MYSTIC, Ct. — October 29, 2014 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC):
The Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board initiated the development of Draft Addendum XXVI to the Summer Flounder Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The Draft Addendum will propose alternate regional management approaches for the 2015 recreational summer flounder fishery to continue to improve equity in recreational harvest opportunities along the coast. The Draft Addendum will include options to allow for the averaging of harvest estimates, mandatory regions, and the sharing of unused quota.
Draft Addendum XXVI is initiated to continue the use of regional management to harvest the coastwide recreational harvest limit for summer flounder. In 2014, the Board approved Addendum XXV which provided a shift away from state-by-state harvest targets used in previous years. Regional management allowed for the use of the same management measures within regions, as well as more similar management measures between regions. State-by-state harvest targets created difficulties for some states as overages occurred due largely to state shares and limits not reflecting local abundance of summer flounder and its availability to recreational fishermen. State targets were based solely upon the 1998 estimate of harvest from the Marine Recreational Fishery Statistics Survey. The 2014 management regions are: Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Connecticut-New Jersey; Delaware-Virginia; and North Carolina.
The Board appointed new members to its Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisory Panel. At the Commission’s Summer Meeting in August 2014, the Board moved to consolidate the individual advisory panels for each of the three species into one group. This action was prompted by recent declines in participation and engagement of advisory panel members. Commission staff will continue to work closely with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council as it repopulates its Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisory Panel with the intent of improving meeting efficiencies and cost, and coordination of the two advisory panels.
Draft Addendum XXVI will be presented to the Board for its consideration and approval for public comment at its joint December meeting with the Council in Baltimore, Maryland. At this meeting, the Board and Council will also consider management measures for 2015 black sea bass fishery. For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.