Preliminary Assessment Results Indicate Need for Significant Harvest Reductions for 2011/2012 Fishing Season
Management Measures and Pending Actions
A list of proposed regulatory changes or management actions currently under consideration by the Commission.
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Wilmington, DE – The Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) have established the 2012 commercial quotas and recreational harvest limits for summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, and bluefish. The Commission’s actions are final and apply to state waters. The Council will be forwarding its recommendations to NOAA’s Northeast Regional Administrator for final approval. The table below summarizes those actions/recommendations (commercial quota and recreational harvest limits are in millions of pounds): Species Commercial Quota Commercial Minimum Fish Size (TL) Commercial Mesh Size Recreational Harvest Limit Summer Flounder 18.95 14″ 5.5″ 12.63 Scup 34.43 9″ 5″ 10.85 Black…
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Alexandria, VA – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has approved the Omnibus Amendment for Spot, Spotted Seatrout, and Spanish Mackerel. The Amendment updates all three plans with requirements under the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act (1993) and the Interstate Fishery Management Program Charter (1995). All three species represent a large draw for commercial and recreational fishermen in the Mid- and South Atlantic regions with a combined coastwide commercial catch of 12.6 million pounds and a recreational harvest of 14.3 million fish. The updates to the plans include commercial and recreational management measures and recommendations, adaptive management options, de…
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New Framework will Incorporate Multispecies Management
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Arlington, VA – The Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board approved state- by-state shares for the 2011 black sea bass recreational season in order to mitigate potential disproportionate impacts to an individual state(s) that coastwide measures may cause. The 2010 regulations resulted in a preliminary estimated harvest of 2.98 million pounds, approximately 1.15 million pounds above the 2010 target. Given that the 2010 regulations were not effective in staying within the target, coastwide harvest will need to be reduced by 37% to achieve, but not exceed, the 2011 target of 1.78 million pounds. Under state-by-state shares the…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board has approved Addendum I to Amendment I to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Croaker. The Addendum changes the management unit to one region (New Jersey through the east coast of Florida) and modifies the biological reference points used to assess stock condition. Both measures stem from the recommendations of the 2010 benchmark assessment, which indicates that Atlantic croaker is not experiencing overfishing. Based on the findings of the assessment, Atlantic croaker is now considered to be a single stock on the Atlantic coast. The previous stock assessment,…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board has initiated development of Draft Addendum III with the goals of reducing striped bass fishing mortality (F) up to 40% and further protecting spawning stock when it is concentrated and vulnerable. The addendum was initiated in order to allow managers to promptly respond to the results of the stock assessment update in the fall if necessary. Provisions of the addendum, if passed, could be implemented prior to the start of the 2012 fishing year. The Board’s action responds to recent trends in the fishery and resource, including a 66% decline…
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States to End Overfishing
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Arlington, VA – The Commission’s Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board (Board) approved Addendum III to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Spiny Dogfish (Addendum III). The Addendum divides the southern region annual quota of 42% into state-specific shares (see table below). It also allows for quota transfer between states, rollovers of up to five percent and state-specified possession limits, and includes a three-year reevaluation of the measures. The Addendum’s provisions apply only to states in the southern region (New York through North Carolina) and do not modify the northern region allocation. The states of Maine to Connecticut will…
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