Arlington, VA – The Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board is seeking nominations from nontraditional stakeholders to fill two seats on the Horseshoe Crab Advisory Panel. Examples of such stakeholders include, but are not limited to environmental organizations, grassroots organizations, and individuals/groups with an expertise or interest in shorebird conservation. The intent of this action is to broaden the scope of public input to the Horseshoe Crab Management Board as it continues to manage resources with diverse stakeholder needs. Individuals interested in serving as advisors can submit an advisory panel nomination form via email (tberger@asmfc.org) or fax (703. 842.0741) by 5:00…
Press Releases
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Portland, ME – The Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section (Section) selected final measures for Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Northern Shrimp and recommended Commission approval of the Amendment at its next Business Session meeting, likely in October in Norfolk, VA. The Amendment is designed to improve management of the northern shrimp resource in the event the fishery reopens (the fishery has been under moratorium since 2014). Specifically, the Amendment refines the FMP objectives and provides the flexibility to use the best available information to define the status of the stock and set the total allowable catch…
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Arlington, VA – The Commission’s South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board approved the Draft Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Migratory Group (AMG) Cobia for public comment. The intent of the Draft FMP is to complement federal AMG cobia management actions and distribute catches among member states through a proposed allocation strategy. The Draft FMP was initiated in response to recent overages of the federal annual catch limit (ACL) for AMG Cobia. The Draft FMP addresses immediate management and conservation goals in anticipation of a new benchmark AMG cobia stock assessment in 2018. Management options include size, bag, and…
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Philadelphia, PA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) and the Mid‐Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) reviewed previously approved specifications for summer flounder, black sea bass and bluefish fisheries and modified 2018 and 2019 specifications for scup. The Commission’s actions are final and apply to state waters. The Council will forward its federal waters recommendations regarding scup specifications to NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Administrator for final approval. The table below summarizes commercial quotas and recreational harvest limits (RHL) for summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, and bluefish (2017 values are provided for comparison purposes). Please note the…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Shad and River Herring Management Board reviewed the results of the 2017 River Herring Assessment Update, which indicates river herring remain depleted and at near historic lows on a coastwide basis. The “depleted” determination was used instead of “overfished” and “overfishing” because many factors, not just directed and incidental fishing, are contributing to the low abundance of river herring. Alewife and blueback herring (collectively referred to as river herring) are anadromous species, spending the majority of their life at sea and returning to their natal streams to spawn. While at sea, mixing is believed to…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board approved Draft Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Menhaden for public comment. The Draft Amendment seeks to manage the menhaden resource in a way that balances menhaden’s ecological role as a prey species with the needs of all user groups. To this end, the Draft Amendment considers the use of ecosystem reference points (ERPs) to manage the resource and changes to the allocation method. In addition, it presents a suite of management options for quota transfers, quota rollovers, incidental catch, the episodic events set aside program,…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board reviewed the results of the 2017 Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Update, which indicates the resource remains healthy; it is not overfished nor experiencing overfishing relative to the current biological reference points. In 2016, population fecundity, a measure of reproductive capacity, is estimated to be 83,486 billion eggs which is well above the threshold (57,295 billion eggs) but below the target (99,467 billion eggs). Additionally, total fishing mortality is estimated to be 0.51, below both the fishing mortality threshold (1.85) and target (0.80). The stock assessment update uses the same modeling approach…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s American Lobster Management Board initiated Draft Addendum XXVII to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster. The Draft Addendum seeks to increase the resiliency of the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank (GOM/GBK) stock by considering the standardization of management measures across Lobster Conservation Management Areas (LCMAs). This is a proactive management action and is in response to signs of reduced settlement. Initiating an addendum charges the Plan Development Team (PDT) with developing management alternatives for consideration in the Draft Addendum. The American lobster fishery is one of the largest and most valuable…
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Alexandria, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board met in May and August to receive the findings of the 2017 Atlantic Croaker and Spot Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Reports. While neither assessment was endorsed by an independent panel of fisheries scientists (Peer Review Panel) for management use, the Panel agreed with the general results of the assessment that immediate management actions are not necessary. The Panel recommended continued use of the annual traffic light analyses (TLA), established in 2014 to monitor fishery and resource trends, and implement management measures as needed,…
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