Arlington, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will hold the American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment Workshop at the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and Discovery Center, 89 Depot Road, Greenland, NH. The stock assessment will evaluate the health of American lobster stocks and inform 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 February Stock Assessment Workshop will focus on evaluation of models and analyses developed to estimate stock status. The…
Press Releases
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The Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board has initiated Draft Addendum III to consider recreational and commercial management measures for 2026 to support rebuilding the stock by 2029. Options will consider a range of reductions for the recreational and commercial fisheries. Recreational reductions will consider season and size limits that take into account regional differences, including no-harvest and no-targeting closures. Final action is planned for no later than October 2025 with implementation in early 2026.
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Arlington, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section has maintained the current moratorium on northern shrimp fishing through the 2025 fishing year. This action responds to the findings of the 2024 Stock Assessment Update, which indicates the northern shrimp stock has been at low levels of biomass for over the past decade despite the fishery being under a moratorium since 2014. The Update found no improvement in stock status and 2023 summer survey indices of abundance, biomass, and recruitment were the lowest in the 1984-2023 time-series. Given the loss of the summer shrimp survey and continued…
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States to Conduct Public Hearings in January
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Section to Consider Draft Amendment 4 for Public Comment and Set 2025 Specifications
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Arlington, VA – The Atlantic coastal states of New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia have scheduled hearings to gather public input on the Draft Addendum VII to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Spiny Dogfish, which considers potential measures to maintain consistency with the federal Fishery Management Plan in response to the proposed rule to implement Spiny Dogfish Framework Adjustment 6. In addition to the December 11 hearing, stakeholders are welcome to participate in any of the virtual hearings. The Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils developed Spiny Dogfish Framework Adjustment 6 in response to a 2021 Biological Opinion and…
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The Area 1A directed fishery will close effective 9:00 p.m. on November 12, 2024 and remain closed until further notice.
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Informational Webinar to be Held December 5th with Public Comment Deadline Set for December 10th
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Annapolis, MD – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board (Board) and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) have jointly approved modifications to two exemptions from the summer flounder commercial minimum mesh size requirements. The Board adopted these changes through Addendum XXXV to the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan, and the Council recommended identical measures through a framework action which will be submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service for review and implementation. Current regulations for the summer flounder trawl fishery require a minimum mesh size of…
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