Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Archives - Page 14 of 45

NOAA Fisheries Approves Electronic Reporting Requirements for Mid-Atlantic and New England Commercial Vessels

November 13, 2020 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

NOAA Fisheries has approved a recommendation from the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils to require federally permitted commercial fishing vessels to submit vessel trip reports electronically as eVTRs within 48 hours of the end of a trip. This requirement will take effect November 10, 2021.

This action affects all commercial vessels holding federal permits for any species managed by the Mid-Atlantic or New England Fishery Management Councils (see this bulletin for a complete list of species). The requirement will also be extended to vessels issued for-hire (charter/party) permits for New England Council-managed fisheries (i.e., Northeast multispecies). Vessels issued a Mid-Atlantic Council for-hire permit have been required to submit vessel trip reports electronically since March 2018.

The effective date of this action is being delayed for 1 year, until November 10, 2021, to allow ample time for training on the various electronic reporting applications and to allow vessel owners and operators the time to find the appropriate application for their operations. Information on eVTR applications is available on the GARFO website. Additional information on training opportunities will be posted on the Mid-Atlantic Council’s Commercial eVTR page throughout the upcoming year.

Additional Information

Final Rule (published 11/10/20)
NOAA Fisheries Bulletin
Commercial eVTR Frequently Asked Questions
MAFMC Commercial eVTR Page (Note: you can sign up to receive email updates in the “Stay Informed” section)
GARFO Vessel Trip Reporting Page

Questions?

Fishermen: Contact Moira Kelly, Sustainable Fisheries, 978-281-9218
Media: Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, 978-281-9175

NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed 2021 and 2022 Golden Tilefish Specifications and Emergency Action

November 13, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is proposing the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s recommended catch specifications for the 2021 Northeast/Mid-Atlantic golden tilefish fishery. These proposed catch limits are mostly status quo, with only a slight change in the final incidental quota to account for updated discard estimates. The quota for the individual fishing quota (IFQ) fishery would remain status quo. A summary of the Council’s recommended specifications is shown in the following table.

ABC=Acceptable Biological Catch, ACL=Annual Catch Limit, ACT=Annual Catch Target, TAL=Total Allowable Landings

Additionally, the Council requested NOAA Fisheries take emergency action to allow a one-time 5-percent carryover of unharvested IFQ quota into the 2021 fishing year to help mitigate the adverse impact of unprecedented regional closures of restaurants and fish markets during 2020. This proposed rule includes temporary measures that would allow tilefish IFQ quota shareholders to carryover unharvested IFQ quota up to a maximum of 5 percent of their initial 2020 IFQ allocation.

All other management measures and requirements would remain unchanged. This includes the incidental landing limit of 500 lb (whole weight) or 50 percent (by weight) of all fish being landed, including tilefish, whichever is less. The recreational trip limit of eight fish per angler is also unchanged.

For more details on the proposed specifications, read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal. The comment period is open through November 30, 2020.

Read the full release here

NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed Adjustments to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Risk Policy

November 12, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries seeks comment on a proposed rule that would adjust the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s risk policy. This action would adjust the Council’s risk policy by accepting a higher level of risk for stocks that are at or above biomass targets, resulting in the ability for the Council to set higher catch limits for healthy fisheries. This action would also remove the typical/atypical species designation when applied to the current risk policy allowing the Council to better use improvements in stock assessment and modeling approaches that can more appropriately account for and address overfishing vulnerability.

For more details, please read the rule as published in the Federal Register. You can provide comments through our online portal. Comments are due by November 26, 2020.

Read the full release here

Reminder: Submit Comments on the Draft Addendum XXXIII/Black Sea Bass Commercial State Allocation Amendment by November 13

November 9, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

As a reminder, the deadline to submit public comments on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Black Sea Bass Draft Addendum XXXIII and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Black Sea Bass Commercial State Allocation Amendment is this Friday, November 13, 2020, 11:59 p.m. (EST). The draft amendment and addendum propose alternative approaches for allocating the coastwide black sea bass commercial quota among the states. This action also considers changes to federal regulations and Council management of state allocations.

To learn more about this action and the proposed management alternatives, download the Council or Commission’s public hearing documents at the links below, or view the public hearing presentation on the ASMFC’s YouTube Channel.

Submit Written Comments

Written comments will be accepted until 11:59 PM (EST) on November 13, 2020 and may be sent by any of the following methods:

MAIL to Caitlin Starks, FMP Coordinator, at 1050 N. Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, Virginia 22201
FAX to 703.842.0741
EMAIL to comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Black Sea Bass Addendum XXXIII)
ONLINE at https://www.mafmc.org/comments/bsb-allocation

All comments will be made available to both the Commission and Council for consideration; duplicate comments do not need to be submitted to both bodies.

Tips for Providing Public Comment

We value your input, and to be most effective we request that your comment include specific details as to why you support or oppose a particular proposed management option. Specifically, address the following:

Which proposed options/sub-options do you support, and which options/sub-options do you oppose?
Why do you support or oppose the option(s)?
Is there any additional information you think should be considered?

Contact

For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, ASMFC FMP Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Public Comment Deadline for ASMFC and MAFMC Draft Addendum XXXIII/Black Sea Bass Commercial State Allocation Amendment: November 13

November 9, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

As a reminder, the deadline to submit public comment on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Black Sea Bass Draft Addendum XXXIII and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Black Sea Bass Commercial State Allocation Amendment is fast approaching – 11:59 PM (EST) on November 13, 2020. While all public hearings have been conducted, written comments on Draft Addendum XXXIII may be submitted to Caitlin Starks, FMP Coordinator, at 1050 N. Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, Virginia 22201; 703.842.0741 (fax) or at comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Black Sea Bass Addendum XXXIII) by the deadline of November 13^th. All comments will be made available to both the Commission and Council for consideration; duplicate comments do not need to be submitted to both bodies.

The Commission initiated the Draft Addendum in October 2019 to consider adjusting the commercial black sea bass allocations based on current distribution and abundance of the stock. In December 2019, the Council initiated an amendment, which will consider including the allocations in the Council fishery management plan (FMP), modifying the state-specific allocations, and other changes to federal regulations.

Draft Addendum XXXIII proposes alternative approaches for allocating the coastwide black sea bass commercial quota among the states. The following options are proposed: A) status quo; B) increasing Connecticut’s allocation to 5%; C) dynamic allocations partially based on regional stock distribution and partially on historic allocations; D) a trigger-based approach where only coastwide quota above a certain level would be distributed according to a different allocation scheme; E) another trigger-based approach where quota above the trigger would first be used to increase Connecticut and New York’s allocations to 5% and 9%, respectively; and F) distributing a percentage of coastwide quota using initial allocations and the remaining proportion differently. A variety of sub-options are included to set the scale and pace of the allocation changes. Several options incorporate information on regional stock biomass; therefore, options are also proposed to define regions.

The Draft Addendum and Council Amendment also propose options to consider changes to federal regulations and Council management of state allocations. These options address whether the state allocations should be added to the Council’s FMP or remain only in the Commission’s FMP, whether changes should be made to the regulations regarding paybacks of state quota overages if added to the Council’s FMP, and whether to modify regulations regarding federal in-season closures.

Draft Addendum XXXIII is available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/BSB_DraftAddendumXXXIII_PublicComment.pdf or via the Commission’s website at http://www.asmfc.org/about-us/public-input. A recording of the hearing presentation is also available at https://youtu.be/W5-HkotpcDg. For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, ASMFC FMP Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

NOAA Fisheries to Require Electronic Vessel Trip Reporting for Commercial and For-Hire Vessels

November 9, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Effective November 10, 2021

NOAA Fisheries is approving a recommendation from both the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils to require federally permitted commercial fishing vessels to submit vessel trip reports electronically within 48 hours of the end of a trip.

Upon request of the New England Council, we are also extending this requirement to vessels issued for-hire (charter/party) permits for New England Council-managed fisheries (i.e., Northeast multispecies). Vessels issued a Mid-Atlantic Council for-hire permit have been required to submit vessel trip reports electronically since March 2018. Note, reporting requirements for vessels issued only a federal lobster permit are being addressed in a separate rulemaking and this action does not affect those vessels.

The effective date of this action is being delayed for 1 year, until November 10, 2021, to allow ample time for training on the various electronic reporting applications and to allow vessel owners and operators the time to find the appropriate application for their operations. Information on eVTR applications is available on our website. Additional information on training opportunities can be found on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s website.

For more details, please read the rule as filed in the Federal Register or the bulletin.

MARYLAND: Fisheries adapt to business during COVID-19

November 6, 2020 — Like other industries, Ocean City commercial fisheries have adapted to business during the covid-19 pandemic.

This is especially important as local fisheries have declined, even before the pandemic.

Sonny Gwin, a commercial fisherman and member of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, said he normally makes 60 to 70 percent of his income in March. This March, he didn’t make anything close to that.

“That was when covid hit and all the restaurants closed down,” Gwin said. “Now all the restaurants still haven’t opened up to full capacity, which is causing the price of black sea bass, my main stay fishery, to be at a low economic value.”

Although he couldn’t sell nearly as much to restaurants, Gwin said he was lucky that his business was considered essential and avoided a shutdown.

Since he couldn’t sell to restaurants, Gwin sold directly to the public, which he said was good for those who were scared to go to grocery stores.

Read the full story at the Ocean City Freedom

NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed 2021 Bluefish Specifications

November 5, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is proposing the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s recommended catch specifications for the 2021 bluefish fishery. These proposed catch limits are mostly status quo, with only slight changes in the final recreational harvest limit to account for most recent (2019) recreational catch data. A summary of the Council’s recommended specifications is shown in Table 1.

The commercial fishery state allocations for 2021 (Table 2) are based on the final coast-wide commercial quota, and the allocated percentages defined in the Bluefish Fishery Management Plan. No states exceeded their state allocated quota in 2019 or are projected to do so in 2020, so no adjustments are necessary for the 2021 commercial fishery.

All other management measures and requirements, including the recreational daily bag limit of 3 fish per person for private anglers and to 5 fish per person for for-hire (charter/party) vessels, would remain unchanged.

Read the full release here

Rhode Island senators want a say in fishery rules

October 30, 2020 — Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both D-R.I., introduced Senate Bill S.4804, the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act. The bill would amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the fishing law of this nation, to add Rhode Island to the list of seven states represented on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and eight regional councils manage fisheries in our federal waters.

The Senate bill would give Rhode Island two new voting seats on the council. Many of the fish caught off our coast are regulated by the Mid-Atlantic Council, yet Rhode Island has no representation on the panel.

Spiny dogfish and monkfish are both managed under joint fishery management plans developed by the Mid-Atlantic and New England Council. Many of the Mid-Atlantic Council’s managed fisheries are fished for in state waters, so the council works with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to coordinate management of summer flounder, scup, black sea bass and bluefish. All of these species are important to recreational and commercial fishers in Rhode Island.

Read the full story at The Providence Journal

Senators introduce Fishermen’s Fairness Act

October 29, 2020 — Last week Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse introduced Senate Bill S. 4804, the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act. The bill would amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), the fishing law of this nation, to add Rhode Island to the list of seven states represented on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. The Council is one of eight regional bodies that regulate fishing with NOAA.

Senator Reed said, “The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is a key decision making body that determines what happens off the coast of Rhode Island, but our state doesn’t have a seat on the Council.” Senator Whitehouse, said, “As climate change heats up the oceans, fish that once lived in the warmer mid-Atlantic have migrated north to the waters off New England.”

Representatives Jim Langevin and David Cicilline of Rhode Island are expected to introduce a companion bill in the House of Representatives.

Ocean-based Climate Solutions Act to address climate change impacts

Read the full story at The Cranston Herald