March 14, 2025 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) are accepting comments through Thursday, March 20, 2025, on the range of issues and information to be considered in the Recreational Sector Separation and Data Collection Amendment to the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and the Bluefish FMP.
The proposed amendment may consider options for managing for-hire recreational fisheries separately from other recreational fishing modes (referred to as sector separation), as well as options related to the collection and use of recreational data, such as private angler reporting and enhanced for-hire vessel trip reporting requirements. The Council and Commission are currently conducting scoping for this action. Input provided in this phase will help the Council and Commission identify issues of concern and determine which types of management alternatives should be further developed.
Written comments can be submitted by any of the following methods:
- ONLINE at https://mafmc.knack.
com/public-comments#rec- sector-separation-data- collection/ - EMAIL to kdancy@mafmc.org (
subject: Recreational Sector Separation and Data Collection) - MAIL to Dr. Christopher Moore, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, 800 North State Street, Suite 201, Dover, DE 19901 (Please write “Recreational Sector Separation and Data Collection” on the envelope)
The Public Information/Scoping Document provides a broad overview of the issues identified for consideration in the amendment, management approaches that may be considered, and a series of questions to guide public comment. For more information, visit the Council or Commission webs
If you have any questions, please contact Kiley Dancy (kdancy@mafmc.org, 302-526-5257) or Tracey Bauer (tbauer@asmfc.org, 703-842-0723).