Saving Seafood

Facing accuracy challenges, NOAA looks to improve its fisheries data collection strategy

May 20, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries is holding an online workshop to “re-envision” the nation’s state, regional and federal recreational fisheries data collection program and partnership, known as the Marine Recreational Information Program, or MRIP. The program has suffered significant data accuracy challenges over the years and NOAA Fisheries aims to improve it.

Commercial fishers record and report the fish they catch so commercial fishing data is accurate according to what is caught and where. Recreational fisheries do not record catch and effort, however, so NOAA Fisheries, through stock assessments and the MRIP program, estimate recreational catch and effort. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration uses the estimates to manage stocks and establish recreational harvest limits. Because the data are estimates, they are often inaccurate.

Read the full article at The Providence Journal 

Sport angling community concerned by potential data errors in NOAA fishing survey

September 23, 2023 — The sportfishing community is calling on NOAA for an overhaul of the methods researchers use to estimate fish stock after an internal study from the association found that a coastal survey could be overestimating the amount of recreational fishing going taking place.

NOAA — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — published a study in August called “Evaluating Measurement Error in the MRIP Fishing Effort Survey,” which found a 30-40 percent discrepancy between the data from the administration’s current Fishing Effort Survey (FES) and a differently formatted test survey that was issued as part of the study.

Researchers concluded that the discrepancy is likely an overestimate of coastal fishing activity.

The study was one of a handful that researched possible biases in the continual Fishing Effort Survey, which is run by the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP), a state, regional and federal partnership that is part of NOAA. MRIP is tasked with compiling recreational catch data, which is then used to direct management strategies for fish populations.

Read the full article at OC Today

 

MA Div. of Marine Fisheries is hiring field staff for 2022 Recreational Fisheries Survey

February 10, 2022 — The following was released by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries:

The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries is hiring field staff for the 2022 NOAA MRIP Recreational Fisheries Survey. First consideration will be given to those who apply within the first 14 days from the posting date, or Friday Feb 11th.  However positions will remain open until filled.  Individuals may submit applications through the following links: 

Seasonal Recreational Fisheries MRIP Samplers – North Shore

Seasonal Recreational Fisheries Technician MRIP South Coast

A 2 day training session will be held mid-March.  The survey begins April 1st.

ASMFC: Tautog Regional Assessments Update Show Improvements in Stock Status

October 21, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Tautog Management Board reviewed the results of 2021 Regional Stock Assessments Update, which found improvements in most regions. Stocks within the Long Island Sound (LIS) and Delaware/ Maryland/Virginia (DelMarVa) regions are not overfished, with improved stock status for both regions from the last assessment in 2017. For LIS, New Jersey/New York Bight (NJ-NYB), and DelMarVa, fishing mortality also decreased with the stock not experiencing overfishing in any regions; also an improvement from the previous assessment. In the Massachusetts and Rhode Island (MARI) region, stock status remains unchanged with the stock not overfished nor experiencing overfishing.

Each regional assessment used information through 2020, including calibrated recreational data from the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP). Over 90% of the total harvest of tautog across all regions comes from the recreational fishery. In addition to regional indices of abundance from fishery- independent surveys, a catch per unit effort index was developed using MRIP data for each region because tautog are not easily sampled by standard fishery-independent surveys. The new MRIP estimates resulted in higher estimates of spawning stock biomass (SSB) and recruitment in all regions, but had less of an impact on fishing mortality.

The regional assessments for MARI and LIS indicated strong year classes in recent years have contributed to increasing trends in SSB. In the DelMarVa region, landings and fishing mortality have declined significantly since 2012, resulting in an increase in SSB over the time period. While the NJ-NYB region remains overfished, the SSB has been trending upward since the last assessment update.
 
Since no regions are experiencing overfishing, the Board choose to not make any management changes at this time. A more detailed overview of the tautog regional stock assessment update is available on the Commission website at 
http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/61705d532021TautogAssessmentOverview_Oct2021.pdf. It was developed to aid media and interested stakeholders in better understanding the results. The assessment update will be available on the Commission website on the tautog webpage the week of October 25th.
 
For more information on the stock assessments, please contact Katie Drew, Stock Assessment Team Lead, atkdrew@asmfc.org; and for more information on tautog management, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Senior FMP Coordinator, at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org.

States Achieve Required Coastwide Reductions in Atlantic Striped Bass Total Removals

August 6, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board’s review of the performance of the 2020 fishery yielded positive news, with the states achieving Addendum VI’s goal of reducing total removals by 18% relative to 2017 levels. In fact, the states realized an estimated 28% reduction in total removals coastwide in numbers of fish from 2017 levels. Total removals include commercial harvest, commercial dead discards, recreational harvest, and recreational release mortality. Addendum VI was initiated in response to the 2018 benchmark assessment and aims to reduce total removals in order to end overfishing and reduce fishing mortality to the target level in 2020. The next stock assessment update for striped bass, scheduled to occur in 2022, will provide an update on the status of stock relative to the biological reference points.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted data collection for the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) dockside sampling program, but MRIP was able to fill those data gaps using information from 2018 and 2019. While this does increase the uncertainty around the estimates of total recreational catch, there is still high confidence in those estimates and the estimates of the realized reductions.

After considering 2020 fishery performance, the Board provided guidance on a number of topics related to the development of Draft Amendment 7 (e.g., recreational release mortality, conservation equivalency, management triggers). Amendment 7 was initiated in August 2020 to update the management program to reflect current fishery needs and priorities as the status and understanding of the resource and fishery has changed considerably since implementation of Amendment 6 in 2003. The Amendment is intended to build upon Addendum VI’s action to end overfishing and initiate rebuilding. The Plan Development Team will continue to develop options for the Draft Amendment based on the guidance received from the Board.

Concurrent with the development of Draft Amendment 7, the Board initiated an addendum to Amendment 6 to consider allowing the voluntary transfer of commercial striped bass quota between states/jurisdictions that have commercial quota. This action is in response to a request from the State of Delaware to reconsider Delaware’s current commercial quota allocation.

Based on progress made on Draft Amendment 7 and Draft Addendum VII to Amendment 6, the Board’s next opportunity to meet and consider possible approval of both documents for public comment will be in October during the Commission’s Annual Meeting. For more information, please contact Emilie Franke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at efranke@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

National Academies Completes Consensus Study Report on Recreational Fishing Data and Strategies to Support In-season Management

July 23, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has completed a consensus study report, “Data and Management Strategies for Recreational Fisheries with Annual Catch Limits.” NOAA Fisheries appreciates the hard work of the National Academies in conducting a comprehensive study and providing recommendations on a challenging and important topic.

The report affirms what the National Academies suggested in its 2017 independent, expert review of NOAA Fisheries’ Marine Recreational Information Program, “Within their intended scope and design constraints, MRIP data are critically important for fisheries management.” Annual estimates of landings and discards are usually sufficient for stock assessments of commonly encountered species but by their nature, do not meet in-season management’s demand for near real-time monitoring data. While in-season management of recreational fisheries is rare, this report does provide a number of data and management-related recommendations that could improve MRIP’s contributions to recreational fishing projections, forecasting, and other in-season management tools.

The report includes substantial technical content. NOAA Fisheries will carefully review the National Academies’ findings and recommendations and develop our response in accordance with the provisions of the Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act of 2018. 

Read the full release here

Management Measures for Dolphin and Wahoo Approved for Public Hearings

December 14, 2020 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Members of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council met via webinar last week and approved a list of proposed management measures for the Dolphin and Wahoo fisheries for public hearings. The hearings will be scheduled in early 2021. The measures, proposed in Amendment 10 to the Dolphin Wahoo Fishery Management Plan, would revise catch levels and annual catch limits for both Dolphin and Wahoo, modify allocations between recreational and commercial sectors, and modify accountability measures designed to help prevent exceeding annual catch limits. These measures are proposed in response to revised recreational data estimates from the NOAA Fisheries Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) and recalibration of numbers used to establish Acceptable Biological Catches for each species.

The amendment also includes management alternatives to reduce recreational bag limits and vessel limits for Dolphin and Wahoo, eliminate a requirement for Operator Cards in the for-hire and commercial fisheries, address retention of Dolphin and Wahoo onboard permitted commercial vessels with specified gear onboard, and allow filleting of Dolphin at sea on board charter or headboat vessels in waters north of the Virginia/North Carolina line.

Both Dolphin and Wahoo are economically important species, often targeted by private recreational anglers and charter captains. The annual catch limit for Dolphin is currently allocated 90% recreational and 10% commercial. The species are managed by the Council in federal waters (greater than 3 nautical miles) along the entire Atlantic coast of the U.S. through the Dolphin Wahoo Fishery Management Plan.

Council members have received comments, primarily from charter captains in the Florida Keys, expressing concerns about the Dolphin fishery in South Florida. Fishermen report catching fewer fish, particularly the larger “bull” Dolphin and have requested the Council consider reductions in recreational bag limits or vessel limits. Concerns have also been expressed about the commercial longline fishery for Dolphin and possible impacts to the stock. The Council agreed to consider an additional amendment to the Dolphin Wahoo Fishery Management Plan in 2021 to address the longline fishery.

Public hearings for Dolphin Wahoo Amendment 10 will be held in early 2021 via webinar. Written public comments will also be accepted. The Council will review the public comments during its March meeting and is currently scheduled to approve Amendment 10 when it meets again in June 2021.

Other Business:

The Council also approved three items for public scoping. Scoping is used to obtain stakeholder input early in the decision-making process and help guide the Council for actions to consider.

Shrimp Fishery Access Area

Coral Amendment 10 includes options to establish a shrimp fishery access area along the eastern boundary of the Oculina Bank Coral Habitat Area of Particular Concern. Located off the central east coast of Florida, the area is designated to help protect deepwater Oculina coral. The options are being considered at the request of fishermen involved in the commercial rock shrimp fishery. After considering input from its Coral Advisory Panel, Deepwater Shrimp Advisory Panel, and the Habitat and Ecosystem-Based Management Advisory Panel, the Council selected a preferred alternative for the proposed boundary area. Public scoping will occur in conjunction with the Council’s March 2021 meeting.

Wreckfish ITQ Modernization

The Council will continue to solicit input on measures proposed to modernize the current Individual Transferable Quota (ITQ) program used in the commercial fishery for Wreckfish, a deepwater grouper harvested by a limited number of vessels. Wreckfish shareholders and wholesale dealers met in October to provide guidance to the Council on recommended improvements to the program, including electronic reporting. The Council will hold a scoping meeting for proposed measures during its March 2021 meeting.

Red Porgy

In response to a recent stock assessment for Red Porgy, the Council is developing Amendment 50 to the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan to address overfishing, rebuild the stock and revise allocations. Despite having rebuilding plans in place for decades, the Red Porgy stock has not improved in the region. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act the Council must implement measures to revise the rebuilding plan and end overfishing within the next two years. Proposed measures include reductions in commercial trip limits, recreational bag limits and seasonal closures. The Council reviewed input from its Snapper Grouper Advisory Panel and acknowledged that declining abundance and poor recruitment may be due to factors other than fishing. Public scoping will take place in early 2021 via webinar.

Additional information about the December Council meeting, including a meeting Story Map, final committee reports, and briefing book materials is available from the Council’s website at: https://safmc.net/safmc-meetings/council-meetings/. The next meeting of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is scheduled for March 1-5, 2021.

Atlantic Cobia Benchmark Stock Assessment Finds Resource Not Overfished Nor Experiencing Overfishing: South Atlantic Board Sets Harvest Specifications & Initiates Addendum

February 7, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board accepted the Atlantic Cobia Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report, including new reference points, for management use. The assessment, which was conducted through the Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) process, evaluated the Atlantic stock of cobia, which extends from the Georgia/Florida border north. Assessment results indicate the stock is not overfished and overfishing is not occurring.

Spawning stock biomass (SSB) has been above the overfished threshold throughout the timeframe (1986-2017), indicating the coastwide stock is not overfished. SSB has shown several large increases following years of high recruitment, the most recent following the 2011 recruitment peak, with the largest SSB in the time series occurring in 2013. These peaks in SSB have been followed by declines when recruitment moves back towards its average. While SSB has undergone a steep decline since the 2013 peak, SSB remains above the overfished threshold.

This assessment used recalibrated recreational catch data from the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP). Landings of Atlantic cobia have generally increased since the 1980s, primarily driven by the recreational fishery, which accounts for about 96% of the total landings. Fishing mortality showed some increase in the most recent years, but did not approach the overfishing threshold, indicating the coastwide stock has not undergone overfishing during the assessment timeframe.

Read the full release here

Weakfish Assessment Update Indicates Stock is Depleted

November 4, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The 2019 Weakfish Assessment Update indicates weakfish continues to be depleted and has been since 2003. Under the reference points, the stock is considered depleted when the stock is below a spawning stock biomass (SSB) threshold of 30% (13.6 million pounds). In 2017, SSB was 4.24 million pounds.  While the assessment indicates some positive signs in the weakfish stock in the most recent years, with a slight increase in SSB and total abundance, the stock is still well below the SSB threshold. Given the weakfish management program is already highly restrictive with a one fish recreational creel limit, a 100-pound commercial trip limit, and a 100-pound commercial bycatch limit, the Board took no management action at this time.

The assessment indicates natural mortality (e.g., the rate at which fish die because of natural causes such as predation, disease, and starvation) has been increasing since the early 2000s. Fishing mortality was also high during the mid-to-late 2000s. Therefore, even though harvest has been at low levels in recent years, the weakfish population has been experiencing very high levels of total mortality (which includes fishing mortality and natural mortality), preventing the stock from recovering.

To better address the issues impacting the weakfish resource, the Technical Committee recommends the use of total mortality (Z) benchmarks to prevent an increase in fishing pressure when natural mortality is high. The assessment proposes a total mortality target of 1.03 and a threshold of 1.43. Total mortality in 2017 was 1.45, which is above both the threshold and target, indicating that total mortality is too high. Fishing mortality has increased in recent years but was below the threshold in 2017.

Weakfish commercial landings have dramatically declined since the early 1980s, dropping from over 19 million pounds landed in 1982 to roughly 180,560 pounds landed in 2017. The majority of landings occur in North Carolina and Virginia and, since the early 1990s, the primary gear used has been gillnets. Discarding of weakfish by commercial fishermen is known to occur, especially in the northern trawl fishery, and the discard mortality is assumed to be 100%. Discards peaked in the 1990s but have since declined as the result of management measures and a decline in stock abundance.

Like the commercial fishery, recreational landings and live releases have declined over time. It is assumed that 10% of weakfish released alive die so that total recreational removals are equal to the number of weakfish landed plus 10% of the weakfish released alive. The assessment update used the new time-series of calibrated estimates of landings and live releases from the Marine Recreational Information Program. These estimates were higher than the values used in the 2016 benchmark assessment but showed the same overall trend. Total recreational removals peaked in 1987 at 20.4 million pounds and have declined since then to slightly less than 500,000 pounds in 2017. The proportion of fish released alive has increased over time; over the past 10 years, 88% of weakfish were released alive. Most of the recreational catch occurs in the Mid-Atlantic between North Carolina and New Jersey.

The Assessment Update and a stock assessment overview will be available on the Commission’s website, www.asmfc.org, on the Weakfish page under Stock Assessment Reports. For more information on the stock assessment, please contact Katie Drew, Stock Assessment Team Leader, at kdrew@asmfc.org; and for more information on weakfish management, please contact Dr. Mike Schmidtke, FMP Coordinator, at mschmidtke@asmfc.org.

NOAA Fisheries Reissues Policy for Transitioning to New Recreational Fishing Surveys

September 12, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Science and Technology has reissued a policy directive on the process of transitioning to a new or improved recreational fishing data collection design.

As first issued, the directive recognized that making changes to NOAA Fisheries’ recreational fishing surveys can lead to changes in the agency’s recreational catch and effort estimates. The policy directive also stated that a Transition Plan must be developed to account for these changes and the time and effort it takes to integrate new estimates into existing time series and incorporate calibrated statistics into fisheries science and management.

Now, Policy Directive 04-114 (PDF, 4 pages):

  • Formally documents the Marine Recreational Information Program’s (MRIP’s) existing survey certification process as a key step in transitioning to a new or improved data collection design.
  • Establishes that only those survey designs that have been certified or are on the path to certification are eligible to receive technical and/or financial support for implementation from MRIP.

Certified survey and estimation methods meet a shared set of standards, undergo independent peer review, and receive approval from the MRIP Executive Steering Committee. The certification process ensures new or improved survey designs are capable of producing statistics that meet the requirements of the Information Quality Act and can be accepted as Best Scientific Information Available under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Over the past eight years, NOAA Fisheries has certified six survey designs.

Procedural Directive 04-114-02 (PDF, 10 pages) has been issued with this revised policy, and describes the process of reviewing and certifying survey designs and documenting and archiving survey design details.