Saving Seafood

‘There’s going to be no fish to fight over at all’: The Chesapeake Bay’s rockfish population is falling

April 28, 2019 — It’s trophy season for Chesapeake Bay rockfish, the only few weeks on the calendar local anglers can hunt for the 40-pound specimens visiting the estuary to spawn. But this year, it’s not as celebratory as it sounds.

Three decades after an outright ban on fishing for the species properly known as Atlantic striped bass helped it recover from near-extinction, scientists, anglers and the commercial fishing industry are raising alarms that the bay’s supreme and delectable swimmers are again being overfished. And about half of the fish that anglers are killing aren’t even being eaten — they’re caught and thrown back, only to die from their wounds.

The concerns prompted Virginia to cancel its trophy season Tuesday, six days before fishing was set to begin in some Potomac River tributaries. Authorities there said emergency action was needed to allow as many of the females to spawn as possible.

Maryland officials said they have no plans to make a similar decision this spring. But commercial and recreational fishermen around the state’s rivers and creeks are nonetheless hoping, and bracing, for new restrictions to stabilize the striped bass population once again.

“I think most charter boat captains have resigned themselves to the fact that we’re going to have some changes next year,” said Mark Galasso, who operates Tuna the Tide charter service out of Kent Island.

Read the full story at The Capital Gazette

ASMFC 2019 Spring Meeting Supplemental Materials Now Available

April 24, 2019 — The following was published by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Supplemental materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Spring Meeting are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2019-spring-meeting for the following Boards/Committees (click on “Supplemental” following each relevant committee header to access the information). For ease of access, supplemental meeting materials have been combined into one PDF – http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/2019SpringMeeting/2019SpringMtgMaterialsSupplemental.pdf.

American Lobster Management Board – Progress Report on Draft American Lobster Addendum XXVIII
 
Atlantic Herring Management Board – Advisory Panel Review of Draft Addendum II; Overview of 1A Management Tools
 
Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board – Technical Committee Report on Percent Reduction in Harvest to Achieve Fishing Mortality Threshold and Target in 2020, and Example Recreational Options to Achieve Those Reductions;  Correspondence Regarding Striped Bass Management; Public Comment
 
Law Enforcement Committee – MAFMC Letter on Law Enforcement/For-hire Workshop
 
Executive Committee – Revised Agenda & Draft Work Group Meeting SOPPS
 
Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board – Plan Development Team Report on Black Sea Bass Commercial Management
 
Business Session – Summer Flounder Commercial Issues Amendment Summary
 
Horseshoe Crab Management Board – Technical Committee and Stock Assessment Subcommittee Task List; Public Comment; James Cooper Tribute to Board
 
Interstate Fisheries Management Program Policy Board – Revised Draft Agenda and Meeting Overview
 
South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board – Committee Task List; MD DNR Memo: State-Gathered Public Input on Potential Management Measures for Atlantic Croaker and Spot
 
As a reminder, Board meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning April 29th at 1 p.m. and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 12:15 p.m.) on Thursday, May 2nd. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. No comments or questions will be accepted via the webinar. Should technical difficulties arise while streaming the broadcast the boards/sections will continue their deliberations without interruption. We will attempt to resume the broadcast as soon as possible. Please go to – https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1041506190356646145 – to register.

Managing recreational fisheries alongside commercial fisheries

April 15, 2019 — The following is an excerpt from an article published by Sustainable Fisheries UW:

Arlinghaus et al. 2019, an article in last week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, outlined a 5-step plan for integrating recreational fishing into commercial fishery management. In the paper, scientists called for reforms on both the commercial and recreational side to produce better overall sustainability.

Recognizing recreational fishers

I write a lot about fisheries as food. Essentially, the entire point of commercial fisheries is to provide food; but with the massive scale of industrial harvest, it’s easy to forget that fish provide other benefits (like leisure and recreation) that have important economic and social outcomes. Recreational fishing provides jobs and income for tens of thousands of people and enjoyment for millions. Around 10% of people in developed nations fish for pleasure, amounting to over 200 million people worldwide.

Recreational vs commercial fishing

Recreational fishers outnumber commercial fishers 5 to 1, yet commercial fishing brings in 8x the amount of fish. Naturally, this disparity creates resentment between the two sides and conflict is not unusual, e.g. Atlantic striped bass. Arlinghaus et al. 2019 proposes a 5-point framework for integrating recreational fishing into commercial management that will hopefully lead to conflict resolution and improved sustainability.

“Even countries with strong governance for fisheries fail to integrate angling into their fisheries and conservation management system effectively. We are convinced that fisheries management and conservation measures would be more effective if the interests of anglers were given equal consideration to those of commercial fishers and other stakeholders,” stated the lead author of the study, Robert Arlinghaus, explaining his expectations of the reform process.

Read the full story at Sustainable Fisheries UW

NOAA releases data on illegal striped bass poaching ring

November 5, 2018 — Over the last couple years, news came out of North Carolina of arrests of fishermen involved in an illegal striped bass poaching ring.

Thirty co-conspirators were part of the illicit activity, but only 12 subjects were charged and sentenced in connection to this case, which saw 52 charges in 13 indictments.

This week the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released data on the results of the investigation and court proceedings.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Atlantic Striped Bass Benchmark Stock Assessment Workshop Scheduled for September 11-14, in Arlington, VA

June 22, 2018 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Stock Assessment Workshop will be conducted September 11-14, 2018 at the Commission’s office,  1050 N. Highland Street, Suite 200A-N, Arlington, VA. The assessment will evaluate the condition of Atlantic striped bass stocks from Maine to North Carolina and inform management of those stocks. The workshop is open to the public, with the exception of discussion of confidential data when the public will be asked to leave the room. 

The deadlines for the submission of data and alternate models have passed. The final step in the assessment process is a formal peer review. This will be conducted at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s 66th Stock Assessment Workshop (SAW/SARC), November 27-30, 2018. The Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board will be presented the findings of the assessment and peer review at the Commission’s Winter Meeting in February 2019.

For more information about the assessment or attending the upcoming workshop, please contact Max Appelman, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mappelman@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

A PDF of the press release get be found here.

ASMFC Atlantic Striped Bass Board Withdraws Draft Addendum V & Maintains Current Measures until Completion of 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment

May 11, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board chose to not advance Draft Addendum V to Amendment 6 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Striped Bass forward for public comment. Instead, it decided to wait until the release of the results of the 2018 benchmark stock assessment before it considered making changes to the management program.

The Draft Addendum was initiated to consider liberalization of commercial and recreational regulations to bring fishing mortality to the target based on the findings of the 2016 assessment update. The Draft Addendum proposed alternative measures aimed to increase total removals (commercial and recreational) by approximately 10% relative to 2015 to achieve the fishing mortality target in 2017. However, 2016 harvest estimates increased without changing regulations. Additionally, fish from the 2011 year class, which was the largest recruitment event since 2004, will become increasingly available to ocean fisheries in the coming years, possibly resulting in further increases to harvest along the coast. The Board also expressed concern that changing the management program could result in fishing mortality exceeding the target.

In preparation for the 2018 stock assessment, the Board approved the Terms of Reference for the assessment, which will explore new biological reference points for management use.

Pair pleads guilty to illegal fishing

March 8, 2017 — The United States Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday in federal court that David Saunders Jr. and Michael Potter pleaded guilty to federal charges regarding the illegal harvest and sale of Atlantic striped bass from federal waters off the coast of North Carolina.

According to the indictments and information in the public records, in February 2010, a special agent with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) received information that commercial trawlers were illegally fishing for Atlantic striped bass in federal waters off the coast of North Carolina.

Upon receiving the information, NOAA engaged the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard and a patrol vessel in the area intercepted one of 17 commercial trawlers.

Based on its review, NOAA determined that in seven separate fishing trips between Jan. 27, 2009, and Feb. 9, 2010, Saunders, then Captain of the Bridgot Denise, a commercial trawler, harvested approximately 14,579 pounds of Atlantic striped bass from the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). He sold the fish to a fish dealer in Wanchese, NC. The estimated fair market retail value of the 14,579 pounds of illegally harvested fish exceeds $116,000.

Read the full story at WECT