St. Simons Island, GA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission presented G. Ritchie White, long-time ASMFC Commissioner from New Hampshire and fisheries advocate, the Captain David H. Hart Award, its highest annual award, at the Commission’s 72st Annual Meeting in St. Simons Island, GA. Mr. White contributed firsthand to the recovery of striped bass and the steady increase of recreational and commercial fishing opportunities as a member of the ASMFC Striped Bass Advisory Panel in the 1990s. In 2000, Mr. White was selected by Governor Jeanne Shaheen to officially join the Commission as his state’s Governor’s Appointee. During his…
Press Releases
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Philadelphia, PA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) have established commercial quotas and recreational harvest limits for summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, and bluefish for the 2014 fishing season and beyond. The Commission’s actions are final, while the Council will forward its recommendations to NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Regional Administrator for final approval. The table below summarizes quotas and limits (2013 values are provided for comparison purposes). Please note that specifications for years beyond 2014 may be adjusted based on changes in the fishery or new scientific information. Species Year…
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At the end of September, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced that it will be considering the listing of red knot as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. In its press release, the USFWS acknowledged the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s recent actions with regards to horseshoe crab management, particularly the Adaptive Resource Management (ARM) Framework and its positive impact on the red knot. The ARM Framework takes into account the abundance of horseshoe crabs and red knots in order to determine a sustainable harvest level for crabs which will provide adequate food for migratory shorebirds…
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Arlington, VA – This winter, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will continue work on the 2014 benchmark stock assessment for Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus). The assessment will be used to evaluate the health of the Atlantic menhaden stock and inform the management of this species. The Commission’s stock assessment process and meetings are open to the public, with the exception of discussions of confidential data, when the public will be asked to leave the room. The Commission welcomes the submission of data sources that will improve the accuracy of the assessment. These include, but are not limited to, data…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board approved Draft Addendum III to the Atlantic Coastal Sharks Fishery Management Plan for public comment. The Draft Addendum proposes changes to the coastal shark species groupings for hammerhead and blacknose sharks and the establishment of a new commercial quota and recreational size limit for hammerhead sharks. Draft Addendum III was initiated to ensure consistency between the state and federal coastal shark plans. The federal Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan was amended to address recent findings that scalloped hammerhead, blacknose, and sandbar sharks are overfished and/or experiencing overfishing.…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s South Atlantic State-Federal Fisheries Management Board approved two addenda – Addendum I to the Omnibus Amendment to the Interstate Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) for Spanish Mackerel, Spot, and Spotted Seatrout and Addendum I to Amendment 2 to the Interstate FMP for Red Drum. Addendum I to the Omnibus Amendment establishes a pilot program that would allow states to reduce the Spanish mackerel minimum size limit for the commercial pound net fishery to 11 ½ inches during the summer months of July through September for the 2013 and 2014 fishing years only. The measure is intended…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s American Eel Management Board approved Addendum III to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Eel and initiated development of Draft Addendum IV. Given the scope of issues addressed in Draft Addendum III and the wide range of input received through public comment, the Board decided to divide the issues between the two addenda, with Draft Addendum IV primarily focusing on management measures for the glass eel fishery. Addendum III establishes a 9” minimum size limit for recreational and commercial yellow eel fisheries, trip-level reporting for the commercial yellow eel fishery, a seasonal closure of…
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Arlington, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission announces the release of its report, Research Priorities & Recommendations to Support Interjurisdictional Fisheries Management. The report highlights research priorities and data critical to the continued success and improvement of the Commission’s 25 species management programs. The report can be used by state and federal marine fishery agencies, and university research programs to develop projects to answer outstanding research questions. The report identifies research priorities and recommendations by individual species and species groups, as in the case of diadromous species (American eel, shad, river herring, Atlantic sturgeon, striped bass), as well…
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