Philadelphia, PA – The Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) met this week to finalize the total allowable landings (TAL) limits for bluefish, scup and black sea bass, and establish 2006 commercial management measures for the respective fisheries. The TALs are provided below in millions of pounds. Species 2004 TAL 2005 TAL 2006 TAL Bluefish 31.9 30.8 24.8 Black Sea Bass 8.0 8.2 8.0 Scup 16.5 16.5 16.27 The 2006 black sea bass quota decreased slightly from 8.2 million pounds in 2005 to 8.0 million pounds, due to a decrease in the survey index used to evaluate the…
Press Releases
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Plans Pave Way for Rebuilding of SNE/MA Stock
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Weakfish Management Board authorized development of an addendum to Amendment 4 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Weakfish to address stock declines. The action is taken in response to the latest stock assessment, which indicates that total mortality has risen substantially since 1995, and biomass has sharply declined from 2000 to 2003. Weakfish biomass has fallen below Amendment 4’s biological reference points, triggering the requirement of state action to rebuild biomass to 30 percent of an unfished stock in six years or less. “Amendment 4 requires the states to reduce weakfish mortality once the…
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Plan Seeks to Rebuild Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Stock and Sustain Gulf of Maine Stock
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s American Lobster Management Board has approved Addendum VI to the American Lobster Plan. The Addendum directs Area 2 jurisdictions to work with their Lobster Conservation Management Team (LCMT) to modify the effort control plan as specified under Addendum IV. The effort control plan must be designed so that all jurisdictions are capable of implementation and effort will not increase if and when the resource recovers in Area 2. In December 2003, the Commission’s American Lobster Board passed Addendum IV, establishing an effort control plan for Area 2 (inshore southern New England). The Addendum was initiated…
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New Castle, NH – The Commission’s Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Shark Management Board approved specifications for the 2005-2006 fishing year, setting a four million pound annual quota with trip limits of 600 pounds in quota period one (May 1 to October 31) and 300 pounds in quota period two (November 1 to April 30). These actions were taken in response to the results of the latest stock assessment information and recommendations to Commission’s Spiny Dogfish Technical Committee. The coastwide spiny dogfish population is considered overfished, but overfishing is not occurring. The 2004 Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s trawl survey data shows…
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New Castle, NH – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section approved a 70-day fishing season for the 2004-2005 northern shrimp fishery, a 30-day increase from last year’s season. The approved season was based upon a joint recommendation of the Northern Shrimp Technical Committee and Advisory Panel. “The Section applauds the efforts of the Advisory Panel and Technical Committee in jointly developing recommendations for Section approval,” stated Section Chair, George Lapointe, from Maine. “We are also pleased about the findings of the recent stock assessment which have shown improvement to the northern shrimp resource. An increase in harvestable…
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Addenda Propose Changes to the Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass FMP
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