Council Actions

April 16, 2012 – The New England Fishery Management COuncil (NEFMC) has made available the documents for its April 24-26 meeting.

View the documents here.

 

April 16, 2012 – The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) has made available the discussion documents for the April 18 meeting of the groundfish committee.

View the documents here.

 

 

Mystic – National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the New England Fishery Management Council will host a public hearing at 6 p.m. April 25 at the Hilton Hotel, 20 Coogan Boulevard, to obtain public input on measures proposed for inclusion in Amendment 5 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan.

Amendment 5 measures could include adjustments to the fishery management program, reporting requirements and measures to address trip notification, carrier vessels and transfers of herring at-sea. A catch monitoring program also is being considered as well as measures to address river herring bycatch and criteria for midwater trawl vessel access to the year-round groundfish closed areas.

For information, contact Paul Howard, executive director of the New England Fishery Management Council, at (978) 465-0492.

Read the full story at The Day.

The Groundfish Oversight Committee will meet to discuss several issues related to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan including:

-Continue development of an action to modify measures that apply to sectors. This discussion is expected to focus primarily on monitoring issues, and may include discussion of ACE carryover provisions and other measures relevant to sector operations.

-Discuss an action to establish acceptable biological catches (ABCs) and annual catch limits (ACLs) for fishing years 2013 and 2014. Setting ABCs/ACLs may require modification of recreational fishing measures and the Committee may discuss this issue.
-May also discuss adopting additional sub-ACLs for the scallop fishery and pursuing the Mixed Stock Exception for SNE/MA windowpane flounder.
-May discuss possible modifications to groundfish closed areas and the recent Endangered Species Act listing of Atlantic Sturgeon.
-Discuss possible modifications to gear stowage requirements.
-Other business.

 

Read the Meeting Notice from The New England Fishery Management Council

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, April 10, 2012 – 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
 
Sanderling Inn, 1461 Duck Road, Duck, NC
And Via the Internet at here.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is engaged in siting offshore renewable energy facilities along the Atlantic seaboard.  As part of the planning and analysis for the offshore renewable energy process BOEM is reaching out to fishers to solicit their thoughts regarding offshore renewable energy as well as informing fishers about the offshore renewable energy leasing process.
 
This update will primarily focus on offshore renewable energy activities in the Mid-Atlantic (New York to North Carolina).  Updates on the status of various BOEM-funded studies will also be presented.  Information regarding BOEM’s renewable energy program can be found at:  http://www.boem.gov/Renewable-Energy-Program/index.aspx.  Incorporating input and feedback from fishers is important to BOEM’s planning process.  With this in mind, the Council will host a Public Listening Session in which BOEM representatives, will provide an update and take questions and input from the audience and those online (see below for registration).  If you have questions, need answers, or just want to express your concerns regarding the BOEM offshore renewable energy program, you will be able to talk directly to BOEM staff and leaders from the Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
 
You can attend in person in Duck or via the internet.  For online webinar access register at:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/357029721.   This is the same link for listening-in to the Council meeting -Agenda.
 
Regarding the Listening Session process, please contact Jason Didden at jdidden@mafmc.org or (302) 526-5254 if you have any questions or if you would like to confirm that your computer is set-up to access the webinar.  The webinar works for most computers, but sometimes remote voice communication from online participants has problems.  In such cases, participants may still use a chat feature in the webinar to type submit their comments or questions.  You can also email questions for the Listening Session before the meeting begins to jdidden@mafmc.org.

Arlington, VA –APRIL 2, 2012 –Upon review of the latest black sea bass recreational data from last year (waves 1 – 6), the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board has modified the percent that states may liberalize their 2012 recreational management measures to achieve the 1.32 million pound (942,857 fish) harvest limit for the 2012 fishery. The northern region states of Massachusetts through New Jersey will implement measures that achieve a 37% liberalization throughout the region and a 32% liberalization coastwide; the percent of liberalization will vary by state. Northern region states had the option to collectively liberalize regulations by 41% but opted to be more conservative.

Since the Board's approval of Addendum XXII and the resultant 2012 state recreational management measures in February 2012, new 2011 recreational harvest estimates were released by the National Marine Fisheries Service. The data indicates the projections used to form the basis of this year’s regulations under estimated the 2011 harvest. Coastwide recreational harvest for the 2011 black fishery is now estimated at 713,478 fish (versus the initial estimate of 654,142 fish).  As a result of the new estimate, northern states will still be able to liberalize their 2012 recreational management measures but not to the extent that they would have under the previous estimate (initial liberalization was 57%). The northern states will be working over the next month to finalize their recreational black sea bass management measures.

Based on the stock projections completed in 2011, the black sea bass stock is not overfished and overfishing is not occurring. The projections indicate the stock is at about 111% of its biomass target. For more information, please contact Toni Kerns, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator for Management, at tkerns@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Read the graph of state-specific regulations here.

 

Arlington, VA –APRIL 2, 2012 –The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Tautog Management Board has lowered the harvest reduction necessary for states to comply with Addendum VI. Under the revised stock assessment update, states from Connecticut through Virginia are required to reduce harvest by 39% from the average of 2008 and 2009 levels.  This change responds to errors found in the 2011 assessment update, which overestimated the 2009 fishing mortality rate and, therefore, the associated harvest reduction necessary to achieve the fishing mortality target. Previously, states had been required to reduce harvest by 53%.

Approved in late 2011, Addendum VI lowers the fishing mortality target to 0.15 and requires states to implement measures to achieve this target.  Additionally, it allows for reductions based on regional/state fishing mortality rates for states that can demonstrate a lower regional fishing mortality rate than the coastwide assessment. Massachusetts and Rhode Island submitted and received Board approval for a regional assessment which demonstrated a local fishing mortality rate below the Addendum VI target. Therefore, they will not need to make any harvest reductions. All other states are required to meet the 39% reduction in harvest and can employ a combination of bag limits, size limits and/or closed seasons based on approved methodologies to achieve the reductions. Management measures derived using alternative methodologies will need to be vetted through the Commission’s Tautog Technical Committee and approved by the Management Board before they can be implemented by the state(s). All states have the option of implementing more conservative management measures.  

The revised assessment results show the stock continues to be overfished with overfishing occurring.  The spawning stock biomass (SSB) has remained at low levels for the last decade, with 2009 SSB estimated at 10,663 metric tons — 38% of the target SSB (26,800 metric tons). Current coastwide fishing mortality (F) is estimated at 0.26, well above the Addendum VI target of F=0.15.  At F=0.15, original projections estimated that SSB would exceed the SSB threshold (20,100 metric tons) around 2018. However, under the corrected assessment, the stock is not projected to reach the threshold by 2025.  Based on these new findings, some Board members expressed concern that the current F target is insufficient to rebuild the stock. The rebuilding strategy will be discussed at a future meeting.

For more information, please contact Christopher Vonderweidt, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at cvonderweidt@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

The North Carolina Fisheries Association made the following statement in their March 23 weekly update:

Dewey Hemilright of Dare County has been appointed to the MAFMC and will take his seat at the upcoming meeting in Duck, N.C. in April. Dewey has been an active fisherman for years, serving on Highly Migratory AP, and many other advisory panels and groups. The commercial industry will be proud to have Dewey represent them on the Council, as he is one who does his homework and makes sure he’s up on the issues. NCFA thanks Governor Perdue for putting Dewey’s name as her preferred candidate for Jule Wheatly’s vacant seat, and also thanks Senator Hagan and Congressman Jones for their support of Dewey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 23, 2012 – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is pleased to provide you with our 2011 Annual Report, http://www.asmfc.org/publications/2011AnnualReport.pdf.

It describes the Commission's activities and progress in carrying out our public trust responsibilities for the valuable marine fisheries under Commission stewardship.  Included in this report are graphs with historical records detailing biomass levels or landings of our stocks.  Also provided is a summary of the significant management actions Commissioners initiated in 2011 to maintain and restore the abundance of Commission managed species.  This report reflects our Commissioners' commitment to accountability and transparency in all they do to manage and rebuild stocks under their care. We hope that you will find the information contained within useful and interesting.

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Arlington, VA – March 23, 2012 – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board will meet to review the latest black sea bass recreational data and approve state proposals for the 2012 recreational fishery.

The conference call will be held on March 28 and will immediately follow the end of the Tautog Management Board conference call, which is scheduled to begin at 10 AM and last for 30 – 45 minutes. Interested parties should anticipate joining the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board call at 10:30 AM. Please be mindful that the Tautog Board may still be conducting its business, therefore, please mute your phones until the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board call begins.

To join the conference call, dial 888.394.8197 and enter the Passcode 499811. A draft agenda and meeting materials will be posted to the Commission website at http://www.asmfc.org/meetings.htm on Monday, March 26.

For more information, please contact Toni Kerns, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator for Management, at tkerns@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

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