Portland, ME – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section approved a moratorium for the 2014 northern shrimp fishing season. The results of the 2013 Assessment Report for Gulf of Maine Northern Shrimp indicate the northern shrimp stock is overfished and overfishing is occurring. Northern shrimp abundance in the western Gulf of Maine has declined steadily since 2006. Current biomass (500 mt) is the lowest value in recent history, estimated at 5.2% for the biomass reference period (1985-1994), and well below the biomass threshold of 9,000 mt and the biomass limit of 6,000 mt. Additionally, there has been…
Management Measures and Pending Actions
A list of proposed regulatory changes or management actions currently under consideration by the Commission.
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St. Simons Island, Georgia – The Commission’s Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board increased its spiny dogfish quotas for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 fishing seasons (May 1 – April 30) in response to increases in spawning stock biomass. The 2014/2015 quota is now set at 49,370,000 pounds (previously 41,784,000 pounds) and the 2015/1016 quota is set at 50,612,000 pounds (previously 41,578,000 pounds), with a maximum possession limit of 4,000 pounds per day for the northern region states (Maine through Connecticut). Quotas for the northern region and southern states (New York through North Carolina) are provided in the table below.…
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St. Simons Island, Georgia – The Commission’s Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board increased its spiny dogfish quotas for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 fishing seasons (May 1 – April 30) in response to increases in spawning stock biomass. The 2014/2015 quota is now set at 49,037,000 pounds (previously 41,784,000 pounds) and the 2015/1016 quota is set at 50,612,000 pounds (previously 41,578,000 pounds), with a maximum possession limit of 4,000 pounds per day for the northern region states (Maine through Connecticut). Quotas for the northern region and southern states (New York through North Carolina) are provided in the table below.…
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St. Simons Island, Georgia – The Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board has approved the harvest specifications for horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin. Under the Adaptive Resource management (ARM) Framework, the Board set a harvest limit of 500,000 Delaware Bay male horseshoe crabs and zero female horseshoe crabs for the 2014 season. Based on the allocation mechanism established in Addendum VII, the following quotas were set for the states of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, which harvest horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin: Delaware Bay Origin Horseshoe Crab Quota (no. of crabs) Total Quota State Male Only…
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Maine Commits to Develop Plan with Industry to Control Glass Eel Harvest
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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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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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