Newport, Rhode Island – The Commission’s Weakfish Management Board approved measures to reduce exploitation by over 50 percent in both the recreational and commercial sectors. Addendum IV requires states to implement a one fish recreational creel limit, 100 pound commercial trip limit, 100 pound commercial bycatch limit during closed seasons, and 100 undersized fish per trip allowance for the finfish trawl fishery. All other management measures previously adopted to conserve the stock and reduce bycatch remain in effect. The Board’s action comes in response to the stock status of weakfish. A recent peer-reviewed assessment found the weakfish stock to be…
Management Measures and Pending Actions
A list of proposed regulatory changes or management actions currently under consideration by the Commission.
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Newport, Rhode Island – The Commission’s American Lobster Management Board approved Addendum XV to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster. Addendum XV modifies the Lobster Conservation Management Area 1 (LCMA 1 – Gulf of Maine) permit process in federal waters in response to increasing lobster fishing effort in that area since 2000 (highest on record since 1981). While lobster abundance in the Gulf of Maine is relatively high there is concern that high levels of fishing effort in the area are not likely to be sustainable if abundance returns to long-term median levels. Further, limited…
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Newport, Rhode Island – The Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board approved Addendum XX to the Fishery Management Plan. Addendum XX allows for the transfer of commercial allocations for black sea bass (entire year) and scup summer period (May 1-October 31) managed under the Commission’s plans. As a practical matter, states routinely under harvest or slightly overharvest their state-specific allocations due to delays in reporting, inconsistencies in the data collection processes, and unanticipated changes in catch rates. The FMP requires that each state deduct overages from the following year’s quota when they occur. Addendum XX establishes…
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Portland, ME – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section approved a 180-day fishing season for the 2009-2010 northern shrimp fishery, the same length of last year’s season. The season was based on favorable stock conditions, with the resource not overfished and not experiencing overfishing, and a recommendation of the Advisory Panel. “Our efforts to reduce fishing mortality in the early 2000s continue to result in a high abundance of shrimp,” stated Section Chair Pat White from Maine. “We hope the markets open up for this plentiful wild-caught species.” The 2005 year-class showed good strength in this summer’s…
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Washington, DC – The Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and, Black Sea Bass Management Board (Board) met via a web-based conference call yesterday and decided to take no action regarding potential overage in the 2009 recreational fisheries for black sea bass, scup, and summer flounder. The recreational fishing community should be prepared for considerably reduced fishing opportunities next year due to anticipated large overages in the 2009 harvest of scup and black sea bass. “The take away from yesterday’s meeting was the clear message from the Board that 2010 recreational size limits, possession limits, and/or seasons will be significantly restricted for…
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Board Initiates Addendum to Address Stock Decline
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Alexandria, VA – The Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board approved Addendum I to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Coastal Sharks. Addendum I modifies the finning and identification provision for the commercial smooth dogfish fishery and removes both the smooth dogfish recreational possession limits and 2-hour net check requirement for commercial large mesh gillnet. The FMP originally required that the fins of all sharks harvested in the commercial fishery have fins attached naturally to the carcass through landing. The commercial smooth dogfish fishery is high volume, labor intensive, and requires an extremely fresh product in relation…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board approved extending the provisions of Addendum V to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Horseshoe Crab for an additional year as it awaits the results of the upcoming peer-reviewed stock assessment. Addendum V’s measures include a delayed, male-only harvest in New Jersey and Delaware, prohibiting the harvest and landing of male and female horseshoe crabs from January 1 through June 7 in the Delaware Bay, and restricting the annual harvest to 100,000 males per state from June 8 through December 31. As with all Commission plans, states can implement more conservative…
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States Water Fisheries to be Closed by January 1, 2012 unless Sustainablity is Demonstrated through State-specific Management Plans
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