Management & Regulation

October 31, 2014 — As expected, fishing for striped bass next year will be different.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Striped Bass Management Board on Thursday implemented reductions in the commercial and recreational fisheries beginning Jan. 1, 2015.

The ASMFC ruled for a 25 percent coastal reduction from the 2013 take and a 20.5 percent reduction from the 2012 take for the Chesapeake Bay.

The biggest impact for Virginia and North Carolina anglers will be felt the first day of the year, when bag limits are expected to drop from two to one fish a day, with a 28-inch minimum length.

Read the full story from The Virginia-Pilot

November 1, 2014 — Recreational-fishing advocacy groups have come out with guns blazing after the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council voted at a meeting last week in Mobile, Ala., to further decrease the size of the recreational red-snapper quota.

Reef Fish Amendment 40 awards a yet-to-be-determined amount of fish to the charter-boat industry, and those red snapper will be taken entirely out of the recreational quota.

Approval of the highly controversial plan has stirred the ire of recreational groups, who say their constituents are being almost entirely squeezed out of the fishery. After enduring a nine-day red-snapper season in 2014, anglers will likely see a one- or two-day federal season in 2015, according to David Cresson, executive director of the Coastal Conservation Association.

His organization was disappointed by the council's action, Cresson said, but it wasn't surprised.

"The recreational community has continued to get the short end of the stick throughout this process," he said. "We're dealing with a broken system that is not designed to manage recreational fisheries and cannot do it appropriately.

Read the full story at the New Orleans Times-Picayune

October 31, 2014 — The fishing panel that regulates striped bass has voted to cut catches next year by 25 percent and is pushing states to allow just one fish a day at 28 inches.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a compact of East Coast states including New Jersey, also left wiggle room for states to allow two fish per day at larger sizes.

The ASMFC, at a meeting Wednesday in Connecticut, voted 14-2 for an option that allows one fish per day at a minimum size of 28 inches. That would bring a 31 percent reduction in catches next year.

New Jersey, which currently allows two fish per day at 28 inches, and Delaware were the only states to vote against it.

But the ASMFC will also allow states to use a program known as “conservation equivalency” to keep the harvest cutback equal to or greater than a 25 percent reduction. Conservation equivalency, a system also used with summer flounder, allows each state to use a combination of bag limits, seasons and minimum fish size as long as it meets the specified reduction.

Adam Nowalsky, New Jersey’s legislative representative on the ASMFC, pushed for conservation equivalency and it passed in a 16-0 vote.

Barnegat Light party boat captain Eddie Yates, returning from a sea bass fishing trip Thursday, was happy there is some flexibility.

Yates said it could allow what is known as a slot limit, perhaps one striper at 28 to 35 inches and one at a 36-inch minimum. New Jersey could also tweak its season, which already bans back-bay striper fishing in the winter.

“My business can’t survive with one fish a day. We’re barely getting by with two fish a day. I’m glad they left it with a conservation equivalency and we can pick our own poison,” Yates said.

Read the full story from the Press of Atlantic City

 

October 31, 2014 — To commemorate National Seafood Month, on October 22, an insert entitled Seafood 101 was published in the Boston Globe. The insert was sponsored by the New England Fishery Management Council, NOAA Fisheries and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

Seafood 101 features information on local, abundant Northeast seafood, how fish are managed, the role of fishermen in science, recipes for preparing seafood and information on key fishing ports.

In 2011 on the heels of the news that quota cuts were necessary for several key groundfish stocks, NOAA Fisheries Regional Administrator,  John Bullard, created the Northeast Groundfish Economic Coordinating Committee. The group was charged with looking for creative ways to help struggling commercial groundfish fishermen. You can read more about the committee's work and view the resource document for the fishing industry that was produced through this effort by clicking here.

Also out of this broader effort, the region’s Seafood Marketing Steering Committee was formed. The steering committee is comprised of fishermen, restaurant owners, state agencies, non-government organizations and NOAA Fisheries staff from Maine to Virginia, all of which are working to raise awareness about available, abundant U.S. caught and farm-raised seafood.

At present, discussions by the committee have focused on information sharing and strategic opportunities for collaboration – Seafood 101 was one such collaboration among three participants that stemmed from this effort. Stay tuned for more on the Seafood Marketing Steering Committee in the coming months …

For more information on healthy abundant seafood from the Northeast visit Fishwatch!

Read the story from NOAA

October 30, 2014 — Moving to counter worrisome declines in one of the East Coast's most prized fish, an interstate commission has ordered a 25 percent cutback in the catch of striped bass along the Atlantic coast next year and a somewhat more gradual reduction by anglers and commercial fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay.

The decision by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission during its meeting this week in Mystic, Conn., came in response to a warning last year by scientists that striped bass — Maryland's state fish, also known as rockfish — were on the verge of being overfished. Experts predicted the number of spawning females would slip to unsustainable levels within the next year or so.

For Atlantic coast anglers, the cutback will mean they can catch only one fish of 28 inches or longer a day, instead of two. In the bay, the new restrictions likely will require increasing the minimum catchable size of the popular fish for recreational anglers, and a reduction in the number that can be harvested in the fall and winter by watermen.

While anglers along the coast, especially in New England, have been complaining for several years that the number of striped bass have dwindled, fisheries managers for Maryland and Virginia have countered that the bay population is relatively bountiful. The vast majority of spawning-age female fish are caught as they migrate along the Atlantic coast, they have argued, while the bay catch is mainly of smaller male fish.

Read the full story at the Baltimore Sun

October 30, 2014 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Management Board approved the development of an Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Jonah Crab and initiated the development of Draft Addendum XXIV to Amendment 3 to the Interstate FMP for American Lobster.
 
The Jonah Crab FMP was initiated in response to concern about increasing targeted fishing pressure for Jonah crab, which has long been considered a bycatch in the lobster fishery. However, growing market demand has doubled landings in the past seven years. Given the absence of state and federal management programs and a stock assessment for Jonah crab, there is concern current harvest may compromise the sustainability of the resource. The Draft Jonah Crab FMP will consider management objectives, proposed regulations to the commercial and recreational fishery, monitoring requirements, and recommendations for federal waters fisheries. It is anticipated an initial Draft Jonah Crab FMP will be presented to the Board at the Commission’s Winter Meeting in Alexandria, VA.
 
As part of the development of the FMP, the Commission will be forming a Jonah Crab Advisory Panel. Commission Advisory Panels are typically comprised of commercial and recreational fishermen, processors/dealers and other stakeholders who are concerned about fisheries conservation and management and have expertise in the Jonah crab fishery. The Advisory Panel provides the Board with advice concerning fishery practices and species’ management activities. Those interested in becoming a member should contact their state Commissioners.
 
Draft Addendum XXIV will address inconsistencies between state and federal American Lobster trap transfer regulations. Options will be drafted to propose alignment between state and federal measures for full business conservation tax, trap transfer increments, and dual permits transferability rules. Draft Addendum XXIV will be presented to the Board for its consideration and approval for public comment at the Commission’s Winter Meeting in Alexandria, VA.
 
For more information, please contact Kate Taylor, Senior FMP Coordinator, at ktaylor@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.                                 

 

October 29, 2014 — Scientists say the Gulf of Maine shouldn’t be fished for northern shrimp for a second straight season because of concerns of warming ocean temperatures.

A technical committee that advises federal regulators is strongly recommending the extension of a moratorium on the fishery that began earlier this year. A draft of the committee’s report to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which regulates the fishery, says “long term trends in environmental conditions” are unfavorable for the shrimp.

The draft report pins the decline of the cold-water shrimp on rising ocean temperatures. The Northern Shrimp Technical Committee’s report advises regulators that “the depleted condition of the resource and poor prospects for the near future” warrant extending the moratorium into next year.

Fishermen from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts fish for the small, pinkish, succulent shrimp in the early part of the year. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section had closed this year’s shrimp season for the first time in more than 30 years and is set to vote on next year’s season on Nov. 5.

The fishery’s estimated population has fallen by a factor of 14, regulators have said.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

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.

October 29, 2014 — The following was released by the American Bluefin Tuna Association:

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) will convene its annual meeting in Genoa, Italy on November 10, 2014. The most important item on the meeting's agenda will be the establishment of Atlantic bluefin quota. This meeting is expected to be quite different from other meetings in the past several years because the best available science now indicates a stunning increase in abundance of this iconic fish on both sides of the Atlantic.
 
The Standing Committee for Research and Statistics (SCRS), the scientific arm of ICCAT, performed separate stock assessments on west and east Atlantic-Mediterranean bluefin stocks at their science meetings, held September 22 to October 3. The findings, detailed in the SCRS report, state conclusively and unambiguously that both west and east bluefin stocks have shown a dramatic increase in their general populations and, in particular, in their spawning stock biomass.
 
The west Atlantic stock is fished primarily by the US, Canada and Japan. This year's stock assessment indicates that spawning stock biomass has seen a very strong and significant increase from prior stock assessments. The SCRS also reported that west Atlantic bluefin biomass has increased significantly each year since 2009 and stated that present data on the west Atlantic stock validates that it is not "overfished" and "overfishing" is not occurring.
 
All this good news on west Atlantic bluefin stock was achieved by restrictive low quotas since 1982 and by better science leading to a more precise understanding of bluefin population dynamics and biology. Consequently, the SCRS report stated that an increase in quota, up to 2,250 mt from its presently level of 1,750 mt, is consistent with ongoing ICCAT management objectives. The report states that spawning stock biomass is presently 2 ¼ times greater than necessary to sustain a quota of 3,050 mt each year, going forward. According to the stock assessment, 3,050 mt is the new estimated maximum sustainable yield for the west Atlantic bluefin stock and it is up from the prior level of 2,582 mt in the 2010 stock assessment.
 
The east Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin stock has incurred an extraordinary increase in biomass according to the recent stock assessment. The SCRS noted in its report that this increase "corresponds to a four-fold increase in spawning stock biomass over the past decade." Consequently, the SCRS has advised that an increase in quota from its present level of 13,500 mt to a level as high as 30,000 mt can be achieved sustainably while meeting the Commission's long term goals for the east stock.
 
Ralph Pratt, president of the American Bluefin Tuna Association, states, "US bluefin fishermen are thrilled and relieved to hear from our scientists of the healthy abundance of west Atlantic bluefin biomass. The spectacular recovery of the east stock from what has been sometimes called 'the edge of fishery collapse' is also excellent news for US bluefin fishermen. Bluefin are trans-Atlantic migrants, so any increase in eastern biomass will bring more eastern bluefin into our fishery."
 
A Surprising Development in the SCRS Report
 
Bluefin science is improving at a dramatic rate as a result of global interest in the health of the Atlantic stocks. Numerous scientific papers are authored each year on Atlantic bluefin and it is the responsibility of the SCRS to review all recent contributions to the science prior to conducting a new stock assessment. The spectacular results of the current stock assessment are attributable to improved methodology as well as a better understanding of bluefin population dynamics and biology.
 
The most controversial aspect of west Atlantic bluefin biology for several years has been the issue of "recruitment". "Recruitment", in marine biology, refers to the number of young fish to be added each year to overall bluefin biomass. At the SCRS meeting, evidence emerged identifying that the effects of changes in the marine environment are more important than the size of spawning stock size in influencing the level of recruitment in any given time period.
 
This new evidence does not support prior objectives suggested by the National Marine Fisheries Service and environmental groups in using high recruitment targets that were estimated for the early 1970's. According to Rich Ruais, Executive Director of the American Bluefin Tuna Association, "The very good news for western bluefin fishermen is that the SCRS states that with their more reasonable expectations for recruitment, the spawning population is already 2 ¼ times greater than necessary to maintain a maximum sustainable yield of 3,050 mt."
 
For both the east and west bluefin stocks, the SCRS has further suggested that an appropriate approach to upcoming quota increases would be to implement them incrementally, beginning with the 2015 season. For the west stock, the SCRS has specifically recommended that quota for the upcoming two years be set at a level not higher than 2,250 mt, up from the current level of 1,750 mt.
 
According to Ralph Pratt, "US bluefin fishermen have earned a quota increase for giving up quota over the last 25 years for the sake of chasing unreasonably high targets." He praised the patience and conservation ethic of all US bluefin fishermen in raising awareness of how the east and west stocks are linked together for sustainable fisheries.