August 28, 2013 — Today at the recommendation of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, NOAA is proposing a number of revisions to the Atlantic mackerel, squid, and butterfish fishery management plan to improve the catch monitoring and reduce the bycatch of river herring and shad through Amendment 14.
NOAA Fisheries explained the changes to Congressional offices as follows:
The proposed measures include:
o Revise fishery management program measures (dealer and vessel reporting requirements, requirements for vessel monitoring systems);
o Increase observer coverage on mid-water trawl and small-mesh bottom trawl mackerel trips;
o Revise vessel requirements to improve at-sea sampling by observers;
o Establish measures to discourage the discarding of catch before it has been sampled by observers;
o Establish a mortality cap for river herrings and shads in the mackerel fishery, with amounts to be set in a future action.
NOAA Fisheries has concerns about three of these proposed measures and did inform the council of these concerns prior to the council's approval of Amendment 14 in a letter.
The concerns are:
o Requiring up to 100-percent observer coverage in the mackerel fishery coupled with an industry contribution of $325 per day;
o Establishing a cap that, if achieved, would require vessels discarding catch before it had been sampled by observers to return to port; and
o Requiring mackerel/squid/butterfish dealers to accurately weigh all fish and, if catch is not sorted by species, also requiring dealers to document how they estimated relative species composition.
Public comments on the Amendment 14 proposed measures will be accepted through October 11, 2013.
Visit the NOAA Fisheries page with related links