Bar Harbor, ME – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission presented William “Bill” Goldsborough of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation the Captain David H. Hart Award, its highest annual award, at the Commission’s 75th Annual Meeting in Bar Harbor, Maine. Bill is the first person to receive all three Commission awards, having previously received an Annual Award of Excellence for Management & Policy Contributions and the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership (ACFHP) Melissa Laser Fish Habitat Conservation Award. Throughout his 30 years on the front lines of fisheries management and conservation, Bill has remained a thoughtful and persistent voice of reason…
Press Releases
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Bar Harbor, ME – The Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board approved a total allowable catch (TAC) for the 2017 fishing season of 200,000 mt, a 6.45% increase from the 2016 TAC. According to Technical Committee analysis this increase has a zero percent probability of resulting in overfishing. The TAC will be made available to the states/jurisdictions based on the state‐by‐state allocation established by Amendment 2 (see accompanying table). “Given the healthy condition of the resource, this modest increase provides additional fishing opportunities while the Board proceeds with the development of Draft Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan.” stated…
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Bar Harbor, ME – The Commission’s Spiny Dogfish Management Board approved a spiny dogfish commercial quota of 39,099,717 pounds for the 2017 fishing season (May 1, 2017 – April 30, 2018). The Board maintained a 6,000 pound commercial trip limit in state waters (0‐3 miles from shore) in the northern region (Maine through Connecticut). States in the southern region (New York to North Carolina) have the ability to set state‐specific trip limits based on the needs of their fisheries. The quota and northern region trip limit are consistent with the measures recommended to NOAA Fisheries by the Mid‐Atlantic Fishery Management…
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Arlington, VA – The Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section (Section) and Advisory Panel will meet on November 10, 2016 in Urban Forestry Center, 45 Elwyn Road, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; 603.431.6774. The Advisory Panel will meet in the morning (10‐11:30 a.m.) to review the 2016 Stock Status Report and Technical Committee recommendations, and formulate recommendations to the Section for the 2017 fishing season. The Section will meet in the afternoon (1‐3 p.m.) to set 2017 specifications after reviewing the 2016 Stock Status Report, as well as the recommendations from the Technical Committee and Advisory Panel. For the past three fishing seasons (2014‐2016),…
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Arlington, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission awarded funding to a research team headed by Dr. John Whitehead of Appalachian State University and Dr. Jane Harrison from North Carolina Sea Grant to conduct a socioeconomic study of Atlantic menhaden commercial fisheries. The study is intended to characterize the coastwide commercial fisheries, including bait and reduction sectors and the fishing communities they support. The principal investigators have sent survey announcements to fishermen and bait dealers in Maine, New Jersey, and Virginia. Virginia fishery participants will receive postcards announcing the surveys while Maine and New Jersey participants will receive an…
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Virginia Beach, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) and the Mid‐Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) reviewed previously implemented specifications for scup, black sea bass and bluefish fisheries and modified specifications for summer flounder. 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. The table below summarizes commercial quotas and recreational harvest limits for summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, and bluefish (2016 values are provided for comparison purposes). Please note specifications for years…
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Alexandria, VA –The Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Board approved development of Draft Addendum VIII to the Horseshoe Crab Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The Draft Addendum will propose changes to the Adaptive Resource Management (ARM) Framework, which is used annually to set harvest specifications for the Delaware Bay states, taking into consideration horseshoe crab abundance and red knot forage needs. This action is in response to a recent technical review, which suggested changes to the ARM Framework, including the incorporation of mortality associated with biomedical bleeding activities into the Framework, and the exploration of options that allow for the harvest of female…
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Alexandria, VA – The American Lobster Management Board approved development of Draft Addendum XXV to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster. The Draft Addendum seeks to respond to the depleted condition of the SNE stock while preserving a functional portion of the lobster fishery in this area. The document will present a suite of management measures to increase egg production and lower fishing mortality through a combination of management tools including lobster size and escape vent changes, season closures, and trap limits and reductions. The Draft Addendum responds to the results of the 2015 American…
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Alexandria, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved the initiation of a new Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Atlantic Migratory Group of Cobia to complement fishery management efforts of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). This action responds to a request by the Council for the Commission to consider joint or complementary management of the resource in light of the significant overage of the 2015 recreational annual catch limit (ACL), the impact of those overages to state management, and the observation that approximately 82% of reported recreational landings are harvested in state waters. Widely distributed…
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