October 27, 2020 โ The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
Presentations and audio files from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commissionโs 79th Annual Meeting Webinar are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2020-annual-meeting-webinar; go to the relevant board/committee header and click on either Presentations or Audio.
October 26, 2020 โ The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is soliciting applicants for several open seats on its Dolphin Wahoo Advisory Panel, the Outreach and Communications Advisory Panel and a commercial representative on the Law Enforcement Advisory Panel.
The Councilโs advisory panels inform and guide the Council in developing and implementing federal fishery management plans. Upcoming issues to be addressed in 2021 include an amendment modifying annual catch limits, sector allocations, recreational bag limits for Dolphin and Wahoo, a planned upgrade to the Councilโs website, and input on law enforcement issues affecting several commercial fisheries.
October 23, 2020 โ The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
Atlantic Herring Management Board members from the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will meet on October 30, 2020 from 9:00 โ 10:00 a.m., to consider changes to days out measures for the 2020 Area 1A fishery (inshore Gulf of Maine) in Season 2 (October 1 โ December 31). This meeting will be held via webinar. The call and webinar information are included below:
Atlantic Herring Days Out Meeting
October 30, 2020
9:00 โ 10:00 a.m.
You can join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone at the following link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/199957885. If you are new to GoToMeeting, you can download the app ahead of time (click here) and be ready before the meeting starts. For audio, the meeting will be using the computer voice over internet (VoIP), but if you are joining the webinar from your phone only, you can dial in at +1 (571) 317-3122 and enter access code 199-957-885 when prompted. The webinar will start at 8:30 a.m., 30 minutes early, to troubleshoot audio as necessary.
The sub-annual catch limit (ACL) for the 2020 Area 1A fishery in Season 2 was originally set at 914 metric tons. The fishery opened Sunday, October 11 for Maine and Monday, October 12 for New Hampshire and Massachusetts with three consecutive landings days per week. The fishery moved to two consecutive landing days per week in the second week. At the October 16 Days Out meeting, preliminary estimates indicated approximately 445 metric tons of the original Area 1A sub-ACL remained available for harvest; however, NOAA fisheries recently transferred 1,000 metric tons of the Management Uncertainty Buffer to the 2020 Area 1A sub-ACL due to low landings in the Canada weir fishery. The new Area 1A sub-ACL is 4,214 metric tons with an estimated 1,369 metric tons remaining, which accounts for the fact that the Area 1A fishery closes when 92% of the sub-ACL is harvested.
Please contact Max Appelman, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0740 or mappelman@asmfc.org for more information.
The meeting announcement can also be found at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/AtlHerringDaysOutMeetingNoticeOct23_2020.pdf
October 23, 2020 โ The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:
The Briefing Book for the November 9-10, 12-13, & 16-20, 2020 Council meeting has been posted to the Councilโs website on the โNovember 2020 Briefing Bookโ webpage.
The Briefing Book contains the meeting agenda, โsituation summariesโ (brief summaries that provide background for each agenda item), reports and materials for each agenda item, and public comment submitted to our e-portal. Advisory body and committee agendas and memos are also available.
For further information:
October 22, 2020 โ The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:
The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is pleased to announce the availability of the 2021 traditional lunar calendars for American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam and Hawaiสปi. The calendars aim to raise awareness about traditional ecological knowledge and enhance community involvement in fishery management. Council staff and regional Advisory Panels collaborated to highlight 13 popular fishing spots. Each location has historical and current information, species commonly caught, fishing methods, gear used and the reason it is important to fishermen.
For more information or to request a print version of a calendar (available in limited numbers), please contact the Council at info@wpcouncil.org. Tell us the name and quantity of your requested calendar, along with your mailing address.
Calendars are also available to download and print by clicking on the images below or by visiting www.wpcouncil.org/educational-resources/lunar-calendars.
October 22, 2020 โ The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
The application deadline is approaching for open seats on the South Atlantic Fishery Management Councilโs advisory panels. Several seats are currently open on the Dolphin Wahoo Advisory Panel as well as the Outreach and Communications Advisory Panel. Are you a commercial fisherman or involved in commercial fisheries? There is an open seat on the Councilโs Law Enforcement Advisory Panel for a commercial representative as well.
Advisory panel members provide key input to the Council as it develops and implements federal management plans and amendments. Members include recreational and commercial fishermen, seafood dealers and processors, scientists, non-governmental organization representatives, and concerned citizens. The Council is currently considering management measures for Dolphin and Wahoo including modifying annual catch limits, sector allocations, and recreational bag limits. Members of the Outreach and Communications Advisory Panel, including fishermen, will guide the Council as it begins upgrading its website 2021.
Check out the open seats as advertised in a recent news release. Learn more about the Councilโs advisory panels and access the online application forms at: https://safmc.net/about-safmc/advisory-panels/. The Council will consider applications during its December 7-10, 2020 meeting scheduled via webinar.
October 22, 2020 โ The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commissionโs Spiny Dogfish Management Board approved a commercial quota of 29.6 million pounds for the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 fishing years (May 1โApril 30). The quotas are consistent with the measures recommended to NOAA Fisheries by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). State-specific allocations are provided in table below.
Although the Board had previously set multi-year specifications for 2019-2021, in December 2019 the Council approved a new Risk Policy with the intent that 2021/2022 specifications would be revised to reflect the new policy. As such, the Councilโs Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) recommended increasing the acceptable biological catch (ABC) for 2021 from 35.4 million pounds to 38.6 million pounds. Based on this revised ABC recommendation, the Council approved a commercial quota of 29,559,580 pounds, which is an 8% increase compared to the previously set 2021/2022 quota. The Council also voted to extend these same specifications to the 2022 fishing year to align with the timing of the 2022 research track assessment. The Board works cooperatively with the Council in managing the spiny dogfish fishery in order to have consistency in state and federal waters. Neither the Board nor the Council recommended trip limit changes but the Council has plans in 2021 to conduct socioeconomic analyses of potential trip limit changes.
The Commissionโs actions are final and apply to state waters (0-3 miles from shore). The Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils will forward their recommendations for federal waters (3 โ200 miles from shore) to NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Administrator for final approval. For more information, please contact Toni Kerns, ISFMP Director, at tkerns@asmfc.org or 703.
October 22, 2020 โ The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commissionโs South Atlantic States/Federal Fisheries Management Board approved Addendum I to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Migratory Group Cobia. The Addendum modifies: (1) the allocation of the resource between the commercial and recreational sectors, (2) the methodology to calculate the commercial trigger for in-season closures; and (3) and commercial and recreational de minimis measures.
The Addendum changes the allocation of the resource between the recreational and commercial fisheries from 92% and 8% respectively to and 96% and 4% respectively. The change was primarily based on new recreational catch estimates that resulted from changes in survey methodology by the Marine Recreational Information Program. The new catch estimates were, on average, about two times higher than previously estimated, impacting the allocation between the two sectors. In considering the new allocation percentages, the Board took into account the increase in the recreational catch and the harvest levels of the commercial fishery in recent years. The new commercial allocation allows the fishery to operate at its current level with some room for landings to increase as the stock range expands further north.
The Addendum also modifies the calculation of the commercial trigger, which determines when an in-season coastwide commercial closure occurs. The approved trigger is set up to provide states with enough time to close the fishery via their administrative processes without exceeding the quota.
Changes to de minimis measures, which are applied to states with relatively small commercial or recreational harvest, include adjusting the commercial allocation set aside and recreational regulations. For de minimis measures, the Addendum establishes a commercial de minimis set aside of 4% of the commercial quota with a maximum cap of 5,000 pounds to account for potential landings in de minimis states not tracked in-season against the quota. States that are de minimis for their recreational fisheries may choose to match the recreational management measures implemented by an adjacent non-de minimis state (or the nearest non-de minimis state if none are adjacent), or limit its recreational fishery to 1 fish per vessel per trip with a minimum size of 33 inches fork length (or an equivalent total length of 37 inches).
States are required to implement the new measures by January 1, 2021. For more information, please contact Savannah Lewis, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at slewis@asmfc.org or 703.
October 22, 2020 โ The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The 2020 American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment presents contrasting results for the two American lobster stock units, with record high abundance and recruitment in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank stock (GOM/GBK) and record low abundance and recruitment in the Southern New England stock (SNE) in recent years. The GOM/GBK stock is not overfished nor experiencing overfishing. Conversely, the SNE stock is significantly depleted with poor prospects of recovery. Stock status was assessed using the University of Maine Stock Assessment Model for American Lobster (UMM, Chen et al. 2005), a statistical catch-at-length model that tracks the population of lobster by sex, size and season over time.
โOn behalf of the American Lobster Board, I want to applaud the members of the Technical Committee and Stock Assessment Subcommittee for their exceptional work on the 2020 Benchmark Stock Assessment Report,โ stated Board Chair Dan McKiernan from Massachusetts. โThis assessment made a notable advancement in considering the impact of changing environmental conditions on lobster population dynamics.โ
Extensive research has highlighted the influence of the environment on American lobster life history and population dynamics. Among the critical environmental variables, temperature stands out as the primary influence. Further, its range is experiencing changing environmental conditions at some of the fastest rates in the world. Therefore, considering these environmental influences is vital when assessing the lobster stocks and was a focal point of this stock assessment. Environmental data time series included water temperatures at several fixed monitoring stations throughout the lobsterโs range, average water temperatures over large areas such as those sampled by fishery-independent surveys, oceanographic processes affecting the environment, and other environmental indicators such as lobster prey abundance.
Environmental time series were analyzed for regime shifts, which indicate a significant difference in the lobsterโs environment and population dynamics from one time period to another. Regime shifts can change a stockโs productivity, impacting the stockโs level of recruitment and its ability to support different levels of catch. Temperature time series were also analyzed to quantify the effect of temperature on survey catchability of lobster and correct trends in abundance estimated from surveys by accounting for temperature-driven changes in catchability through time.
October 21, 2020 โ The New England Fishery Management Council has scheduled a special meeting for next week to finalize its priorities for 2021, as well as approve recommendations that fit within the executive order promoting U.S. seafood competitiveness and economic growth.
The special meeting, set for Oct. 27, will be held as a webinar. It is set to begin at 12:40 p.m. Deadline for submitting written comments is Thursday at 8 a.m.
The council, which usually finalizes its next-year priorities at its December meeting, moved up final action on its priorities so it may identify which of those may also directly respond to Executive Order 13921 issued in May by President Donald Trump.
โThe council will first adopt its priorities for 2021 related to every fishery management plan and every action,โ Janice Plante, council spokeswoman, said Tuesday. โThe council has to decide which of those priorities will make the cut.โ
Plante said the development of the master list of 2021 council priorities should naturally help inform the council when it turns to crafting its recommendations for the executive order.
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