Saving Seafood

Gauge increase, a top concern for lobstermen, is delayed to July 2025

October 24, 2024 — Implementing a change in the legal size of lobsters caught in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank was pushed back six months, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission announced this week, after determining that postponing implementation “would reduce negative impacts to the U.S. and Canadian lobster industries in 2025 and allow Canada more time to consider implementing complementary management measures.”

The ASMFC, the regulatory agency that oversees the fishing industry, voted Monday to delay the resolution from Jan. 1, 2025 to July 1, 2025.

This second postponement of the gauge change — it originally was meant to take effect this year — will at least temporarily assuage lobstermen, many who attended October union meetings held along the coast from Rockland to Ellsworth and Jonesport, where the gauge change was a top concern.

“[Lobstermen] are worrying that that’s going to price them out of a business that is precariously turning a profit,” said Virginia Olsen, Maine Lobstering Union Local 207’s executive liaison and political director. “For instance, my husband was going through some landing receipts from 1992 to today [and] there’s a 50 cents difference [more paid per pound]. But a trap that costs $70 now costs $200. Bait that was so inexpensive is now one of our biggest expenses. That margin of how much profit you have is shrinking for us every year.”

Read the full article at the Mount Desert Islander

Atlantic Striped Bass Stock Assessment Update Finds Resource Remains Overfished with a Less Than 50% Chance of Rebuilding by 2029

October 24, 2024 — The following was released by Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board reviewed the results of the 2024 Atlantic Striped Bass Stock Assessment Update, which indicates the resource is not experiencing overfishing but remains overfished relative to the updated biological reference points. Female spawning stock biomass (SSB) in 2023 was estimated at 191 million pounds, which is below the SSB threshold of 197 million pounds and below the SSB target of 247 million pounds. Total fishing mortality in 2023 was estimated at 0.18, which is below the fishing mortality threshold of 0.21 and above the fishing mortality target of 0.17. The 2024 Assessment Update included data through 2023 and used the same model from the approved peer-reviewed 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment. The model structure was the same as the 2022 Stock Assessment Update, which accounted for the period of low recruitment the stock is experiencing and for new management changes starting in 2020.

 
The Board continued to express concerns about low recruitment and the lack of strong year-classes to support the stock and the fishery. Six of the last seven year-classes since 2015 have been below average, with only the 2018 year-class being above average. The 2018 year-class is starting to grow into the slot limit for the ocean recreational fishery and will become more available to ocean harvest in 2025.


 
The 2024 Assessment Update also included short-term projections to determine the probability of SSB being at or above the SSB target by 2029, which is the stock rebuilding deadline. The model structure for projections from 2024-forward was modified to explicitly account for the narrower slot limits implemented in 2023 and 2024. A range of projection scenarios were considered to explore two primary sources of uncertainty for the rebuilding trajectory through 2029: the level of fishery removals for the current, in-progress 2024 fishing year and the fishing mortality rate from 2025 through 2029.
 
The Board agreed with the Technical Committee and Stock Assessment Subcommittee that the most likely projection scenario is lower removals in 2024 compared to 2022 and 2023, followed by an increase in fishing mortality in 2025, and a subsequent decrease and stabilization of fishing mortality from 2026 through 2029. A decrease in removals for 2024 is projected based on preliminary low 2024 catch data, likely due to the strong 2015 year-class growing out of the current recreational ocean slot limit and the implementation of Addendum II measures to reduce fishing mortality in 2024. An increase in 2025 fishing mortality would correspond to the 2018 year-class entering the current recreational ocean slot limit, and the subsequent decrease and stabilization from 2026 through 2029 would align with the 2018 year-class growing out of the slot limit and the lack of strong year-classes behind it. In this scenario, the probability of rebuilding by 2029 is less than 50%.
 
Based on these projections, the Board will hold a special Board meeting in December 2024 to consider Board action to change 2025 management measures to reduce fishing mortality and increase the probability of rebuilding to at least 50%. Under Addendum II to Amendment 7, the Board can change management measures through Board action, instead of developing an addendum, if the stock assessment indicates a less than 50% probability of the stock rebuilding by 2029. Ahead of the December meeting, the Board tasked the Technical Committee with updating the projections based on additional 2024 catch data and developing recreational size limit and seasonal closure management options for consideration.
 
A subsequent press release will provide details on the meeting date and format (in-person or virtual), and the anticipated timeline for the availability of meeting materials and the public input process (which may differ from the standard public comment timelines to allow for the compilation and summary of public comment in advance of the meeting).
 
The 2024 Atlantic Striped Bass Stock Assessment Update will be available athttps://asmfc.org/species/atlantic-striped-bass under stock assessment reports early next week.
For more information, please contact Emilie Franke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, atefranke@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Lobster gauge increase delayed: Maine lobstermen relieved

October 23, 2024 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) has officially voted to delay the planned gauge change in Lobster Management Area 1, giving Maine lobstermen more time to prepare. Originally slated to take effect on June 1, 2024, the increase in the minimum catch size—introduced to address a 35 percent decline in juvenile lobsters—will now go into effect on July 1, 2025. Back in August, the second delay was proposed to be voted on and delayed, but as of this week, it has been made official.

While opposed to the gauge increase, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) expressed cautious approval of the delay. “We are hopeful that this will provide more time to address unintended consequences of an increase, specifically the fact that unless Canada also changes its gauge size, Canadian lobstermen will still be able to catch smaller lobster,” the MLA said.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Red Drum Benchmark Stock Assessment Finds Mixed Results for the Northern and Southern Stocks: Northern Stock Not Overfishing and Overfishing Not Occurring; Southern Stock Overfished and Experiencing Overfishing

October 23, 2024 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The 2024 Red Drum Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report indicates the northern stock of red drum (New Jersey through North Carolina) is not overfished and not experiencing overfishing, while the southern stock (South Carolina through the east coast of Florida) is overfished and experiencing overfishing.

 
The two stocks were assessed separately, using different methods. The southern stock was assessed using the Stock Synthesis (SS) assessment model. Stock status is based on the latest three-year (2019-2021 September-August fishing years) averages of population measures. The three-year average spawning potential ratio (SPR) is less than the 30% SPR threshold, indicating the stock is experiencing overfishing. Spawning potential ratio is a measure of spawning biomass expected under current fishing mortality levels compared to spawning stock biomass expected if no fishing mortality were occurring. The three-year average female spawning stock biomass (SSB) was 8,737 metric tons (19.27 million pounds), less than the SSB threshold of 9,917 metric tons (21.87 million pounds), indicating the stock is overfished. 


 
A robust, technically-sound SS model could not be developed for the northern stock, so the stock was assessed using a traffic light analysis (TLA). The TLA assigns a color (red, yellow or green) to categorize relative levels of metrics that reflect the condition of red drum adult abundance and fishery performance (i.e., fishing mortality). Although these metrics were not red in the last three years of the assessment, indicating the stock was not overfished nor experiencing overfishing, consistent yellow fishery performance metrics indicated increasing fishing mortality in recent years. Continued monitoring of the northern stock and the increasing trend in fishing mortality is recommended in future years through updates to the TLA.
 
Red drum fisheries are predominately recreational. Removals (harvest + dead discards) increased to relatively high levels at the end of the assessment time series for both stocks. In the northern stock, removals have increased to time series highs. In the southern stock, they have increased to levels similar to time series highs observed in the early 1980s.
 
Commercial landings currently only occur in the northern stock, but are a small proportion of total removals and have fluctuated without trend.
 
The Commission’s Sciaenids Management Board accepted the benchmark stock assessment and peer review reports for management use and tasked the Red Drum Technical Committee with additional analyses to evaluate possible paths forward for red drum management.
 
A more detailed description of the stock assessment results, as well as the Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Reports, will be available on the Commission website athttps://asmfc.org/species/red-drum under Stock Assessment Reports.
 
For more information on the stock assessment, please contact Jeff Kipp, Senior Stock Assessment Scientist, at jkipp@asmfc.org; and for more information on red drum management, please contact Tracey Bauer, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at tbauer@asmfc.org.

Regulators delay lobster size limits for six months

October 22, 2024 — Fisheries regulators have given the lobster industry a brief reprieve by delaying new size limits for six months.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said increasing the minimum lobster size by fractions of an inch will help rebuild stocks affected by troubling declines in young lobsters.

The commission’s lobster board argue increasing the minimum catch size will let younger lobsters live longer and reproduce more. Board members voted overwhelmingly Monday to delay the rules during the commission’s annual meeting.

Under the new rule, the minimum carapace measurement for a legal lobster will increase in July 2025, from 3 and 1/4 inches to 3 and 5/16 inches, and increase again a year and a half later.

Read the full article at Maine Public

ASMFC 82nd Annual Meeting Final Supplemental Materials Now Available

October 18, 2024 – The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Final supplemental materials for the Commission’s 82nd Annual Meeting are now available athttps://www.asmfc.org/home/2024-annual-meeting for the following management Boards.

 
Horseshoe Crab Management Board – Public comment
 
Atlantic Menhaden Management Board – Public comment
 
Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board – Public comment

ASMFC Seeks Proposals for Passive Acoustic Monitoring for North Atlantic Right Whales: Proposals Due November 15

October 18, 2024 — The following was released by Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is releasing a request for proposals (RFP) with the intent to fund projects that will explore the use of bottom-mounted archival passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) to better understand North Atlantic right whale spatiotemporal distribution. Specifically, the RFP seeks to identify a qualified vendor to purchase, assemble, deploy, maintain, process and share the resulting data, and communicate the information from six bottom-mounted archival PAM devices off the coasts of New York and New Jersey. This funding is for a one-year study period. The Commission may extend and/or add funding to the solicitation if further Congressional appropriations become available.

 

 The purpose of this project is to generate data on the North Atlantic right whale vocal behavior and spatiotemporal distribution to inform future management actions. This project is part of a larger effort by the states and federal government to improve data inputs and reduce uncertainty in the existing right whale decision support tool. With a better understanding of risk along the East Coast, future fisheries management actions, aimed to reduce entanglements and minimize regulatory impacts to pot/trap fisheries, may be possible.
 
Researchers at US academic institutions, research laboratories, for-profit companies/firms, nonprofits, and state agencies are all eligible. Proposals involving multiple investigators are welcome. Proposals from foreign entities or US federal government agencies, including Regional Fishery Management Councils, are not eligible to receive funding through this solicitation. Federal staff may be collaborators on proposed projects, as long as they are not compensated for their contribution to the project.

 

 
Applicants must submit proposals via email to Alexander Law, Legislative Program Coordinator, atalaw@asmfc.org by 11:59 PM EST on November 15, 2024. Proposal PDFs should be searchable and should be created by direct conversion and should not be scanned. For identification purposes, all electronic files must be named using the proposer/entity name in the title of the document. The proposal should include all information listed in the Required Elements section. Any incomplete proposal may be subject to disqualification from consideration.  Proposal format must be in a format with at least 12-point font, single spaced with 1-inch page margins. Submissions should be brief as this will assist reviewers and program staff in dealing effectively with proposals. The RFP is available athttps://asmfc.org/files/RFPs/PassiveAcousticMonitoringRFP1_Oct2024.pdf. 
 
For more information, please contact Alexander Law, Legislative Program Coordinator, at alaw@asmfc.org. 

Methods Workshop Scheduled for Atlantic Menhaden Single-Species and Ecological Reference Point Stock Assessments

October 18, 2024 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Ecological Reference Point (ERP) Work Group and Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Subcommittee (SAS) will be meeting November 4 – 8, 2024 at the Westin Crystal City, 1800 Richmond Highway, Arlington, VA, to continue work on the development of the single-species and ERP stock assessments. The SAS will meet November 4-5 to discuss natural mortality estimates and updates to the single-species model, while the ERP Work Group will meet November 5-8 to explore various modeling approaches to evaluate the health of the stock and inform the management of the species in an ecological context. The deadline for the submission of data and alternate multispecies/ecosystem models has passed.

An Assessment Workshop is anticipated to be held in February 2025 to finalize both assessments. The ERP assessment is scheduled to be peer reviewed later in 2025 through the SouthEast Data Assessment Review process. Visit the Commission’s website calendar (http://www.asmfc.org/calendar/) for information on the dates and times of those meetings. 
 
All Commission assessment workshops are open to the public. Time may be allotted for public comment at the discretion of the Chairs of the ERP Work Group and SAS, but may also be limited to keep the workshop on schedule. Additional information on the workshop can be found here. 
 
For more information about the assessments or attending the workshop, please contact James Boyle, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at jboyle@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740, or Jainita Patel, Fisheries Science Coordinator, at jpatel@asmfc.org or 703.842.0720.

Updates to the Atlantic Menhaden Board Supplemental Materials and Combined Supplemental Materials for ASMFC’s 2024 Annual Meeting

October 17, 2024 — The following was released by Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The supplemental materials for the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board have been revised and can be found at http://asmfc.org/files/2024AnnualMeeting/AtlMenhadenBoardSupplementalRevised_Oct2024.pdf. The combined supplemental materials have also been revised to reflect the updated menhaden material and can be found at http://asmfc.org/files/2024AnnualMeeting/2024AnnualMeetingSupplemental_Oct2024_v2.pdf.

 

ASMFC 82nd Annual Meeting Details, Final Agenda and Public Comment Guidelines

October 10, 2024 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Please find below the meeting details and public comment guidelines for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 82ndAnnual Meeting, which will be held October 21-24, 2024 at The Westin Annapolis, 100 Westgate Circle, Annapolis, Maryland. This will be a hybrid meeting (both in-person and remote) to allow for participation by Commissioners and interested stakeholders. The room block is now closed; if you need assistance reserving a room, please contact Lisa Carty at lcarty@asmfc.org.

 
The final agenda and meeting materials for the Annual Meeting are now available at https://www.asmfc.org/home/2024-annual-meeting; click on the relevant Board/Committee name to access the documents for that Board/Committee. For ease of use, Board and Council meeting materials have been combined into 4 documents: October 21, October 22, October 23 and October 24. The combined documents do not include materials for ACFHP Steering Committee, Law Enforcement Committee, and the Habitat Committee. Supplemental materials will be posted to the website on Wednesday, October 16th.
 
Please be advised the agenda’s schedule is subject to change; the order in which the agenda items are listed is subject to change, and other agenda items or meetings may be added as necessary.
 
Webinar Information
Board and ACCSP Coordinating Council meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning Monday, October 21 at 9 AM and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 3 PM on Thursday, October 24). To register for the webinar, please go to: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/9011130451108002141 (Webinar ID: 565-353-915).
 
If you are joining the webinar but will not be using voice over internet protocol (VoIP), you can may also call in at +1.562.247.8422, access code 953-170-135. A PIN will be provided to you after joining the webinar. For those who will not be joining the webinar but would like to listen in to the audio portion only, press the # key when asked for a PIN. 
 
Each day, the webinar will begin 15 minutes prior to the start of the first meeting so 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.


Meeting Process
Board chairs will ask both in-person and virtual board members if they wish to speak. In-person members can simply raise their hands at the meeting without logging on to the webinar, while virtual members will raise their hands on the webinar. The chair will work with staff to compile the list of speakers, balancing the flow of questions/comments between in-person and virtual attendees. The same process will be used for public comment. 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. 
 
Getting to Annapolis
The Westin Annapolis is easily accessible by automobile, train, or airplane. BWI is the closest airport and you can take a taxi or UBER to get to the hotel.  You won’t need to rent a car because Annapolis is a very walkable town and we will provide transportation to the social events.  It is also an easy drive from most Mid-Atlantic states.
 
Fishing Tournament
Plans are well underway for the 31st Annual Laura Leach Fishing Tournament. Everyone is invited and encouraged to participate. You will receive a t-shirt with your $20 entry fee; and 100% of the tournament proceeds will be donated to the Catch More Mentorship Academy.  The tournament runs from Sunday (10/20) through Wednesday (10/23); tournament prizes will be awarded on Thursday morning. 
 
Public Comment Guidelines
To provide 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 opportunities 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 comments 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 comments 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 three weeks prior to the start of a meeting week (September 30) will be included in the briefing materials.
2.    Comments received by 5 PM on Tuesday, October 15 will be included in supplemental materials.
3.    Comments received by 10 AM on Friday, October 18 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 and email.