Saving Seafood

ASMFC South Atlantic Board Approves Atlantic Cobia Addendum I

October 22, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s South Atlantic States/Federal Fisheries Management Board approved Addendum I to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Migratory Group Cobia. The Addendum modifies: (1) the allocation of the resource between the commercial and recreational sectors, (2) the methodology to calculate the commercial trigger for in-season closures; and (3) and commercial and recreational de minimis measures.

The Addendum changes the allocation of the resource between the recreational and commercial fisheries from 92% and 8% respectively to and 96% and 4% respectively. The change was primarily based on new recreational catch estimates that resulted from changes in survey methodology by the Marine Recreational Information Program. The new catch estimates were, on average, about two times higher than previously estimated, impacting the allocation between the two sectors. In considering the new allocation percentages, the Board took into account the increase in the recreational catch and the harvest levels of the commercial fishery in recent years. The new commercial allocation allows the fishery to operate at its current level with some room for landings to increase as the stock range expands further north.

The Addendum also modifies the calculation of the commercial trigger, which determines when an in-season coastwide commercial closure occurs. The approved trigger is set up to provide states with enough time to close the fishery via their administrative processes without exceeding the quota.

Changes to de minimis measures, which are applied to states with relatively small commercial or recreational harvest, include adjusting the commercial allocation set aside and recreational regulations. For de minimis measures, the Addendum establishes a commercial de minimis set aside of 4% of the commercial quota with a maximum cap of 5,000 pounds to account for potential landings in de minimis states not tracked in-season against the quota. States that are de minimis for their recreational fisheries may choose to match the recreational management measures implemented by an adjacent non-de minimis state (or the nearest non-de minimis state if none are adjacent), or limit its recreational fishery to 1 fish per vessel per trip with a minimum size of 33 inches fork length (or an equivalent total length of 37 inches).

States are required to implement the new measures by January 1, 2021. For more information, please contact Savannah Lewis, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at slewis@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Red Drum Simulation Assessment Data Workshop Scheduled for November 9-10 & 12-13, 2020

October 14, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

As the first step in the development of the next red drum benchmark stock assessment, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has scheduled a Data Workshop for November 9-10 & 12-13, 2020 to review and evaluate available data sets for use in the stock assessment. The Workshop will be held via webinar and is open to the public. The Workshop details and agenda can be found at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/RedDrumSimulationAssmtDataWorkshopAgenda_Nov2020.pdf.

For more information, please contact Savannah Lewis, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at slewis@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

ASMFC Begins Preparations for Red Drum Benchmark Stock Assessment

August 27, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has begun work on the next Red Drum Benchmark Stock Assessment and is requesting data from academia, member states, federal partners, non-governmental organizations, participating jurisdictions and stakeholders. A data workshop will occur in November 2020 with specific dates still to be determined.

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, tag-recapture data, biological samples (lengths, ages), and life history information (growth, maturity, natural mortality). For data sets to be considered, the data must be sent in the required format with accompanying description of methods to Jeff Kipp, Stock Assessment Scientist, at jkipp@asmfc.org by October 1, 2020.

For more information about the assessments or the submission and presentation of materials, please contact Savannah Lewis, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at slewis@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.