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 2013 fishing season and beyond. The Commission’s actions are final and apply to state waters (0-3 miles from shore). The Council will forward its recommendations to NOAA’s Northeast Regional Administrator for final approval. The table below summarizes those actions/recommendations (2012 values are provided for comparison purposes). Please note that specifications for years beyond 2013 may be adjusted based on changes in the fishery or…
Management Measures and Pending Actions
A list of proposed regulatory changes or management actions currently under consideration by the Commission.
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s American Lobster Board has approved Addendum XVIII to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster. The Addendum establishes a consolidation program for lobster conservation management areas (LCMAs) 2 and 3 (Southern New England and offshore waters, respectively) to address latent effort by reducing the overall number of traps allocated. It is estimated that latent effort is 40% and 30% in LCMAs 2 and 3, respectively. Implementation of the Addendum’s measures is contingent upon NOAA Fisheries’ implementation of transferability and trap reduction rules for federal waters. LCMA 2 trap allocation will be…
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ASMFC Atlantic Striped Bass Board Approves Mandatory Commercial Tagging Program through Addendum III
Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board has approved Addendum III to Amendment 6 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass. The Addendum establishes a mandatory commercial tagging program for all states and jurisdictions with commercial striped bass fisheries and recommends increasing penalties for illegally harvested fish. The tagging program includes requirements for timely catch reporting, increased accounting of unused tags, improved standardization of tag type, and the use of biological metrics for determining state/jurisdiction tag quantity. These measures are intended to prevent commercial striped bass quota overages and the illegal harvest of striped…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board increased the 2012/2013 spiny dogfish quota from 30 to 35.6 million pounds. The increase is consistent with proposed regulations for federal waters as well the recommendations of the ASMFC Spiny Dogfish Technical Committee and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee. The table below shows preliminary regional and state commercial quotas for the 2012/2013 season as adjusted for overages and rollovers. Table 1. Preliminary 2012/1013 regional and state commercial spiny dogfish quotas adjusted for overages and rollovers from the 2011/2012 fishing season (in pounds). Quotas are subject…
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Public Input Sought on Development of New Plan
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Arlington, VA – The Commission’s Tautog Management Board has lowered the harvest reduction necessary for states to comply with Addendum VI. Under the revised stock assessment update, states from Connecticut through Virginia are required to reduce harvest by 39% from the average of 2008 and 2009 levels. This change responds to errors found in the 2011 assessment update, which overestimated the 2009 fishing mortality rate and, therefore, the associated harvest reduction necessary to achieve the fishing mortality target. Previously, states had been required to reduce harvest by 53%. Approved in late 2011, Addendum VI lowers the fishing mortality target to…
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Arlington, VA – Upon review of the latest black sea bass recreational data from last year (waves 1 – 6), the Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board has modified the percent that states may liberalize their 2012 recreational management measures to achieve the 1.32 million pound (942,857 fish) harvest limit for the 2012 fishery. The northern region states of Massachusetts through New Jersey will implement measures that achieve a 37% liberalization throughout the region and a 32% liberalization coastwide; the percent of liberalization will vary by state. Northern region states had the option to collectively liberalize…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board approved Addendum XXII to the Fishery Management Plan. The Addendum, which applies only to black sea bass, replaces coastwide recreational management measures for the second consecutive year and attempts to again mitigate potential disproportionate impacts to some Mid-Atlantic states whose landings have declined markedly in recent years. In 2011, Addendum XXI established state-by-state measures, requiring states from Massachusetts to New Jersey, plus North Carolina to cut harvest by 37% to 43% to meet the coastwide recreational harvest target. Addendum XXII establishes a regional management approach which…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Bluefish Management Board approved Addendum I to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Bluefish. The Addendum establishes a coastwide sampling program to improve the quantity and quality of information available for use in future bluefish stock assessments. The approved sampling program is in direct response to the recommendations of both the Commission’s Bluefish Technical Committee and the peer review panel from the latest bluefish benchmark assessment. The last peer-reviewed stock assessment, conducted in 2005, supported the finding that the bluefish stock was rebuilt and not experiencing overfishing. However, the peer review…
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