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ASMFC 2021 Fall Meeting Webinar Supplemental Materials Now Available

October 13, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Supplemental materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2021 Fall Meeting Webinar are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2021-fall-meeting-webinar for the following Boards/Committees (click on “Supplemental” following each relevant committee header to access the information). For ease of access, all supplemental meeting materials have been combined into one PDF – http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/2021FallMeeting/2021FallMeetingSupplementalCombined.pdf.

Below is the list of documents included in the supplemental materials.

American Lobster Management Board – Memo on Update on Development of Draft Addendum XXVII

Atlantic Herring Management Board – Revised Agenda and Meeting Overview; Postponed Draft Addendum III

Tautog Management Board – Revised Agenda and Meeting Overview; Preliminary Tautog Risk and Uncertainty Report; Law Enforcement Committee Review of Commercial Tagging Program

Shad & River Herring Management Board – Revised Agenda and Meeting Overview; Technical Committee Recommendations on American Shad Habitat Plan Updates; Technical Committee Recommendations for Evaluating Bycatch Removals in Directed Mixed-stock Fisheries in State Waters; Update from U.S. Geological Survey Eastern Ecological Science Center on Alosine Science

Atlantic Menhaden Management Board – Revised Agenda and Meeting Overview; Plan Development Team Progress Report on Draft Addendum I to Amendment 3

Executive Committee – Draft Policy on (Guidelines for) Information Requests

Business Session – Draft 2022 Action Plan

Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board – Advisory Panel Comments on the Scope of Draft Amendment 7 Options; Draft Addendum VII to Amendment 6; Plan Development Team Memo on Quota Transfers; New Hampshire Comments on Quota Transfers

Horseshoe Crab Management Board – Horseshoe Crab Adaptive Resource Management Subcommittee & Delaware Bay Ecosystem Technical Committee Conference Call Summary; Fishery Management Plan Review for the 2020 Fishing Year

Spiny Dogfish Management Board – Revised Agenda and Meeting Overview

American Eel Management Board – Fishery Management Plan Review for the 2020 Fishing Year

ISFMP Policy Board – Harvest Control Rule for Bluefish, Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass(including Comparison of Options, HCR Infographs, and Peer Review Report of Recreational Fishery Models); Executive Committee Memo on Tasks to address Concerns with Conservation Equivalency

Webinar Information
Board meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning Monday, October 18 at 9 a.m. and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 4:45 p.m.) on Thursday, October 21. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. To register for the webinar go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/180425878123839504 (Webinar ID: 349-122-851).

Each day, the webinar will begin 30 minutes prior to the start of the first meeting so that people can troubleshoot any connectivity or audio issues they may encounter. If you are having issues with the webinar (connecting to or audio related issues), please contact Chris Jacobs at 703.842.0790.

Public Comment Guidelines
With the intent of developing policies in the Commission’s procedures for public participation that result in a fair opportunity for public input, the ISFMP Policy Board has approved the following guidelines for use at management board meetings:

For issues that are not on the agenda, management boards will continue to provide opportunity to the public to bring matters of concern to the board’s attention at the start of each board meeting. Board chairs will ask members of the public to raise their hands to let the chair know they would like to speak. Depending upon the number of commenters, the board chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.

For topics that are on the agenda, but have not gone out for public comment, board chairs will provide limited opportunity for comment, taking into account the time allotted on the agenda for the topic. Chairs will have flexibility in deciding how to allocate comment opportunities; this could include hearing one comment in favor and one in opposition until the chair is satisfied further comment will not provide additional insight to the board.

For agenda action items that have already gone out for public comment, it is the Policy Board’s intent to end the occasional practice of allowing extensive and lengthy public comments. Currently, board chairs have the discretion to decide what public comment to allow in these circumstances.

In addition, the following timeline has been established for the submission of written comment for issues for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to proposed management action).

Comments received 3 weeks prior to the start of the meeting (September 27) will be included in the briefing materials.
Comments received by 5 PM on Tuesday, October 5 will be included in the supplemental materials.
Comments received by 10 AM on Friday, October 15 will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting.

The submitted comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution. As with other public comment, it will be accepted via mail, fax, and email.

Atlantic Striped Bass Board Materials for the Fall Meeting Updated to include Draft Amendment 7

October 7, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Draft Amendment 7 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass has been added to the meeting materials for the Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board (http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/2021FallMeeting/AtlanticStripedBassBoard.pdf), as well the combined materials document (http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/2021FallMeeting/2021FallMtgMaterialsCombined.pdf). Supplemental materials will be posted to the Fall Meeting webpage (http://www.asmfc.org/home/2021-fall-meeting-webinar) next Wednesday, October 13.

ASMFC 2021 Fall Meeting Final Agenda & Materials Now Available

October 6, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The final agenda and meeting materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Fall Meeting Webinar (October 18-21, 2021) are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2021-fall-meeting-webinar;click on the relevant Board/Committee name to access the documents for that Board/Committee. For ease of access, all meeting materials, with the exception of the Tautog Board materials, have been combined into one document: Main Meeting Materials. Please note: Atlantic Striped Bass Draft Amendment 7 is not included in the Atlantic Striped Bass Board materials. It will be added to those materials by the end of the week and we will send out a notice once it is available. For ACCSP Coordinating Council members, the FY2022 Funding Proposals Ranking, which is in an excel spreadsheet, is provided as a separate link.

Supplemental materials will be posted to the website on Wednesday, October 13. For those Boards that have FMP Reviews and Compliance Reports on their agendas, the compliance reports are not posted due to their large file sizes. If you would like a copy of a specific state’s or jurisdiction’s compliance report, please contact the respective FMP Coordinator.

The agenda is subject to change. The agenda reflects the current estimate of time required for scheduled Board meetings. The Commission may adjust this agenda in accordance with the actual duration of Board meetings. It is our intent to begin at the scheduled start time for each meeting, however, if meetings run late the next meeting may start later than originally planned.

Webinar Information

Board meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning Monday, October 18 at 9 a.m. and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 4:45 p.m.) on Thursday, October 21. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. To register for the webinar go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/180425878123839504 (Webinar ID: 349-122-851).

If you are joining the webinar but will not be using VoIP, you can also call in at 914.614.3221, access code 580-881-020. A PIN will be provided to you after joining the webinar; see webinar instructions for details on how to receive the PIN.

Public Comment Guidelines
To provide a fair opportunity for public input, the ISFMP Policy Board approved the following guidelines for use at management board meetings. Please note these guidelines have been modified to adapt to meetings via webinar:

For issues that are not on the agenda, management boards will continue to provide an opportunity to the public to bring matters of concern to the board’s attention at the start of each board meeting. Board chairs will ask members of the public to raise their hands to let the chair know they would like to speak. Depending upon the number of commenters, the board chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.

In addition, the following timeline has been established for the submission of written comment for issues for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to proposed management action).

1. Comments received 3 weeks prior to the start of the webinar (September 27) will be included in the briefing materials.

2. Comments received by 5:00 PM on Tuesday, October 5 will be included in the supplemental materials.

3. Comments received by 10:00 AM on Friday, October 15 will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting.

Comments should be submitted via email at comments@asmfc.org. All comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution.

ASMFC Schedules State Data Review Workshop for Bluefish for November 3-4, 2021

September 29, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

In advance of the upcoming bluefish research track stock assessment* to be conducted by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Bluefish Working Group, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will be holding a State Data Review Workshop on November 3-4, 2021. At this workshop, the Bluefish Technical Committee (TC) will review state data sets that could support the assessment, including fishery-independent surveys, fishery-dependent sampling programs, and life history studies. The TC will develop a report summarizing the available data sets and make recommendations for the Bluefish Working Group.

As part of this data review, the Commission welcomes submission of data sources from stakeholders and the public. Data sources include, but are not limited to, data on recreational and commercial landings and discards, catch per unit effort, biological samples (age, length, and/or sex), and life history information (growth, maturity, fecundity, spawning stock biomass weights, natural mortality). The Commission is also interested in socioeconomic data or analyses, especially those related to recreational bluefish demand. For data sets to be considered at the workshop, data must be sent in with accompanying methods description to Dr. Katie Drew kdrew@asmfc.org by October 25, 2021.

The Workshop will be held via webinar and is open to the public. To register for the webinar, visit https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1647966037747393550. For more information on submitting data, including the appropriate format, and/or attending the upcoming virtual Workshop, please contact Dustin Colson Leaning, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at dleaning@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740. For more information on the Bluefish Working Group or the research track assessment process, please contact Michele Traver, NOAA Fisheries Federal Assessment Process Lead, at michele.traver@noaa.gov.

* Research track assessments are designed to be carried out over several years and can focus on research topics or on one or more individual stocks; evaluate an issue or new model that could apply to many stocks; and/or consider extensive changes in data, model, or stock structure. Research track assessments may provide the basis for future management track assessments.

Northern Shrimp Population Collapse Linked to Warming Ocean Temperatures, Squid Predation

September 29, 2021 — An extreme heatwave in the Gulf of Maine in 2012 resulted in the warmest ocean temperatures in the region in decades. By 2013, the Atlantic northern shrimp population in the gulf had experienced a stock “collapse.” That is what fishery scientists call a rapid decrease in numbers that is not a natural fluctuation in stock size. Scientists studying the collapse have found that during this time, warmer temperatures were linked to increases in longfin squid, a major shrimp predator. They arrived in the Gulf of Maine sooner than usual and in more areas where shrimp occur.

”Our results suggest that longfin squid may have been a major player in the collapse of Gulf of Maine northern shrimp during an extreme heat wave event,” said Anne Richards, a biologist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Richards co-authored the study with Margaret Hunter from the Maine Department of Marine Resources Division of Biological Monitoring and Assessment. They recently published their conclusions in the online journal PLOS ONE.

Read the full story from NOAA

ASMFC Begins Preparations for Black Drum Benchmark Stock Assessment

September 28, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Arlington, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) has begun work on the next Black Drum Benchmark Stock Assessment and is requesting data from academia, member states, federal partners, participating jurisdictions and stakeholders. A data workshop will occur in December 2021.

The Commission welcomes the submission of data sources that will improve the accuracy of the assessment. This includes, but is not limited to, data on abundance (fishery-independent survey catch rates, fishery-dependent catch per unit effort), biological samples (lengths, ages, weights), and life history information (growth, maturity, natural mortality, movement and migration). For data sets to be considered, the data must be sent in the required format with accompanying description of methods to Jeff Kipp, Senior Stock Assessment Scientist, at jkipp@asmfc.org by October 29, 2021.

For more information about the assessment or the submission and presentation of materials, please contact Savannah Lewis, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at slewis@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Read the full release from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission

Atlantic Herring Area 1A Days Out Meeting on September 24

September 10, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Members of the Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board from the states of Maine and New Hampshire, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will meet via webinar on September 24, 2021 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., to discuss Season 2 (October 1 – December 31) days out measures for the 2021 Area 1A fishery (inshore Gulf of Maine). Days out measures include consecutive landings days for Season 2. The webinar and call information is included below:

Atlantic Herring Days Out Meeting

September 24, 2021

10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

You can join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone at the following link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/517895485. 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 (872) 240-3412 and enter access code 517-895-485 when prompted. The webinar will start at 9:30 a.m., 30 minutes early, to troubleshoot audio as necessary.

The 2021 Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) is 1,453 metric tons (mt) after adjusting for the carryover from 2019, the 30 mt fixed gear set-aside, and the 8% buffer (Area 1A closes at 92% of the sub-ACL). There is no research-set-aside for 2021 because the participants in the RSA program will not continue their RSA project in 2021.

The Board established the following seasonal allocations for the 2021 Area 1A sub-ACL: 72.8% available from June 1 – September 30 and 27.2% available from October 1 – December 31.

Please contact Emilie Franke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0716 or efranke@asmfc.org for more information; or visit http://www.asmfc.org/calendar/9/2021/Atlantic-Herring-Area-1A-Days-Out-Meeting-on-September-24/1797.

The meeting announcement can also be found at http://www.asmfc.org/files/AtlHerring/AtlHerringSep2021DaysOutMeetingNotice.pdf

ASMFC October 18-21 Meeting to be Held by Webinar Only

September 10, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Due to concerns about the continued spread of COVID-19 and the challenges of conducting a fully participatory hybrid meeting (in-person and virtual meeting combined), the Commission’s Executive Committee, which met via webinar today, made the difficult decision to shift its meeting, scheduled for October 18-21, from an in-person meeting to one that will be conducted entirely via webinar. The details regarding the other committees that were scheduled to meet (Law Enforcement Committee, Habitat Committee and Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership Steering Committee) are still being worked out and will be shared over the next couple of weeks. At the Executive Committee’s direction, Commission staff will also explore the possibility of shifting the in-person Annual Meeting in New Jersey to January 2022.

Recreational Fishery Reform in the Mid-Atlantic: Sidestepping Magnuson-Stevens?

September 3, 2021 — Since March 2019, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council), in conjunction with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), has been working on what they call the “Recreational Reform Initiative,” (Initiative) a project that could completely change the way recreational fisheries are managed in the mid-Atlantic region.

The Council describes the Initiative this way:

The Recreational Reform Initiative considers improvements to management of the recreational fisheries for summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, and bluefish. This joint initiative…will address a range of recreational management issues through a joint framework/addendum and a joint amendment.The framework/addendum will further develop and consider the following topics and management issues:

better incorporating [Marine Recreational Information Program] uncertainty into the management process;
guidelines for maintaining status quo recreational management measures (i.e., bag, size, and season limits) from one year to the next;
a process for setting multi-year recreational management measures;
changes to the timing of the recommendation for federal waters recreational management measures; and
a proposal put forward by six recreational organizations called a harvest control rule.

The amendment will consider options for managing for-hire recreational fisheries separately from other recreational fishing modes (referred to as sector separation) and will also consider options related to recreational catch accounting such as private angler reporting and enhanced vessel trip report requirements for for-hire vessels.

Goal/Vision:

Stability in the recreational management measures (bag, size, season)
Flexibility in the management process
Accessibility aligned with availability/stock status

Reading that description, one of the things that sticks out is that, despite all of the words, there’s not a single mention of maintaining healthy and abundant fish stocks.

That could signal a problem.

Recreational fishery management isn’t perfect, and could benefit from new approaches that account for management uncertainty, and perhaps align management changes with the biennial stock assessment updates that are produced for summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, and bluefish. Still, there is one aspect of the Initiative that might be taking recreational fishery management in the wrong direction.

That is the “proposal put forward by six recreational organizations called a harvest control rule” (Control Rule) which supposedly promotes the Initiative’s Goal/Vision of stability, flexibility, and accessibility in recreational fishery management.

If that Goal/Vision reminds you of the debate over the so-called “Modern Fish Act” a few years ago, that’s not a coincidence. The organizations promoting the Control Rule are the same ones that promoted the Modern Fish Act, and are continuing to disrupt red snapper management in the Gulf of Mexico; they are now bringing the same arguments that they have made in the Gulf to the mid-Atlantic region.

They haven’t concealed their intent to undermine the current federal fishery management system, and its use of science-based annual catch limits and accountability measures, in favor of the sort of less structured, seat-of-the-pants management measures that are often used by state agencies, and which have so often failed when employed by the ASMFC.

Read the full story at the Marine Fish Conservation Network

New Recreational Management Effort Raises More Questions than Answers

September 3, 2021 — For longer than a year, we’ve been keeping an eye on the Recreational Reform Initiative (RRI), a comprehensive joint effort by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) to improve the management of four key recreational fisheries—black sea bass, fluke, scup, and bluefish. The process has been complex, evolving, and largely devoid of public input. However, now that concrete alternatives for the first piece of the RRI, the Recreational Harvest Control Rule (HCR) Framework/Addendum, are out in the public sphere, its time share our thoughts and concerns—and get you, the public, up to speed with what’s going on.

Quick Background on Recreational Reform

The RRI grew out of Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) growing pains, specifically with regard to black sea bass. After recalibrated MRIP estimates were approved for management use in 2017, our understanding of many stocks fundamentally changed. MRIP told us that because recreational effort, catch, and landings were substantially higher than previously understood, there must have been more fish in the ocean. This resulted in a phenomenon known as “chasing the recreational harvest limit (RHL),” where managers were constantly trying to constrain recreational catches.

Earlier this year, the Council and Commission prioritized the HCR as a possible alternative and solution to the current system of managing the recreational sector. An HCR can provide relief by relying on predetermined measures (bag size, season length, and size limit) for certain scenarios like stock status and trend. Additionally, HCRs can remove the political pressures surrounding recreational management measures—when implemented and developed effectively. Leading up to the joint Council/Commission meeting in August, Council and Commission staff met several times to develop various alternatives. Following these meetings, the slate of options on the table was comprehensive and addressed many—but not all—of ASGA’s initial concerns.

Throughout this whole process, our primary concern was that the HCR appeared to offer a way for recreational fisheries to sidestep the Magnuson-Stevens Act requirement of Annual Catch Limits (ACL)—bringing back unpleasant memories from the Modern Fish Act debate on Capitol Hill in 2017-2018. If you’re wondering why that’s a concern, consider that the same groups who initially proposed the HCR were also behind the Modern Fish Act. For months, staff members grappled with developing HCR alternatives without fully sorting out how this system will adhere to ACLs. We view this as a major issue for two reasons. One, ACLs work; they have been an integral reason for the Magnuson-Stevens Act’s success in rebuilding overfished stocks. Second, catch limits are a legal requirement; operating without them or ignoring them can open NOAA Fisheries to legal liability. Details regarding how managers plan to integrate ACLs—and accountability measures—into an HCR system remains to be seen.

Another glaring issue with the HCR discussions thus far concerns the public’s lack of awareness or involvement and the rushed effort to implement a brand-new management strategy as soon as next year. Follow along for a deeper dive into the HCR alternatives, how the most recent management discussions went, and what’s next.

Read the full story at the American Saltwater Guides Association