Saving Seafood

NORTH CAROLINA: Fisheries panel raises concerns about proposed flounder reduction

May 31, 2019 — The Carteret County Marine Fisheries Advisory Board convened for the first time since February of last year to discuss what they feel is a misguided attempt to save the southern flounder population.

At the end of the Wednesday meeting at the county administration building, board members decided to send a letter to Gov. Roy Cooper and other state figures.

At issue is a portion of the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan.

Amendment 2 of the plan recommends a 62% reduction in catch of southern flounder the first year, followed by a 72% reduction the following year.

The first year begins this fall.

Members of the county advisory board feel the proposed reduction is too stringent and would place an undue burden on commercial fishermen in the county and throughout the state.

The letter mentions the importance of southern flounder fishing to the area’s economy.

“These proposed reductions will have devastating impacts to the fishing economies of Carteret County,” reads a portion of the letter the panel plans to send to the governor’s office. “The Division of Marine Fisheries and the (Marine Fisheries Commission) have decided to pursue an accelerated timeline for adoption of Amendment 2 to adopt substantial reductions in commercial and recreational harvest and have chosen fishing reduction goals that are not practicable or reasonable when considering the economic impacts, biology of southern flounder, management history and possibly environmental conditions.”

Read the full story at the Carteret County News-Times

NOAA Fisheries Revises 2019 Summer Flounder Specifications

May 16, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, we are announcing increases to the summer flounder catch and landings limits for the 2019 fishing year in response to new information from a benchmark stock assessment.

Final assessment results became available to managers in February 2019. The assessment included the incorporation of revised Marine Recreational Information Program estimates of recreational catch, which has an important impact on estimated spawning stock biomass for summer flounder. The assessment determined that the summer flounder stock is not overfished and overfishing is not occurring, enabling us to increase catch and landing limits for 2019 .

Read the full release here

ASMFC 2019 Spring Meeting Supplemental Materials Now Available

April 24, 2019 — The following was published by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Supplemental materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Spring Meeting are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2019-spring-meeting for the following Boards/Committees (click on “Supplemental” following each relevant committee header to access the information). For ease of access, supplemental meeting materials have been combined into one PDF – http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/2019SpringMeeting/2019SpringMtgMaterialsSupplemental.pdf.

American Lobster Management Board – Progress Report on Draft American Lobster Addendum XXVIII
 
Atlantic Herring Management Board – Advisory Panel Review of Draft Addendum II; Overview of 1A Management Tools
 
Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board – Technical Committee Report on Percent Reduction in Harvest to Achieve Fishing Mortality Threshold and Target in 2020, and Example Recreational Options to Achieve Those Reductions;  Correspondence Regarding Striped Bass Management; Public Comment
 
Law Enforcement Committee – MAFMC Letter on Law Enforcement/For-hire Workshop
 
Executive Committee – Revised Agenda & Draft Work Group Meeting SOPPS
 
Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board – Plan Development Team Report on Black Sea Bass Commercial Management
 
Business Session – Summer Flounder Commercial Issues Amendment Summary
 
Horseshoe Crab Management Board – Technical Committee and Stock Assessment Subcommittee Task List; Public Comment; James Cooper Tribute to Board
 
Interstate Fisheries Management Program Policy Board – Revised Draft Agenda and Meeting Overview
 
South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board – Committee Task List; MD DNR Memo: State-Gathered Public Input on Potential Management Measures for Atlantic Croaker and Spot
 
As a reminder, Board meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning April 29th at 1 p.m. and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 12:15 p.m.) on Thursday, May 2nd. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board 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. Please go to – https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1041506190356646145 – to register.

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

 

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

Fishery management delayed by partial government shutdown

January 18, 2019 — If the partial federal government shutdown drags on the 2018 summer flounder benchmark assessment may not be available, a fishery spokesperson said.

The assessment is needed to move forward with setting the fisheries 2019 regulations. And it’s not just summer flounder assessments, it’s scup, sea bass, and striped bass, to name some other key recreational fisheries.

“Basically, we’re all waiting on the benchmark assessments and stock reviews,” said Tina Berger, spokesperson for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, or ASMFC.

“If all things were normal the council would move forward with making decisions for 2019 seasons,” Berger said. “Our federal partners are part of every part of the process.”

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Commercial summer flounder fishery closed for the year

December 27, 2018 — If a day without flounder is like a day without sunshine, Rhode Island is looking at a dark end to the year.

Federal fishing managers say they are closing the commercial summer flounder fishery in the Ocean State at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday. That means federally permitted fishing vessels can’t bring summer flounder to land for the remainder of the fishing year, which ends on Dec. 31.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the closure is required by regulations because Rhode Island fishermen have brought nearly a million pounds of the fish to docks, which is 98 percent of their quota.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WCAV

Final Action on Summer Flounder Commercial Issues Amendment Postponed Until February 2019

December 19, 2018 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

During a joint meeting last week in Annapolis, Maryland, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board (Board) voted to postpone final action on the Summer Flounder Commercial Issues Amendment until their next joint meeting in February 2019.

The amendment considers several potential changes to the management of the commercial summer flounder fishery and proposes modifications to the fishery management plan goals and objectives for summer flounder.

Discussion during the meeting focused predominantly on options in the amendment that could modify allocations of the commercial summer flounder quota to the states. The current commercial allocations were last modified in 1993 and are perceived by some as outdated given their basis in 1980-1989 landings data. The amendment proposes three sets of alternatives for modifying the current state-by-state allocations. After reviewing public comments on these options, the administrative Commissioner from New York introduced a motion that would have allowed states to submit additional commercial quota allocation options for discussion in February 2019. While some Council and Board members offered support for the motion, others felt that it was too late in the process to introduce new alternatives and that the existing options adequately address the purpose of the amendment. After a lengthy discussion, the motion was defeated due to lack of majority from the Council.

Given the limited time available to discuss the remaining issues addressed in the amendment, the Council and Board voted to postpone final action until their next joint meeting, to be held February 11-14, 2019 in Virginia Beach, VA. Additional information about this action is available at:
http://www.mafmc.org/actions/summer-flounder-amendment.

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

Read the full release here

ASMFC Approves Addenda XXXI and XXXII to the Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan

December 14, 2018 — ANNAPOLIS, Md. – 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), at its joint meeting with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council), approved Addenda XXXI and XXXII to the Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP).

Addendum XXXI

Addendum XXXI, coupled with the Council’s complementary Framework Document, adds to the suite of tools available for managing summer flounder, scup and black sea bass, with particular focus on enhancing the compatibility of state and federal regulations.

First, the joint action modifies the Council and Commission FMPs to allow the use of conservation equivalency for black sea bass recreational management, beginning in 2020. Conservation equivalency allows recreational management measures in federal waters measures to be waived, and instead requires recreational anglers to abide by the measures of the state in which they land their catch. As is done in summer flounder recreational management, the Board and Council will annually decide whether to enact conservation equivalency.

Second, the Commission recommended NOAA Fisheries implement transit provisions in Block Island Sound, allowing non-federally permitted recreational and commercial vessels to transit federal waters while in possession of summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass legally harvested from state waters.

Lastly, the Council’s Framework allows for the use of maximum sizes in addition to minimum sizes, commonly referred to as slot limits, to control catch in the summer flounder and black sea bass recreational fisheries. The Commission’s FMP already allows for use of this approach, thereby allowing both management bodies to use this measure in the future.

Addendum XXXII

Addendum XXXII establishes a new process for developing recreational management measures for summer flounder and black sea bass. These measures will be set on an annual basis through a specifications process, rather than addenda. The Board will approve measures in early spring each year, based on technical committee analysis of stock status, resource availability, and harvest estimates. Public input on specifications will be gathered by states through their individual public comment processes.

By removing the need to develop annual addenda to implement recreational measures, the specifications process will provide the Board more flexibility in adjusting measures, if necessary, to constrain harvest to the annual coastwide recreational harvest limit (RHL). Further, the process will enable the Board to consider a host of factors, including: regional equity; regulatory stability; species abundance and distribution; and late-breaking recreational harvest estimates. To further aid in setting specifications, the Addendum establishes standards and guiding principles intended to structure the development of recreational measures on a regional basis.

Addenda XXXI and XXXII will be available on the Commission website, www.asmfc.org, on each species webpage by the end of December. For more information on summer flounder and scup, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org, and for information on black sea bass, contact Caitlin Starks, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org, or 703.842.0740.

Read the release here