Saving Seafood

NJ appeals summer flounder quota reductions

March 28, 2017 — New Jersey has filed an appeal to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission requesting the commission reconsider its vote to reduce significantly the state’s recreational-fishing quota for summer flounder by over 30 percent.

Summer flounder, popularly called fluke, is one of the state’s most sought-after recreational fish species, prized for its delicate flavor and easily found close to beaches and in bays and creeks.

“We are appealing the ASFMC decision because of the numerous process, data, policy and regulatory issues that will significantly impact New Jersey’s fishing industry,” said Bob Martin, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

NEW JERSEY: Measuring flounder a complex undertaking with a big impact

March 27, 2017 — It’s likely few people have written more about summer flounder than Mark Terceiro.

Terceiro has published a 44-page journal article about the science, politics and litigation surrounding the species from 1975 to 2000. A 32-page follow-up covered the period from 2001 to 2010, and another article regarding developments in recent years is in the works.

But it’s Terceiro’s summer flounder stock assessment update, released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in December, that has him in the crosshairs of New Jersey politicians and recreational fishing leaders.

That’s because his report led federal regulatory agencies to reduce this year’s summer flounder catch by 30 percent.

Some say the move will cripple recreational flounder fishing, a multimillion-dollar industry in New Jersey that supports bait-and-tackle shops, boat dealerships and other businesses that cater to fishermen.

“It is based on a questionable, out-of-date stock assessment and a flawed modeling,” Bob Martin, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, wrote in a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross last month.

But federal fisheries experts, including Terceiro, say they have confidence in the measurements, which show the flounder population has been “experiencing overfishing” since 2008.

“A stock assessment is one of our best ways to estimate the population and status of a resource we manage,” said Kirby Rootes-Murdy, senior fishery management plan coordinator for summer flounder at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, one of the agencies that regulate the species.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Hearing Set for Southern New England Lobster Plan

March 24, 2017 — Interstate fishing managers will hold a public hearing Thursday night in Buzzards Bay on a plan to try and save Southern New England Lobsters. The stock has dwindled as water temperatures have warmed, leading the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to develop a number of proposals to improve the fishery’s health.

The plan includes changing the legal harvesting size limit, reducing the number of traps allowed in the water and implementing new seasonal closures. A public hearing on the matter begins at 6 p.m. at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at CapeCod.com 

Proposed regulations irk lobstermen

March 23, 2017 — Bay State lobstermen fear that a new proposal — meant to save lobsters in warming southern New England waters — could hurt business by barring them from harvesting in prime summer months and putting tighter restrictions on the size of their catch.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will present a plan in New Bedford tonight on ways to maintain or increase the number of lobsters in waters from southern Massachusetts to Delaware.

“Over the last 15 years we’ve seen a decline in lobster abundance, and we think that’s by and large a response to warming ocean temperatures,” said Dan McKiernan, deputy director of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

“That’s the challenge that we have — it’s trying to preserve lobster but doing it in a way that the industry can survive,” he added.

Yet Massachusetts lobstermen argue that their pots are full and don’t see what the fuss is all about.

“Southern New England as a whole is not doing very well, but where we are, it’s doing pretty well,” said lobsterman Jarrett Drake, who has lobstered out of New Bedford for more than 30 years.

The plan ropes in Massachusetts waters south of Cape Cod in with states like Rhode Island and as far away as New Jersey, where lobster populations are extremely low. It considers banning lobstering from July to September — peak tourist months for restaurants — as well as new restrictions on the size of lobsters fishermen can keep, and how long their traps can stay in the water.

Read the full story at the Boston Herald

Plan to save New England shrimp fishery will go to public

March 20, 2017 — The public will have a chance to comment on a plan to change the way New England’s shuttered shrimp fishery is managed with an eye toward saving it.

The regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has been working on a plan to try to make the fishery more sustainable in the long term. It includes options such as changing the way the quota system is managed.

An arm of the commission has voted to send the plan out for public comment.

Regulators shut down the fishery in 2013 amid declining populations of shrimp. Scientists say warming ocean temperature is one factor hurting them.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WCSH 6

Proposals Aim To Restore Lobsters To Long Island Sound

March 20, 2017 — A new interstate plan is being considered to try and halt the dramatic decline in lobster populations in Long Island Sound and southern New England waters, but experts warn none of these proposals may work in the face of global warming.

The draft plan by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission includes possible changes in the size of lobsters allowed to be kept, reductions in the number of lobster traps allowed in the region, and additional lobster season closures.

But a former president of the Connecticut Commercial Lobstermen’s Association, Nick Crismale of Branford, doubts the once-thriving lobster population in the Sound will ever recover. “It will never come back,” Crismale said. “The industry is basically gone; the resource is basically gone.”

Mark Alexander, head of Connecticut’s marine fisheries unit, acknowledges that bringing the lobsters back to the Sound won’t be easy in the face of ongoing climate change. “But we have to give it a shot,” he said this week.

Connecticut public hearings on the commission’s draft proposal are scheduled for March 21 in Old Lyme and March 27 in Derby.

Read the full story at the Hartford Courant

Managers consider catch quotas for still-closed shrimp fishery

March 15 — Regulators are set to finalize the draft amendment for managing northern shrimp and it appears limiting entry will not be part of the new management strategy for the beleaguered Gulf of Maine fishery.

“Limited access has been used in a number of fisheries along the Atlantic coast to control effort while maintaining access by harvesters who have demonstrated a history in the fishery,” states the draft of management Amendment 3 regulators will consider when they convene Thursday in Portland, Maine. “However, during the scoping process for Amendment 3, the (northern shrimp) section decided not to pursue limited entry as a means of controlling effort and stabilizing the fishery.”

Instead, the northern shrimp section, which manages the the Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery under the mandate of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, will consider management options such as restricting fishing effort with hard state-specific total allowable catch quotas, as well as instituting mandatory gear and more-timely reporting requirements.

Of course, none of that really matters until regulators can re-open the fishery. It is dominated by Maine shrimpers but also populated by fishermen from Massachusetts and New Hampshire — many of them groundfishermen and lobstermen using the northern shrimp as a secondary fishery.

The Gulf of Maine, already home to a cod fishery in crisis, recently entered its fourth consecutive season closed to northern shrimp fishing.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Plan to Save Southern New England Lobsters up for May Vote

March 14, 2017 — A plan to try to preserve southern New England’s lobster fishery could come up for a vote in May.

The interstate Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has been working on a plan to stave the decline of the lobster fishery in Connecticut, Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts. The population of lobsters has dwindled in those areas as waters have warmed, though they remain plentiful off of Maine and Canada.

The commission’s plan for the species includes potential strategies such as changing the legal harvesting size limit for lobsters, reducing the number of traps allowed in the water and enforcing new seasonal closures. The plan is scheduled to come up for a vote on May 8.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

ASMFC Northern Shrimp Section to Meet March 16, 2017: Meeting Materials Now Available

March 9, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section will meet on March 16, 2017 from 10 AM – 12:30 PM at the Westin Portland Harborview, 157 High Street, Portland, Maine 04101. Phone: 207.775.2411. At the meeting, the Section will review and consider approval of Draft Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Northern Shrimp for public comment.  The materials for the meeting are available here.  The combined document includes a draft agenda; Draft Amendment 3 for Public Comment; a PDT Memo on Plan Goals and Objectives; the 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment Terms of Reference and Timeline; and a Memo on Northern Shrimp Stock Assessment Subcommittee Membership. If Draft Amendment 3 is approved for public comment, the Commission will issue a press release on the document’s availability for public comment as well as the details of state hearings to gather public input.

For more information, please contact Max Appelman, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mappelman@asmfc.org.

ASMFC 2017 Spring Meeting Preliminary Agenda & Public Comment Guidelines

March 8, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Please find attached and below the preliminary agenda and public comment guidelines for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2017 Spring Meeting, May 8-11, 2017 in Alexandria, VA. The agenda is also available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2017-spring-meeting. Included in the attachment are the travel authorization form, travel reimbursement guidelines and directions to the hotel. Materials will be available on April 26, 2017 on the Commission website at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2017-spring-meeting.

A block of rooms is being held at The Westin Alexandria, 400 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, VA  22314. Please make your reservations online or call The Westin Alexandria at 886.837.4210 as soon as possible and mention the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to obtain the group room rate of $229.00 plus tax single/dbl. Please be aware that you must guarantee your room reservation with a major credit card or one night’s advance payment. Hotel reservations must be made before Friday April 7, 2017.  Room availability will not be guaranteed beyond this date.  If you are being reimbursed by ASMFC for your travel please make your reservation directly with the hotel. Reservations made through travel websites do not apply toward our minimum number of required reservations with the hotel. Cancellations at The Westin must be made prior to 72 hours of arrival to avoid penalty. If you have any problems at all regarding accommodations please contact Cindy at 703.842.0740 or at crobertson@asmfc.org. For those driving to the meeting, the self-parking garage by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Dulany Street is recommended – The $10 daily rate there is a substantial savings over parking at the Westin.

Please note only the members of the Climate Change Working Group need to attend the meeting being held on Monday.

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission

Spring Meeting

May 8-11, 2017

The Westin Alexandria

Alexandria, Virginia 

Preliminary Agenda

 The agenda is subject to change. Bulleted items represent the anticipated major issues to be discussed or acted upon at the meeting. The final agenda will include additional items and may revise the bulleted items provided below. 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. Interested parties should anticipate Boards starting earlier or later than indicated herein.

 Monday May 8

8:00 a.m. – Noon                      Climate Change Work Group

  • Continue to Draft White Papers on Science and Policy Strategies to Assist the Commission in Adapting its Management to Changes in Species Abundance and Distribution Resulting from Climate Change Impacts

1:00 – 2:30 p.m.                        Atlantic Herring Section

  • Review and Consider Draft Addendum I for Final Approval
  • Discuss 2016 Spawning Closure Pilot Program
  • Consider 2017 Fishery Management Plan Review and State Compliance Reports

2:45 – 5:15 p.m.                        American Lobster Management Board

  • Review and Consider American Lobster Draft Addendum XXV for Final Approval
  • American Lobster Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank Subcommittee Report
  • Update on Development of Lobster Draft Addendum XXVI
  • Discussion on New England Fishery Management Council Deep-Sea Coral Amendment

Tuesday May 9

8:00 – 10:15 a.m.                      American Lobster Management Board (continued)

8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.              Law Enforcement Committee

  • Review and Update 2017 Action Plan Items
  • Review and Discuss Ongoing Enforcement Activities
  • Review and Discuss ASMFC Species Management Issues
  • Update Survey for Enforceability Guidelines
  • Develop Orientation Process for New Members
  • Federal and State Agency Updates

10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.          Tautog Management Board

  • Technical Committee Harvest Reduction Analyses
  • Review Technical Committee Reports for Long Island Sound, New Jersey/New York Bight and Delaware/Maryland/Virginia
  • Review Regional Working Group Feedback
  • Review and Consider Draft Amendment 1 for Public Comment

1:00 – 3:15 p.m.                        Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board

  • Review and Consider Draft Addendum V for Public Comment
  • Review and Consider Approval of the 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment Terms of Reference
  • Board Guidance to Stock Assessment Subcommittee Regarding Development of Biological Reference Points for the 2018 Benchmark Assessment

3:30 – 5:45 p.m.                        Atlantic Menhaden Management Board

  • Update on Development of Draft Amendment 3
  • Biological Ecological Reference Point Work Group Progress Report
  • Provide Guidance to Technical Committee Regarding Stock Projections
  • Consider 2017 Fishery Management Plan Review and State Compliance Reports

6:30 – 8:00 p.m.                          Annual Awards of Excellence Reception

Wednesday May 10

8:00 – 9:30 a.m.                        Executive Committee

(A portion of this meeting may be a closed session for Committee members and Commissioners only)

  • Report of the Administrative Oversight Committee
  • Discussion on Advisory Panel Members Serving as Board Proxies
  • Future Annual Meetings Update
  • Executive Director’s Annual Performance Review

9:45 – 10:45 a.m.                      Coastal Sharks Management Board

  • Review Final Rule for NOAA Fisheries Highly Migratory Species Amendment 5b (Dusky Sharks)
  • Consider Complementary Management Measures (if necessary)

11:00 a.m. – Noon                   Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP) Coordinating Council

  • ACCSP Status Report
  • Program Status
  • Committee Updates
  • Review and Consider Approval of 2017 Request for Proposals

1:00 – 5:30 p.m.                        Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council

  • Review and Consider Scup Draft Addendum XXIX for Final Approval
  • Update on Summer Flounder Comprehensive Amendment Work and Analysis
  • Review Implementation of 2017 Summer Flounder and Black Sea Bass Recreational Measures

Thursday May 11

8:00 – 10:30 a.m.                      Interstate Fisheries Management Program Policy Board

  • Working Group Updates on Safe Harbor and Accounting for Illegally Harvested Fish
  • Review Commissioner Survey Results
  • Update on the Marine Recreational Information Program
  • Review and Consider Approval Standard Meeting Practices
  • Progress Update on 2017 Sturgeon Benchmark Stock Assessment
  • Review Reports from the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership and the Habitat, Artificial Reef and Law Enforcement Committees
  • Review and Consider Approval of the Assessment Schedule
  • Review Noncompliance Findings (if necessary)

10:30 – 11:00 a.m.                    Business Session (if necessary)

  • Review Noncompliance Findings (if necessary)

11:15 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.            South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board

  • Review and Consider Spot and Atlantic Croaker Benchmark Stock Assessments and Peer Review Reports for Management Use
  • Review and Consider Cobia Draft Fishery Management Plan for Public Comment

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 use a speaker sign-up list in deciding 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).

  1. Comments received 3 weeks prior to the start of a meeting week will be included in the briefing materials.
  2. Comments received by 5:00 PM on the Tuesday immediately preceding the scheduled ASMFC Meeting (in this case, the Tuesday deadline will be May 2, 2017) will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting and a limited number of copies will be provided at the meeting.
  3. Following the Tuesday, May 2, 2017 5:00 PM deadline, the commenter will be responsible for distributing the information to the management board prior to the board meeting or providing enough copies for the management board consideration at the meeting (a minimum of 50 copies).

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.