Atlantic States
Marine Fisheries

Commission

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Red Drum Draft Addendum II

Management Changes to the Southern and Northern Regions

Topics

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Overview
Hearings
Contacts
Timeline & Documents

Overview

Topics

In May 2025, the Sciaenids Management Board initiated Draft Addendum II to Amendment 2 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Red Drum, which will consider changes to the management programs for the southern (South Carolina through the east coast of Florida) and northern (New Jersey through North Carolina) regions of red drum. The Draft Addendum responds to the 2024 Red Drum Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report, which the Board approved for management use in October 2024.

Specifically, the assessment found the southern stock to be overfished and experiencing overfishing. As a result, the Draft Addendum considers two fishing mortality options states may not exceed in order to end overfishing. Although the northern stock is not overfished nor experiencing overfishing, the Board is concerned with an increasing trend in fishing mortality observed in the northern region. To address this trend, the Draft Addendum considers changes to the recreational bag and slot limits of states in the northern region, as well as provides states the opportunity to align their differing regulations, particularly in Chesapeake Bay.

The Draft Addendum also includes a process for states to propose management measures in response to the 2024 benchmark stock assessment, as well as future assessment advice. Further, the Draft Addendum proposes a process to allow states to submit stock status analyses conducted outside the Commission’s stock assessment process to be considered for management use. Lastly, the Draft Addendum proposes updates to the management program’s de minimis provisions. The Commission includes de minimis provisions in its FMPs to reduce the management burden for states whose measures would have a negligible effect on the conservation of the species.

Draft Addendum

Phase

Status

May 2025: Board initiated Draft Addendum II

Completed

June – July 2025: Plan Development Team develops Draft Addendum for Board consideration for public comment

Completed

August 2025: Board approves Draft Addendum II for Public Comment

Completed

Draft Addendum II Public Comment Period, including Public Hearings

Active

Board considers final approval of Addendum II

October 2025

Implementation of Addendum II

TBD

Public Hearings

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has scheduled a public hearing to gather input on the draft addendum:

Public Hearing Presentation and Recording

Public Comment

To ensure fair opportunity for public input, ASMFC offers opportunities for verbal comments on certain actions. Written comments are accepted following a specific timeline for inclusion in meeting materials. Read the guidelines for more information.

Comment Guidelines

You may submit public comment by attending a public hearing held in your state or jurisdiction or mailing, faxing, or emailing written comments to the address below. Only comments received at a public hearing or written comments submitted to the Commission will become part of the public comment record.

Written comments will be accepted through 11:59 p.m. on October 1, 2025. Written comment may be submitted through any of the following methods:

  • Mail: Tracey Bauer, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, 1050 North Highland Street, Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, VA 22201
  • Email: comments@asmfc.org; Subject line: Red Drum Draft Addendum II
  • Fax: (703) 842-0740

Contacts

  • Tracey Bauer, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, tbauer@asmfc.org, 703.842.0723

Action Development Timeline & Documents

October 2024

October 2024: The Board reviews and accepts for management use the 2024 Red Drum Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report, which finds the northern stock of red drum is not overfished and not experiencing overfishing, while the southern stock is overfished and experiencing overfishing.

Notably, the assessment was the second part of a two-part effort to assess red drum stocks along the Atlantic coast. Prior to the assessment, a simulation assessment was used to create a model, called the operating model (OM), that could simulate red drum-like populations of fish. The OMs used red drum datasets and published literature to determine how fish in the simulated populations grow, interact with fisheries, reproduce, and die through time. Two separate OMs were developed to account for the differences between the two red drum stocks. The OMs were structured to sample datasets from their simulated populations that matched the types of available red drum datasets (e.g., fishery catches, fishery-independent indices of abundance). These simulated datasets were then used in stock assessment models, to determine how well the models could estimate key characteristics of the simulated populations.

May 2025

Board initiates development of Draft Addendum II in response to the 2024 Red Drum Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report. Draft Addendum will consider changes to the management programs for the southern (South Carolina through the east coast of Florida) and northern (New Jersey through North Carolina) stocks of red drum.

June/July 2025

Plan Development Team met to develop Draft Addendum II.

August 2025

Board approves Draft Addendum II for public comment.

Next Steps

Public hearings and a public comment period will occur throughout September 2025. Final action on the Draft Addendum is planned for October 2025. The implementation timeline will be included in the final addendum.