Saving Seafood

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