers eye whether to weigh ecological role of Atlantic menhaden in setting harvest limits

October 12, 2017 — If you were to round up all of the menhaden swimming along the Atlantic coast and somehow put them on a scale, they’d weigh in at about 1.2 million metric tons.

To visualize that, imagine 220,000 Asian elephants stampeding along the coast — about five times more than exist in the world. For menhaden, though, that equates to tens of billions of tiny fish. This fall, fishery managers will tackle the question of whether that’s enough.

An update on the status of Atlantic menhaden released in August found the population robust. The current biomass, combining their number and weight, is the greatest that scientists have estimated in the last four years — and more than was seen anytime from 1992 through 2007.

Menhaden are not overfished, the report concluded — fewer than 200,000 metric tons were caught last year.

But critics, including some scientists and many conservation groups, say those figures only tell part of the story. Menhaden should not be looked at in isolation, they say, but as part of the broader marine ecosystem, where the small, oily fish is an important food for other fish, whales, sea birds and a host of other species.

“We’re probably not going to damage the menhaden stock all that much by continued heavy fishing. It seems to be in reasonably good shape,” said Ed Houde, a fisheries scientist with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. “But what happens to the rest of the ecosystem? That’s the question mark.”

In November, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a panel of state fishery managers that regulates catches of migratory fish along the coast, will grapple with whether it should continue to manage menhaden as a single species — or begin considering its value to the ecosystem as well.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

ASMFC August/September 2017 issue of Fisheries Focus Now Available

October 6, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The August/September 2017 issue of ASMFC Fisheries Focus is now available at http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/59d79752FishFocusAugustSept2017.pdf.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Upcoming Meetings

page 2

From the Executive Director’s Desk

ASMFC Discusses Next Steps in State/Federal Management

page 3

Species Profile

Spot

page 4

Fishery Management Actions

American Lobster

Scup

page 7

Proposed Management Actions

Atlantic Menhaden

Cobia

page 9 

Science Highlight

ASMFC Releases Stock Assessment Updates for Atlantic Menhaden and River Herring

page 11

ACCSP

ACCSP Submits Regional Recreational Implementation Plan to NOAA Fisheries MRIP

page 12

Comings & Goings
page 14

Employees of the Quarter Named

page 16

Past issues of Fisheries Focus can be found here – http://www.asmfc.org/search/%20/%20/Fishery-Focus.

Fish shrinking as ocean temperatures rise

October 4, 2017 — One of the most economically important fish is shrinking in body weight, length and overall physical size as ocean temperatures rise, according to new research by LSU Boyd Professor R. Eugene Turner published today. The average body size of Menhaden—a small, silver fish—caught off the coasts from Maine to Texas—has shrunk by about 15 percent over the past 65 years.

Menhaden make up about one-half of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico fish harvest and had a dockside value of about $129 million in 2013. They are coastal species that spawn offshore and move to estuaries where juveniles grow to one- and two-year old fish. The air and off the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico has steadily increased, especially in estuaries, where heat exchange occurs efficiently between air and sea. Adult menhaden return offshore where they are harvested with purse seine nets.

Read the full story at Phys.org

Little Fish, Big Worry: Future of Menhaden Sparks Concern

October 2, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine — A big decision about the future of a little fish is attracting the attention of ocean conservation groups who say they are concerned about whether menhaden fishing can be considered sustainable.

Industry players are petitioning the London-based Marine Stewardship Council to offer its well-known sustainability certification to the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico fisheries for menhaden, a small schooling fish that plays a vital role in the ocean food web.

The Marine Stewardship Council’s sustainability marker, prominently displayed on seafood packages in grocery stores, is one of the most recognized seafood labels in the marketplace. The company requesting the certification is Omega Protein, which is the largest harvester of menhaden in the Atlantic and the Gulf.

A sustainable certification for menhaden is important because companies that use menhaden products are starting to require it, said Ben Landry, a spokesman for the Houston-based company. He said it’s becoming especially common for aquaculture firms to require that feed be certified responsibly harvested.

Landry said the company is hopeful to obtain certification sometime in early 2018.

“It’s the gold standard in seafood certification. It signals to consumers that you’re truly a sustainable company that harvests these fish,” he said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New York Times

Menhaden battle once again pits Virginia against Northern states

September 25, 2017 — HEATHSVILLE, Va. — Five years ago, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission cut the menhaden harvest by 20 percent, forcing the largest employer in the rural tip of the Northern Neck, Omega Protein, to lay off workers and decommission a ship.

The tiny fish is sold by fishermen as bait to catch blue crabs and commercially rendered for its oil and byproducts at Omega’s Reedville plant. Environmentalists and anglers say it’s critical to the diet of other Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic species such as osprey, striped bass and dolphin. At the time, commissioners said menhaden was at the point of being depleted.

Since then, ASMFC, which manages fisheries from Maine to Florida, changed its method of assessment and says stocks are now healthy. It began easing catch limits to where the quota is now only about 6 percent short of the 212,000 metric tons it once was.

Omega, which catches a half-billion fish each year, replaced two of its seven ships this year with larger, more efficient ships and rehired some of its employees.

But the company sees a new problem.

Monty Deihl, vice president of Omega’s operations, calls it “a fish grab” by other ASMFC member states, specifically northern states where more menhaden have been showing up.

“The stock is very healthy, the quota could be raised, but no one wants to raise the quota because Virginia will get 85 percent of whatever is raised,” he told a crowd of mostly employees and their families at an ASMFC public hearing last week. “You should be offended at the way all the other stuff was done to try to get a piece of what you all put your time and careers in to build.”

Read the full story at the Free Lance-Star

Atlantic Menhaden Catch Limits May Get Overhaul

September 18, 2017 — A major overhaul could be coming in how menhaden are managed along the East Coast — one that might, for the first time, try to account for the ecological role of the small and oily fish.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), which oversees migratory fish along the coast, is preparing to update its menhaden management plan this fall. It’s looking to revisit how the catch is distributed among states and fisheries and may adjust the catch limit for the Chesapeake. Public hearings on potential changes are scheduled for September, with written comments accepted through Oct. 20.

It should be noted that a July ruling by the U. S. Commerce Department has thrown into doubt the ASMFC’s authority in regulating fisheries. The federal ruling allowed New Jersey, one of the 15 states regulated by (and represented on) the ASMFC, to reject the commission’s harvest restrictions on Atlantic flounder, which has been declining since 2000. It’s the first time since the commission was authorized by Congress in 1993 to adopt and enforce coastwide harvest restrictions that a state has been allowed to ignore the commission’s harvest regulations. Fisheries managers are concerned that other states might follow suit if pressure from fishing interests is great enough.

Regarding menhaden, people generally don’t eat the small, oily fish, yet it has been the focus of heated debates in recent years over how many should be caught. By weight, menhaden are the largest catch in the Bay, primarily because Reedville, VA — home port of Omega Protein’s “reduction” fishing fleet — is where the fish are reduced (processed) into vitamin supplements, fish meal and other products.

Read the full story at Chesapeake Bay Magazine

MASSACHUSETTS: Abundant Peanut Bunker Contributes to a Great Season for False Albacore

September 15, 2017 — Anyone who’s been walking down by the water these days along the south side of the Cape, or on the Vineyard, has probably noticed a lot of boat activity on the water and plenty of fish action. What’s it all about? Most likely, it’s false albacore.

False albacore arrive in our waters in the late summer. They’re fast fish, related to tuna. We see them in the size range of 8-12lbs.  They’re notorious for their good eyesight, for being very picky about what they strike, and for driving fishermen crazy.

It’s been a great season so far for albies.  One likely reason is the plentiful numbers of baitfish known as peanut bunker. Peanut bunker are juvenile menhaden, and false albacore love to eat them.

Read the full story at WCAI

VIRGINIA: Hearings set next week on draft menhaden regulations

September 14, 2017 — The Atlantic coastal states of Maine through Florida have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on Draft Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden.

Hearings in Virginia will include:

• Potomac River Fisheries Commission, 6 p.m., Tuesday, September 19, Carpenter Building, 222 Taylor Street, Colonial Beach; contact: Martin Gary, 456-6935.

• Virginia Marine Resources Commission, 6 p.m., Wednesday, September 20, Northumberland High School, 201 Academic Lane, Heathsville; contact: Rob O’Reilly, 757-247-2247.

• Virginia Marine Resources Commission, 6 p.m., Thursday, September 21, 2600 Washington Avenue, 4th Floor, Newport News; contact: O’Reilly, 757-247-2247.

Read the full story at the Rappahannock Record

States Schedule Hearings on Atlantic Menhaden Draft Amendment 3

August 17, 2017 — ARLINGTON, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission: 

August 31, 2017 — This press release revises the release distributed August 17th with the addition of Maryland’s public hearing information. All other information remains the same.

September 20, 2017 — This press release revises the release distributed on August 31st, rescheduling Florida’s hearing from September 26th to October 10th. Details on PRFC’s listen only webinar are also provided below.

The Atlantic coastal states of Maine through Florida have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on Draft Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden. The details of those hearings follow.

Maine Dept. of Marine Resources

October 5, 2017; 6 PM

Yarmouth Town Hall

200 Main Street

Yarmouth, ME

Contact: Pat Keliher at 207.624.6553

New Hampshire Fish and Game Department

October 3, 2017; 7 PM

Urban Forestry Center

45 Elwyn Road

Portsmouth, NH

Contact: Cheri Patterson at 603.868.1095

Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries

October 2, 2017; 6 PM

Thayer Public Library, Logan Auditorium

798 Washington Street

Braintree, MA

Contact: Nichola Meserve at 617.626.1531

–

October 5, 2017; 6 PM

Bourne Community Center, Room 2

239 Main Street

Buzzards Bay, MA

Contact: Nichola Meserve at 617.626.1531

Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife

October 4, 2017; 6 PM

University of Rhode Island Bay Campus

Corless Auditorium, South Ferry Road

Narragansett, RI

Contact: Robert Ballou at 401.222.4700 ext: 4420

Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

September 11, 2017; 7 PM

CT DEEP Boating Education Center

333 Ferry Road

Old Lyme, CT

Contact: Mark Alexander at 860.447.4322

New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation

September 12, 2017; 6 PM

NYSDEC Division of Marine Resources

205 N. Belle Mead Road

East Setauket, NY

Contact: Jim Gilmore at 631.444.0430

New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife

September 13, 2017; 6 PM

Manahawkin (Stafford Township) Courtroom

260 East Bay Avenue

Manahawkin, NJ

Contact: Russ Allen at 609.748.2020

Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife

September 14, 2017; 6 PM

DNREC Auditorium

89 Kings Highway

Dover, DE 19901

Contact: John Clark at 302.739.9914

Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources

September 18, 2017; 6 PM

Anne Arundel Community College

Cade Center fr the Fine Arts – Room 219

101 College Parkway

Arnold, MD

Contact: Lynn Fegley at 410.260.8285

 

Potomac River Fisheries Commission

September 19, 2017; 6 PM

Carpenter Building

222 Taylor Street

Colonial Beach, VA

Contact: Martin Gary at 804.456.6935

Virginia Marine Resources Commission

September 20, 2017; 6 PM

Northumberland High School

201 Academic Lane

Heathsville, VA

Contact: Rob O’Reilly at 757.247.2247

–

September 21, 2017; 6 PM

2600 Washington Avenue, 4th Floor

Newport News, VA

Contact: Rob O’Reilly at 757.247.2247

North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries

September 27, 2017; 6 PM

Central District Office

5285 US Highway 70 West

Morehead City, NC

Contact: Michelle Duval at 252.808.8013

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

October 10, 2017; 6 PM

Town of Melbourne Beach Community Center

507 Ocean Avenue

Melbourne Beach, FL

Contact: Jim Estes at 850.617.9622

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Draft Amendment 3 seeks to manage the menhaden resource in a way that balances menhaden’s ecological role as a prey species with the needs of all user groups. To this end, the Draft Amendment considers the use of ecosystem reference points (ERPs) to manage the resource and changes to the allocation method. In addition, it presents a suite of management options for quota transfers, quota rollovers, incidental catch, the episodic events set aside program, and the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap.

The 2015 Benchmark Stock Assessment Report identified the development of ERPs as a high priority for Atlantic menhaden management. Menhaden serve an important role in the marine ecosystem as prey for a variety of species including larger fish (e.g. weakfish, striped bass), birds (e.g. bald eagles, osprey), and marine mammals (e.g. humpback whales, bottlenose dolphins). As a result, changes in the abundance of menhaden may impact the abundance and diversity of predator populations, particularly if the availability of other prey is limited. ERPs provide a method to assess the status of menhaden within the broad ecosystem context. Draft Amendment 3 provides a variety of reference point options, including the continued development of menhaden-specific ERPs as well as the application of precautionary guidelines for forage fish species.

Draft Amendment 3 also considers changes to the allocation method given concerns that the current approach may not strike an appropriate balance between gear types and jurisdictions. Specifically, under the current allocation method, increases in the total allowable catch (TAC) result in limited benefits to small-scale fisheries, and to several states. Furthermore, the current method may not provide a balance between the present needs of the fishery and future growth opportunities. Draft Amendment 3 considers a range of allocation alternatives, including a dispositional quota (bait vs. reduction), fleet-capacity quota (quota divided by gear type), jurisdictional quota, including a fixed minimum quota for each state, and an allocation method based on the TAC. In addition, the document considers five allocation timeframes including 2009-2011, 2012-2016, 1985-2016, 1985-1995, and a weighted approached which considers both historic and recent landings.

The Draft Amendment is available here or on the Commission website, www.asmfc.org, under Public Input. Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Amendment either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on October 20, 2017 and should be forwarded to Megan Ware, FMP Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Draft Amd. 3). If your organization is planning to release an action alert in response to Draft Amendment 3, please contact Megan Ware at 703.842.0740, so she can work with you to develop a unique subject line to enable us to better organize and summarize incoming comments for Board review.

Final action on the Amendment, as well as specification of the 2018 TAC, is scheduled to occur on November 14th at the BWI Airport Marriott, 1743 West Nursery Road, Linthicum, MD. For more information, please contact Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.