ARLINGTON, VA – October 15, 2015 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will conduct a River Herring Data Collection Standardization Workshop on November 18-20, 2015 in Linthicum, MD. The Workshop will bring together researchers from state and federal marine fishery agencies, Tribal Nations, and Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans to evaluate current fishery-independent surveys for river herring and develop recommendations to standardize survey methodologies as well as data collected by these surveys for use in future stock assessments. Workshop participants will also consider some fishery-dependent sampling that collect river herring along the Atlantic coast.
Standardization of river herring data collection methods and datasets was identified as a priority for future stock assessments by the 2012 river herring benchmark stock assessment and peer review, the Commission’s River Herring Technical Committee, and NOAA Fisheries’ River Herring Technical Expert Working Group. The Workshop, which is being supported with funding by NOAA Fisheries, will begin at 1 PM on November 18th and end at 3 PM on the 20th, and will be held at the Sheraton BWI, 1100 Old Elkridge Landing Road, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090. The Workshop is open to the public, with the exception of discussions of confidential data, when the public will be asked to leave the room. Opportunities for public comment will be provided.
For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.