Press Releases
-
-
Annapolis, MD – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) and the Mid‐Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) met jointly to establish recreational specifications for black sea bass, scup, and summer flounder; consider approval of Black Sea Bass Draft Addendum XXX for 2018 recreational management; discuss the initiation of a new Bluefish Amendment; and jointly take action on several items related to all four species (detailed below). The Commission’s actions are final and apply to state waters. The Council will forward its federal waters recommendations regarding summer flounder specifications to NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Administrator for final approval. Black…
-
Annapolis, MD – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) and the Mid‐Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) met jointly to establish recreational specifications for black sea bass, scup, and summer flounder; consider approval of Black Sea Bass Draft Addendum XXX for 2018 recreational management; discuss the initiation of a new Bluefish Amendment; and jointly take action on several items related to all four species (detailed in attached document). The Commission’s actions are final and apply to state waters. The Council will forward its federal waters recommendations regarding summer flounder specifications to NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Administrator for final…
-
Portland, ME – In response to the depleted condition of the northern shrimp resource, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section extended the moratorium on commercial fishing for the 2018 fishing season. The Section also approved a 13.3 metric ton (mt) research set aside (RSA) and tasked the Technical Committee to develop the RSA program design and report back to the Section for final approval by December 14. Industry members continued to express concern about the economic impacts of the fishery closure, especially in light of a lack of positive signals in terms of stock rebuilding. Based on…
-
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and NOAA Fisheries announced today they have awarded approximately $40,000 to researchers at East Carolina University (ECU) to further ground-truth a new way to survey river herring (i.e., alewife and blueback herring) using Environmental DNA (eDNA). In 2013, NOAA Fisheries collaborated with the Commission and other partners to implement a coordinated coastwide effort that builds upon other ongoing efforts to proactively conserve river herring and address data gaps. This project will help to address some of these data gaps. Small silver fish that spawn in freshwater reaches of rivers along the East Coast, river…
-
Linthicum, MD – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Migratory Group (AMG). The FMP complements many of the aspects of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s (SAFMC) cobia regulations for federal waters extending from Georgia through New York. The FMP was initiated in response to recent overages of the federal annual catch limit (ACL) for AMG Cobia. Managing the recreational ACL on a coastwide basis has resulted in federal closures and significant overages in 2015 and 2016, disrupting fishing opportunities and jeopardizing the health of the stock. Under the Interstate FMP,…
-
Atlantic Menhaden Board Sets TAC at 216,000 MT for 2018 and 2019
-
This press release revises that of October 19th by correcting the text regarding the commercial possession limit from “2 fish limit per license holder” to “2 fish limit per person.”
-
Norfolk, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has approved Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Tautog, which includes new management goals and objectives, biological reference points, fishing mortality targets, and stock rebuilding schedules. The Amendment institutes a fundamental change in tautog management, moving away from coastwide management towards regional management. Specifically, the Amendment delineates the stock into four regions due to differences in biology and fishery characteristics: Massachusetts – Rhode Island (MARI); Long Island Sound (LIS); New Jersey – New York Bight (NJ‐NYB); and Delaware – Maryland – Virginia (DelMarVa). The 2016 stock assessment…
Get Hooked on ASMFC News
Dive into the latest updates and catch all the important news by joining our newsletter mailing list. Stay in the loop with meeting agendas, fisheries management news, and more.