Saving Seafood

Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab populations are healthy, report finds

July 6, 2020 — The bay’s blue crabs aren’t being over-harvested and the population isn’t depleted, which means there’s no need for significant changes in how many watermen catch, the Chesapeake Bay Program’s annual Blue Crab Advisory Report said.

Although crab numbers declined from 594 million last year to 405 million this year, that’s in line with natural variation, according to the report, which was released Wednesday.

At that level, there’s no need for significant change in the rules the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, or its counterparts in Maryland and the Potomac River, set for when and how watermen catch crabs, the report noted.

The key issue for those regulators, and the Bay program, is that the stock of female crabs remains robust. If too many are harvested when they could be reproducing, the overall population could crash, as happened in the late 1990s.

While the current count of female crabs declined by 26% from last year’s total, to 141 million, that’s well above the 70 million minimum fisheries scientists say is needed to maintain the population of crabs, the report noted.

Read the full story at The Virginian-Pilot

ASMFC Withdraws the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Atlantic Menhaden Noncompliance Finding

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

Today, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission notified the Secretary of Commerce that the Commonwealth of Virginia is in compliance with Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden. Specifically, the Commonwealth has promulgated regulations to implement the 51,000 metric ton (mt) Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap (cap). For the 2020 fishing season, the Commonwealth set the cap at approximately 36,000 mt, nearly 15,000 mt below Amendment 3’s cap to reflect overages that occurred in 2019. The Virginia Marine Resources Commission, which now has regulatory authority for menhaden management in state waters, will set the cap at 51,000 mt in 2021 as long as catch is below the cap set in 2020.

“I would like to thank my fellow Virginia Commissioners, Governor Northam, Secretary Strickler, the Virginia General Assembly, and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission for their attention to this issue,” stated Patrick Keliher, ASMFC Chair and Commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources. “We are appreciative of their hard work to bring the Commonwealth back into compliance prior to the effective date of the moratorium.”

Under the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act, upon receiving notification that a state has come back into compliance with a mandatory management measure, the Secretary of Commerce determines whether the state is in compliance. If he concurs with the Commission’s compliance finding, the moratorium is terminated immediately.

Virginia’s fishing industry has lost millions because of coronavirus pandemic, internal memo says

April 22, 2020 — In the weeks since the coronavirus halted most restaurant operations, Virginia’s fishing industry has taken a big hit.

The information comes from an internal memo the Virginia Marine Resources Commission shared with the Daily Press.

The memo cites revenue potential loss from March through June ranging from $53 million to $68 million due to a near 90% decrease in market demand. The data was compiled to begin to understand the economic impact of COVID-19 on the fishing industry, both commercial and recreational, deputy commissioner Ellen Bolen said.

The information is anecdotal and gives broad calculations, she added.

The aquaculture industry ― which includes oyster and clam harvesters ― estimates it is losing between $3.5 and $7 million per month, according to the memo. The figures compiled do not factor in losses in supply such as bait, fuel and ice.

Commercial fishery jobs — some 18,220 around Virginia — includes harvesters, dealers, processors, importers, distributors and retail, according to data from the NOAA Fisheries Economics of the United States report.

Read the full story at The Virginian-Pilot 

Menhaden, the most political fish in the Chesapeake Bay, might not be regulated by Virginia legislature anymore

January 29, 2020 — Virginia moved to keep fishing for menhaden in Chesapeake Bay, but a legislative compromise that got its first nods this week means the big boats from Reedville won’t catch quite as much.

The reason is that the most political fish of all would no longer be regulated by the General Assembly, where state Senate and House of Delegates panels say the legislature should turn the job over to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, the panel that oversees every other fish.

Virginia faced a moratorium on the Bay menhaden fishery because Reedville-based Omega Proteins exceeded a cap on the Bay catch imposed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in 2017.

That cap, of 51,000 metric tons, is 41.5% below the old limit, which is the one written into the Code of Virginia.

Read the full story at The Daily Press

Shrimping has begun off the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Maryland could be next.

December 5, 2019 — White shrimp are being pulled by the thousands from the water off the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

The water is not usually warm enough for them. But from this year forward, the shrimp are likely here to stay.

White shrimp, which thrive in the Gulf of Mexico and south Atlantic Ocean, typically only venture as far north as North Carolina in any significant numbers. A ghost of a shrimp market has existed off Virginia for only one or two weeks out of the year, but this year, it’s something different.

This fall, six watermen have been granted licenses to trawl for much larger quantities of the succulent 4-8 inch shrimp in an experimental fishery, which stretches three miles off the ocean side of Virginia Beach and three miles off the ocean side of the Eastern Shore, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission reports.

Read the full story from the Salisbury Daily Times at Delmarva Now

REVISED: States Schedule Public Hearings on Atlantic Croaker and Spot Draft Addenda (Public Hearing Webinar Moved to January 18th)

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

The Commission’s South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board (Board) releases two documents for public comment: Draft Addendum III to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Croaker and Draft Addendum III to the Omnibus Amendment to the Interstate FMPs for Spanish Mackerel, Spot, and Spotted Seatrout. The states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina have scheduled their hearings to gather public input on the Draft Addenda. The details of those hearings, as well as an ASMFC Public Hearing webinar, follow.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources

December 3, 2019 at 6 PM

  • Tawes State Office Building
  • C1 (Lobby) Conference Room
  • 580 Taylor Avenue, Annapolis, Maryland 21401
  • Contact: Lynn Fegley at 410.260.8285

December 16, 2019 at 6 PM*

  • Wor-Wic Community College
  • 32000 Campus Drive, Hazel Center Room 302, Salisbury, MD 21804
  • Contacts: Lynn Fegley at 410.260.8285 and John Clark at 302.739.9914
    • * Held jointly with the DE Division of Fish & Wildlife

Virginia Marine Resources Commission

  • January 7, 2020 at 6:30 PM
  • 380 Fenwick Road, Ft. Monroe, VA 23651
  • Contact: Adam Kenyon and Somers Smott at 757.247.2200

North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries

  • December 5, 2019 at 6 PM
  • N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Southern Regional Office
  • 127 Cardinal Drive Extension, Wilmington, NC 28405
  • Contact: Chris Batsavage at 252.808.8009

REVISED: ASMFC Public Hearing Webinar

The Board initiated the development of the Draft Addenda for Atlantic croaker and spot to incorporate updates on the annual traffic light approach (TLA) and propose changes to the management program. In the absence of an approved stock assessment, which is the case for both species, the TLA is conducted each year to evaluate fishery trends and develop management actions (e.g. bag limits, size restrictions, time and area closures, and gear restrictions) when harvest and abundance thresholds are exceeded. The TLA assigns a color (red, yellow, or green) to categorize relative levels of indicators on the condition of the fish population or fishery. For example, as harvest or abundance increases relative to its long-term average, the proportion of green in a given year will increase and as harvest or abundance decreases, the amount of red in that year will increase. The Board annually evaluates the proportion of red against threshold levels to determine if management action is required. In recent years, fisheries for both Atlantic croaker and spot have experienced declines in harvest, but not declines in abundance as indicated by fishery-independent surveys used in the TLA. Therefore, management action has not been triggered. The lack of triggering management action with these harvest declines has raised concerns, leading to re-evaluation of TLA methods and the proposal of changes to management.

Both Draft Addenda present updates to resolve issues with the TLA analyses in order to better reflect stock characteristics, based on recommendations from the Atlantic Croaker Technical Committee and Spot Plan Review Team. Each Draft Addendum also presents options for four issues that address the TLA management triggering mechanism, triggered management responses for the recreational and commercial fisheries, and evaluation of the population’s response to triggered management actions.

The Draft Addenda are available athttp://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/AtlCroakerDraftAddIII_PublicComment_Oct2019.pdf and http://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/SpotDraftAddIII_PublicComment_Oct2019.pdf or via the Commission’s website at http://www.asmfc.org/about-us/public-input. Fishermen and other stakeholders are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addenda either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. Public comment will be accepted until 5 PM (EST) on January 10, 2020 and should be sent to Dr. Michael Schmidtke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at comments@asmfc.org(Subject line: Croaker and Spot Draft Addenda III).

The Board will meet at the Commission’s Winter Meeting in February to review public comment and consider final approval of the Addenda.

REVISED: States Schedule Public Hearings on Atlantic Croaker and Spot Draft Addenda (Public Hearing Webinar Scheduled for December 16)

December 2, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board (Board) releases two documents for public comment: Draft Addendum III to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Croaker and Draft Addendum III to the Omnibus Amendment to the Interstate FMPs for Spanish Mackerel, Spot, and Spotted Seatrout. The states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina have scheduled their hearings to gather public input on the Draft Addenda. The details of those hearings follow.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources

  • December 3, 2019 at 6 PM
  • Tawes State Office Building C1 (Lobby) Conference Room 580 Taylor Avenue Annapolis, Maryland 21401
  • Contact: Lynn Fegley at 410.260.8285
  • December 16, 2019 at 6 PM*
  • Wor-Wic Community College 32000 Campus Drive, Hazel Center Room 302 Salisbury, MD 21804
  • Contacts: Lynn Fegley at 410.260.8285 and John Clark at 302.739.9914
    • * Held jointly with the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife

Virginia Marine Resources Commission

  • January 7, 2020 at 6:30 PM
  • 380 Fenwick Road Ft. Monroe, VA 23651
  • Contact: Adam Kenyon and Somers Smott at 757.247.2200

Read the full release here

VIRGINIA: Decision to continue striped bass tournament is “huge.” The fish won’t be.

September 27, 2019 — Despite regulations that will take big fish out of the equation, the founder of the Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout has decided to press on.

The 17th annual event will take place Dec. 5-7. Teams can depart from any Virginia port, but weigh-ins are held at King’s Creek Marina in Cape Charles on the lower Eastern Shore.

This week the Virginia Marine Resources Commission lowered the recreational take of striper from two fish to one. And instead of allowing trophy-sized fish to be caught, rockfish will now have to measure between 20 and 36 inches length.

That means all the top catches will be nearly the same size. The tournament will have to rely on scales that measure to one-hundreth of a pound to judge the winning fish.

Mike Standing, who started the shootout in Virginia Beach but moved it to Cape Charles a few years ago, said continuing his event is about more than competitive fishing.

Read the full story at The Virginian-Pilot

ONE ROCKFISH PER DAY: VIRGINIA LOWERS STRIPED BASS LIMITS

September 3, 2019 — The Virginia Marine Resources Commission approved a set of emergency measures August 27 to help protect the struggling striped bass population in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast. That includes lowering the number of “keepers” for recreational anglers from two to one fish per day.

The action will reduce the amount of striped bass lost to recreational fishing in Virginia by 24%, said Alex Aspinwall, a data analyst with the state commission.

Charter boat industry leaders said the change will devastate their business for striped bass, also known as rockfish. But the move’s backers said it and the other new measures are needed to keep fishery managers from having to enact the state’s first fishing moratorium on the species since 1990.

“No one wants their ox gored,” said Steven Bowman, head of the commission. But “this ox is not just gored. This ox is lying on its side in need of treatment.”

Read the full story at the Chesapeake Bay Magazine

New striped bass regulations lower recreational catch in Virginia

August 29, 2019 — The Virginia Marine Resources Commission approved a set of emergency measures Aug. 27 to help protect the struggling striped bass population in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast. That includes lowering the number of “keepers” for recreational anglers from two to one fish per day.

The action will reduce the amount of striped bass lost to recreational fishing in Virginia by 24%, said Alex Aspinwall, a data analyst with the state commission.

Charter boat industry leaders said the change will devastate their business for striped bass, also known as rockfish. But the move’s backers said it and the other new measures are needed to keep fishery managers from having to enact the state’s first fishing moratorium on the species since 1990.

Read the full story at Bay Journal