Saving Seafood

NORTH CAROLINA: Weekly Update for Sept. 28, 2015

September 28, 2015 — The following was released by the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

WEEKLY UPDATE: 9/28/2015

NORTH CAROLINA FISHERIES ASSOCIATION

“Serving the Commercial Fishing Families of North Carolina since 1952”

Phone: (252) 745-0225 – www.ncfish.org

Jerry Schill, President: jerryschill@ncfish.org Cell: 252-361-3015  

Lauren Morris, Membership/Operations Manager:  

laurenmorris@ncfish.org  Cell: 252-725-2468

NCFA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MONDAY

The association’s board of directors will meet 2 p.m., Monday, Oct. 5 at the Washington Civic Center located at 110 Gladden Street in Washington.  As always all members are welcomed and encouraged to attend, however, the board will be discussing the southern flounder management crisis at this meeting, and so we strongly urge all the fishery’s participants who are able to attend.  We need your input on this critical issue.  

SAMFC MOVES FORWARD TO PROTECT SPAWNING AREAS

Members of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council held lengthy discussions on the proposed designation of areas to help protect spawning fish and associated habitat during their meeting last week in Hilton Head, South Carolina. After reviewing both written and public comment received during a second round of public hearings, the Council narrowed their preferred alternatives to five Spawning Special Management Zones (SMZs) as proposed in Amendment 36 to the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan. Of the eleven candidate sites included in the amendment, the Council selected the following sites as preferred: 1) a five square mile area off the coast of North Carolina known as the South Cape Lookout site; 2) a 3.1 square mile area off the coast of Georgetown, South Carolina called “Devil’s Hole” or “Georgetown Hole”; 3) a 2.99 square mile artificial reef site off the coast of South Carolina known as Area 51; 4) a 2.99 square mile artificial reef site off the coast of South Carolina known as Area 53; and 5) a one square mile area off the east coast of the Florida Keys referred to as the “Warsaw Hole”. For more information, see the news release. 

NMFS RELEASES DRAFT ECOSYSTEM-BASED MANAGEMENT POLICY 

NOAA Fisheries is developing an agency-wide ecosystem-based fishery management policy, which outlines a set of principles to guide its actions and decisions over the long-term.  The draft policy goals and framework are informed by NOAA Fisheries’ own practices and experience from that of its partners.  These ideas are intended to limit neither discussion nor consideration of other potential policy goals. Read the draft policy and learn more about how to comment here. Comments on the proposed policy are due Dec. 16, 2015. 

CONGRESSMEN JONES & YOUNG FILE BILL TO PREVENT MARINE MONUMENT DESIGNATIONS WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL CONSENT

Congressman Walter B. Jones (R-North Carolina) and Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska) have cosponsored H.R. 330, the Marine Access and State Transparency (MAST) Act.  The bill would prevent President Barack Obama, or any future president, from unilaterally designating offshore areas as “national monuments” and restricting the public’s ability to fish there.  Instead, the bill would require a president to get the approval of Congress and the legislature of each state within 100 nautical miles of the monument before any “monument” designation could take effect.

The bill comes in response to increasing speculation that President Obama may follow the example of his predecessor George W. Bush and unilaterally designate large swaths of coastal America as “national monuments.”  In 2006, President Bush short circuited the established process of public consultation and input and unilaterally designated 84 million acres off the coast of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands as a national monument. The new monument, which is larger than 46 of America’s 50 states, was then closed to fishing.    

“Presidents from both parties have abused their monument designation authority for far too long,” said Congressman Jones.  “No president should be allowed to just lock up millions of acres of fishing grounds by fiat, with no public input whatsoever.  Frankly, it’s un-American, and it must be stopped.  I am proud to be the first member of Congress to join my friend Don Young in fighting for this legislation, and I urge the rest of my colleagues to get behind it.” 

For additional information, please contact Maria Jeffrey in Congressman Jones’ office at (202) 225-3415 or at maria.jeffrey@mail.house.gov.

UPCOMING MAFMC COUNCIL MEETING

The public is invited to attend the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s October 2015 meeting on Oct. 6 – 8, 2015 in Philadelphia, PA. The meeting will be held at the Doubletree Philadelphia Center City, 237 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, Telephone 215-893-1600. Additional details and briefing materials will be posted on the  October 2015 Council Meeting page.

INTERESTED CANDIDATES FOR SAFMC SEAT EXPIRING IN 2016

Members interested in serving in the obligatory seat for the South Atlantic Marine Fishery Commission, please let Lauren know.  You can email or give her a call at 252-725-2468.

REGULATION AND RULE CHANGES:

–Commercial Scup Winter II quota and possession limits increase effective Nov. 1

DEADLINES:

Sept. 28 at 5 p.m. – MFC Kingfish and Interjusdiction FMP Update Comments

Oct. 2 – MFC Proposed Rules Comments

Oct. 2 – MAFMC Unmanaged Forage Species Scoping Comments

Dec. 16 – NMFS Draft Ecosystem-based Fishery Management Policy Comments

MEETINGS:

If you are aware of ANY meetings that should be of interest to commercial fishing that is not on this list, please contact us so we can include it here.    

Sept. 28-29 – Southeast Data, Assessment and Review Steering Committee Meeting via Webinar

Oct. 5 at 2 p.m. – NCFA Board of Directors Meeting, Washington Civic Center, 110 Gladden St., Washington

Oct. 6-8 – MAFMC Meeting, Philadelphia, PA

PROCLAMATIONS: 

RULE SUSPENSION – GILL NET RESTRICTIONS: INTERNAL COASTAL WATERS

TRAWLING, SPECIAL SECONDARY NURSERY AREA (OPENING: Core Sound, West Bay, and Turnagain Bay) 

GILL NETS – ALBEMARLE SOUND AREA- MANAGEMENT UNIT A-OPENING EASTERN PORTION

RULE SUSPENSION – GILL NET RESTRICTIONS: INTERNAL COASTAL WATERS-OPENING MANAGEMENT UNIT B AND E

STOP NETS – MULLET BEACH SEINE FISHERY – ATLANTIC OCEAN – CARTERET COUNTY

GILL NETS – BOGUE BANKS

STRIPED BASS SEASON – COMMERCIAL FISHING OPERATIONS – ALBEMARLE SOUND MANAGEMENT AREA

STRIPED BASS RECREATIONAL SEASON – ALBEMARLE SOUND MANAGEMENT AREA

STRIPED BASS RECREATIONAL SEASON – CENTRAL SOUTHERN MANAGEMENT AREA

View a PDF of the Weekly Update here

Iconic fish species move north as ocean warms

September 6, 2015 — Warming ocean temperatures off the North Atlantic are causing fish to move up the coast to cooler waters — raising concerns among scientists and regulators about the ocean’s ecosystem, and potentially changing the experience Delaware anglers have enjoyed for generations.

In 2013, a Virginia Beach striped bass tournament drew hundreds of boats, but only one striper was caught.

Wachapreague, Virginia, a tiny town south of Chincoteague that called itself the “flounder capital of the world,” lost its identity and economic engine when summer flounder relocated to waters off the coasts of New Jersey and New York.

And the iconic blue crab, a staple of restaurants and dinner tables throughout the Delmarva Peninsula, are expanding their range, scuttling up the coast to Maine.

Striped bass, which gave birth to a charter fishing industry in Delaware, are swimming into deeper water during their fall migration through the mid-Atlantic — well beyond the 3-mile limit off the coast where it is legal to catch and keep them.

Black sea bass — once so common in area waters, they were the go-to-fish when other species weren’t biting — have moved north to New England.

Read the full story at Delaware Online

 

ASMFC 2015 Summer Meeting Supplemental Materials Now Available

July 29, 2015– The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Supplemental meeting materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2015 Summer Meeting have been posted at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2015-summer-meeting for the following Boards (click on “Supplemental Material” following each relevant board header to access information).

Executive Committee – Review of Commission Guidance Documents

American Lobster Management Board – Draft Proceedings from May 2015; Public Comment Summary and Submitted Public Comment on the Draft Jonah Crab Fishery Management Plan (FMP); Reports of the Law Enforcement Committee and Jonah Crab Advisory Panel on the Draft FMP; Letter from Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries; and Technical Committee Report on NMFS Observer Coverage of the American Lobster Fishery

American Eel Management Board – Revised Meeting Overview and Delaware Annual Compliance Report

Tautog Management Board – Draft Public Information Document for Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Tautog

Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board – Public Comment and Draft 2015 Fishery Management Plan Review

Atlantic Menhaden Management Board  – Atlantic Menhaden Allocation Working Group Conference Call Summary; ASMFC Press Release on Atlantic Menhaden Ecosystem Management Objectives Workshop; and Public Comment

ISFMP Policy Board – 2015 Annual Stock Performance

South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board  – Draft Proceedings from May 2015

For ease of access, all supplemental meeting materials (with the exception of ACCSP materials) have combined into one PDF –http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/Summer2015/CombinedSupplemental.pdf. As a reminder, Board/Section meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning at 10:15 a.m. on August 4th and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 12:15 p.m.) on August 6th. 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 for the webinar, please go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/453851280130891265.

 

Gender-bending fish under Rutgers microscope

July 7, 2015 — We’ll say this for the sea bass: It’s sure good at keeping its options open.

If it surveys the mating landscape and fails to see enough prospects, it simply switches gender.

Problem solved.

This ability bodes well for New Jersey’s commercial and recreational fishing industry, for it offers natural protection from over-fishing, says one Rutgers researcher.

A fish may begin life as a female, only to switch to male if that looks like it will improve its chances of reproduction. Smaller males, called “sneaker males,” may impersonate females so they can fertilize eggs on the sly without attracting hostile attention from other males.

“The relative benefit of being male or female changes throughout their lives,” said Olaf Jensen of Rutgers’ department of marine and coastal science.

But until lately, no one has really known how often sea bass switch genders, or when that switch typically takes place.

And why should anyone but a marine biologist care?

Because without understanding what’s happening, state fishing bureaucrats have no firm idea on how to set catch limits for the fishing industry.

Read the full story at NJ.com

Changes likely in striped bass limits

September 18, 2014 — While absolutely nothing is certain when it comes to fishery management, it does seem fairly likely that a reduction in the catch limit for striped bass is coming in 2015.

The current limit for striped bass is two fish at 28 inches and it looks like it's heading for one fish at a still undetermined size.

The ASMFC is holding a series of meetings to ask for public comment on Draft Addendum IV to the Atlantic Striped Bass Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Striped Bass which aims to set new biological reference points for the stock.

The reason behind the new amendment is that the 2013 benchmark stock assessment showed that, while the stock was not overfished and overfishing was not occurring, fishing mortality (F) was on the increase and the spawning stock biomass (SSB), was decreasing. Obviously, if a stock is dying faster than it can be replaced, the outcome will never be good.

So even though the stock is not being overfished, projections show that the SSB will likely fall below its threshold in coming years. As a result the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission elected to initiate an addendum to address the situation. The fishery management plan is designed so that if these threshold numbers are approached, something has to be done to address the problem

Another reason for the addendum was that fishery managers saw too many similarities in the current striped bass situation to the one that preceded the crash of the stock in the 1980s, which led to a moratorium on the fishery. Few wanted to see a repeat of that bit of history.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press