Saving Seafood

Mid-Atlantic Council Meeting in Avalon, NJ: April 8-11, 2019

March 20, 2019 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The public is invited to attend the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s meeting to be held April 8-11, 2019 at the Icona Avalon Resort, 7849 Dune Dr, Avalon, NJ 08202, Telephone 609-368-5155.

Meeting Materials: Briefing documents will be posted at http://ww.mafmc.org/briefing/april-2019 as they become available.

Public Comments: Written comments must be received by 11:59 p.m. on March 27, 2019 to be included in the briefing book. Comments received after this date but before 5:00 p.m. on April 4, 2019 will be posted as supplemental materials on the Council meeting web page. After that date, all comments must be submitted using an online comment form available at available at http://www.mafmc.org/public-comment.

Webinar: For online access to the meeting, enter as a guest at: http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/april2019.

Agenda: Click here for a detailed meeting agenda.

Press Contact: Julia Beaty, (302) 526-5250

New England Council Update – March 20, 2019

March 20, 2019 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

Here’s a roundup of upcoming meetings and new developments that are relevant to the New England Fishery Management Council’s stakeholders.

SCALLOPS:  New Bedford and Chatham, MA are the next two stops on the scoping meeting circuit for Amendment 21 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan.  The New Bedford meeting is today, Wednesday, March 20, and Chatham is up tomorrow, Thursday, March 21.  Both meetings begin at 6 p.m.  Also, a webinar is scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m., and more scoping meetings will be held next week in Virginia and New Jersey.  The series caps off in Gloucester on April 3.  Visit the Amendment 21 webpage to see the complete lineup and download the scoping document, press release, and staff presentation.

COMMERCIAL eVTRs:  The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is developing an Omnibus Framework to considerrequiring commercial vessels that carry federal permits for Mid-Atlantic Council-managed species to submit Vessel Trip Reports electronically (eVTRs).  This action, if approved, will apply to New England fishermen who obtain Mid-Atlantic permits for summer flounder/scup/black sea bass, bluefish, mackerel/squid/butterfish, and other species.  The Mid-Atlantic Council has scheduled a webinar for Monday, March 25 beginning at 9 a.m. to collect input from its Advisory Panels.  Details are available at AP webinar about commercial eVTRs.

ATLANTIC HERRING:  The New England Council’s Herring Advisory Panel (AP) will meet for a half-day on Wednesday, March 27 at the Holiday Inn in Mansfield, MA.  The Herring Committee will meet in the same location the following day, Thursday, March 28.  The AP and Committee both will discuss upcoming herring actions, work priorities, 2019-2021 specifications, and more.  The agenda and meeting materials are available at Herring AP and Herring Committee.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:  The Council’s Executive Committee will meet Wednesday, March 27 in Wakefield, MA.  More information will be available soon at Executive Committee meeting.

SCIENTIFIC AND STATISTICAL COMMITTEE (SSC):  The Council’s SSC will meet via webinar on Friday, March 29, 2019 to discuss and comment on the Council’s research priorities.  Learn more at SSC webinar.

GROUNDFISH:  The Council’s Groundfish Advisory Panel (AP) will meet on Monday, April 1 at the Hilton Garden Inn at Logan Airport.  The Groundfish Committee will meet in the same location the following day, Tuesday, April 2.  Both will discuss Groundfish Monitoring Amendment 23, the Council’s Gear Standards Policy, and 2019 groundfish priorities.  More information will be available soon at Groundfish AP and Groundfish Committee.

ECOSYSTEM-BASED FISHERY MANAGEMENT (EBFM):  The Council’s EBFM Committee will meet on Thursday, April 4 and again on Monday, April 15.  Both meetings will be held at the Radisson Airport Hotel in Warwick, RI beginning at 9:30 a.m.  The committee will discuss issues related to the development of a draft example Fishery Ecosystem Plan (eFEP) for Georges Bank.   More information and related documents will be posted as they become available at EBFM April 4, 2019 and EBFM April 15, 2019.

RECREATIONAL GROUNDFISH:  The Council has scheduled a series of listening sessions to solicit comments and gauge public interest on whether it should develop a limited access program for the recreational groundfish party/charter fishery under the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan.  The sessions, which include a webinar, will run from April 4 through May 10 from Maine to New Jersey.  For more information and complete details about the times and locations of the listening sessions, read the press release, public notice, and download the background document.

MID-ATLANTIC COUNCIL:  The Mid-Atlantic Council will be discussing several issues relevant to New England stakeholders during its April 8-11 meeting in Avalon, NJ.  The Commercial eVTR Omnibus Framework described above is on the agenda, and the New England Council will be holding one of its Recreational Groundfish Party/Charter Fishery listening sessions in the same location on Monday, April 8.  Take a look at the agenda at MAFMC Avalon, NJ.

NEW ENGLAND COUNCIL:  The full New England Fishery Management Council will meet April 16-18, 2019 at the Hilton Hotel in Mystic, CT.  The agenda and meeting materials will be available soon at NEFMC Mystic, CT.

MONKFISH:  The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, NOAA Fisheries) announced that it is implementing 2019 monkfish specifications as recommended by the New England and Mid-Atlantic Councils in Framework Adjustment 10 to the federal Monkfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP).  The Monkfish FMP is a joint plan between the two Councils with New England having the administrative lead.  The framework contains specifications for fishing years 2017-2019.  At the time the framework was implemented, NMFS approved 2017 specifications, along with “projected specifications” for 2018 and 2019.  This week, NMFS said it does not expect 2018 catch limits to be exceeded, so 2019 specifications will go into place on May 1 as initially developed by the Councils.  These include a total allowable landing limit of 6,338 metric tons (mt) in the Northern Fishery Management Area and 9,011 mt in the southern area.  Find out more in the Federal Register notice and permit holder bulletin.

More fluke could be coming for Connecticut fishermen

March 20, 2019 — Three members of the state’s Congressional delegation — U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy — have announced that the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council will be recommending changes to the management plan for summer flounder that will dramatically increase the quota for the state’s commercial fishermen.

Fishermen have been fighting for decades to obtain more fish under a system that they call unfair and skewed in favor of fishermen from the mid-Atlantic states.

Courtney, Blumenthal and Murphy had written a letter to MAFMC and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, urging the agencies to increase quotas for Connecticut fishermen.

Read the full story at The Day

 

Council Approves Chub Mackerel Management Measures

March 11, 2019 — The following was published by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

At their meeting in Virginia Beach, VA last week, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council approved a suite of management measures for Atlantic chub mackerel (Scomber colias) in federal waters from Maine through North Carolina. If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, the Chub Mackerel Amendment will add chub mackerel to the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan.

The management measures approved by the Council include an annual total allowable landings limit of 4.50 million pounds, a 40,000 pound commercial possession limit when 90% of this limit is projected to be landed, and a 10,000 pound possession limit when 100% of this limit is projected to be landed. In addition, commercial fishermen will be required to have one of the existing federal commercial permits for longfin squid, Illex squid, Atlantic mackerel, or butterfish in order to retain any amounts of chub mackerel in federal waters from Maine through North Carolina. Fishermen who do not already have one of these permits can obtain one of the existing open access permits. Similarly, for-hire vessels will be required to have the mackerel, squid, butterfish party/charter permit in order to retain chub mackerel.

The Council developed these management measures to help ensure orderly growth and sustainability of the emerging chub mackerel fishery which recently developed in the mid-Atlantic and southern New England. In addition, Council management will help elevate the priority of data collection for this data-limited species. The Council has already taken steps to address an important data limitation by funding a study on the importance of chub mackerel in the diets of tunas, marlins, and other predators in the mid-Atlantic.

Questions? See http://www.mafmc.org/actions/chub-mackerel-amendment or contact Julia Beaty, Fishery Management Specialist, jbeaty@mafmc.org, (302)526-5250.

Press Releases, Meeting Summary and Motions from the Joint Meeting of the ASMFC Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Board & MAFMC Now Available

March 11, 2019 — The Following was published by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Press releases, the meeting summary and motions from the joint meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council last week are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/ASMFC_MAFMCSFlounderScupBSB_march2019(1).pdf.  The document can also be obtained on the Commission website on the Meeting Archives page at http://www.asmfc.org/home/meeting-archive.

NOAA Fisheries Announces 2019 Bluefish Specifications

March 11, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today we filed a final rule approving and implementing the 2019 specifications for the Atlantic bluefish fishery recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council in cooperation with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

The final 2019 specifications are fundamentally the same as 2018, with only minor adjustments to the final commercial quota and recreational harvest limit to account for most recent full year of recreational catch data (2017), and a 4.0 million lb of quota transferred from the recreational to the commercial sector rather than 3.5 million lb in 2018.

Table 1 (below) provides the commercial fishery state allocations for 2019 based on the final 2019 coast-wide commercial quota, and the allocated percentages defined in the Bluefish Fishery Management Plan. No states exceeded their state-allocated quota in 2018; therefore, no accountability measures need to be implemented for the 2019 fishing year.

Table 1. 2019 Bluefish State Commercial Quota Allocations.

State Percent Share Quota Allocation (lb)
Maine 0.67 51,538
New Hampshire 0.41 31,956
Massachusetts 6.72 517,828
Rhode Island 6.81 524,874
Connecticut 1.27 97,626
New York 10.39 800,645
New Jersey 14.82 1,142,264
Delaware 1.88 144,801
Maryland 3.00 231,426
Virginia 11.88 915,857
North Carolina 32.06 2,471,746
South Carolina 0.04 2,714
Georgia 0.01 732
Florida 10.06 775,558
Total 100 7,709,565

For more details please read the rule as filed in the Federal Register and our permit holder bulletin.

Questions?
Fishermen: Contact Cynthia Ferrio, Sustainable Fisheries Division, 978-281-9180
Media: Contact Jennifer Goebel, Regional Office, 978-281-9175

ASMFC & MAFMC Set Summer Flounder 2019-2021 Specifications

March 11, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) approved revised specifications for the 2019 fishing season and set new specifications for 2020 and 2021. The revised specifications are based on the results of the 2018 benchmark stock assessment, which found the stock is not overfished and overfishing is not occurring. The new limits are consistent with the recommendations of the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee. The Commission’s actions are final and apply to state waters (0‐3 miles from shore). The Council will forward its recommendations for federal waters (3 – 200 miles from shore) to NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Administrator for final approval. The Council and Commission decided to set commercial quotas and RHLs for all three years, with the intent to maintain regulatory stability. The revised commercial quota was approximately a 49% increase over the previously set 2019 quota.

While the revised RHL represents an approximate 49% increase over the previously set 2019 RHL, the Commission chose to maintain status quo recreational measures, which are projected to achieve a harvest level close to the revised RHL based on the calibrated recreational harvest data from the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP). As a result, regions established under Addendum XXXII may submit proposals to make minor adjustments to their 2019 recreational measures, such as adjusting the start and end dates of the season, but must hold projected 2019 harvest at 2018 levels. These proposals will require Technical Committee review and Board approval. Additionally, the Commission and Council approved the use of conservation equivalency, allowing state measures to be extended into federal waters, pending acceptance of final state measures by the Regional Administrator.

Based on the findings of the 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review, the stock was not overfished nor experiencing overfishing in 2017. Spawning stock biomass (SSB) in 2017 was estimated to be 98 million pounds, approximately 78% of the biomass target of 126 million pounds. The fishing mortality rate was estimated to be 0.334 in 2017, below the fishing mortality threshold of 0.448.

Recruitment in 2017 was estimated at 42 million fish at age 0, below the time series average of 53 million fish at age 0. Recruitment has been below average since 2011.

Data analyzed by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center for the assessment indicate increasing relative abundance of older fish and an expanding age structure. However, the data also indicate a decrease in relative total abundance since the late 2000s, as well as decreasing trends in average lengths and weights at age for both sexes, suggesting slower growth and delayed maturity which impacts the biological reference points. The assessment shows current mortality from all sources is greater than recent recruitment inputs to the stock, which has resulted in a declining stock trend. Additionally, the assessment found the spatial distribution of the resource is continuing to shift northward and eastward.

A key attribute of the assessment is the incorporation of revised recreational catch data. In July 2018, MRIP revised the previous recreational catch estimates with a calibrated 1982-2017 time series that corresponds to the new MRIP survey methods. For comparison with the previous estimates, the revised estimates of 2017 recreational landings and discards are over three times the previous estimates. The revised recreational catch estimates increased the 1982-2017 total annual catch by an average of 29 percent, ranging from 11 percent increase in 1989 to 43 percent increase in 2017. The increase in estimated removals resulted in an increased population estimate compared to previous assessments.

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

A PDF of the press release can be found here – http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/5c868122pr11FlukeSpecs2019-2021andAssessment.pdf

Mid-Atlantic Council Takes Final Action on Summer Flounder Commercial Issues Amendment

March 11, 2019 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) met jointly with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board (Board) to select preferred alternatives for the Summer Flounder Commercial Issues Amendment. The Council and Board first considered final action in December 2018 but postponed their decisions until their March 2019 meeting.

At the meeting, the Council and Board approved a commercial allocation alternative which establishes a commercial quota trigger of 9.55 million pounds. This alternative specifies that a coastwide quota of up to 9.55 million pounds in any given year will be distributed according to the current (status quo) allocations. In years when the coastwide quota exceeds 9.55 million pounds, the additional quota beyond this trigger would be distributed based on equal shares to all states except Maine, Delaware, and New Hampshire, which would split 1% of the additional quota. The revised commercial allocations are expected to become effective January 1, 2020 at the earliest with a possible delay until January 1, 2021.

The Council and Board also approved revised Fishery Management Plan (FMP) goals and objectives for summer flounder, which focus on ensuring biological sustainability of the summer flounder resource, supporting and enhancing development of the effective management measures, and optimizing social and economic benefits from the resource.

No changes were made to the federal permit qualification criteria, and the Council did not add landings flexibility policies to the list of frameworkable items in the FMP.

Additional information about this action is available at: http://www.mafmc.org/actions/summer-flounder-amendment. The Council will forward its recommendations to the National Marine Fisheries Service for approval. The full Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will consider final approval of the amendment, based on the Board’s recommendations, at their 2019 Spring Meeting.

Questions? Contact Kiley Dancy, Fishery Management Specialist, kdancy@mafmc.org, (302) 526-5257.

ASMFC & MAFMC Recommend Approval of Summer Flounder Commercial Issues Amendment

March 11, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board (Board) and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) recommended approval of the Summer Flounder Commercial Issues Amendment. The Amendment revises the management program’s goals and objectives specific to summer flounder and implements new state-specific commercial allocations.

The Amendment was initiated in December 2013, with joint work on the Amendment by the Board and Council beginning in 2014. Initially, the Amendment was to consider changes to both commercial and recreational summer flounder fisheries, but over time was refocused to address commercial issues and Fishery Management Plan (FMP) goals and objectives.

The revised management program’s goals and objectives focus on ensuring biological sustainability of the summer flounder resource, supporting and enhancing development of effective management measures, and optimizing social and economic benefits from the resource. These revisions were made to reflect current priorities in sustainably managing the resource.

The new state commercial allocations are based upon a 9.55 million pound trigger point. When the annual coastwide commercial quota is at or below 9.55 million pounds, the formula for allocating the quota to the states will remain status quo, i.e., the same state-specific percentages that have been in effect since 1993. When the annual coastwide quota exceeds 9.55 million pounds, additional quota above 9.55 million pounds will be distributed as follows: 0.333% to the states of Maine, New Hampshire and Delaware and 12.375% to the remaining states (see table below). As a result, state allocations will vary over time based on overall stock status and the resulting coastwide commercial quotas. For 2019-2021, the Board and Council approved an annual coastwide commercial quota of 11.53 million pounds. Depending on the timing of final rule-making by NOAA Fisheries, the new state allocation strategy could go into effect as early as January 2020.

Read the full release here

MAFMC Strategic Plan Survey Deadline Extended to March 8

February 26, 2019 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council has extended the deadline for members of the public to complete the 2020-2024 Strategic Plan Survey. The survey will now be available until Friday, March 8, 2019. All interested stakeholders are encouraged to weigh in on how the Council has performed under its current strategic plan and what issues should be addressed in the Council’s 2020-2024 Strategic Plan.

The survey is designed to take about 15 minutes to complete and includes opportunities to comment on the Council’s vision and mission as well as the specific goals and objectives that will guide the Council’s management activities over the next five years.

The Council encourages everyone to visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MAFMC-Strategic-Plan-Survey to access the survey. All responses are anonymous and will be aggregated for analysis and presentation. The public will have another opportunity to provide comments on the draft strategic plan later in 2019.

For additional information and updates on the strategic planning process, please visit www.mafmc.org/strategic-plan or contact Michelle Duval at michelleduval22@gmail.com or 919-601-3798.