The Commission’s Sciaenid Management Board will meet via webinar on March 18, 2021 from 1 – 3 PM. The Board will consider approval of state implementation plans to reduce recreational and commercial harvest of Atlantic croaker and spot in response to declining trends in abundance and harvest identified in the latest Traffic Light Approach (TLA) report. In October 2020, based on the TLA, the Board initiated a management response as outlined in Addendum III for each species. Specifically, the Addendum requires states to implement a 50-fish bag limit for their recreational fisheries for each species and reduce commercial harvest by 1% of the average state commercial harvest from the previous 10 years. De minimis states, which have minimal commercial and/or recreational fisheries, are not required to change their measures. However, states with more restrictive measures in place are encouraged to maintain them. The Board will also review the Spot Fishery Management Plan Review and state compliance reports, and receive an update on the ongoing red drum simulation stock assessment.
Meeting materials are available here.
For more information, please contact Savannah Lewis, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at slewis@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.