Arlington, VA – The Commission’s American Lobster Management Board approved sending forward for public comment Draft Addendum IX to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster. The Draft Addendum proposes to establish a conservation tax under the Area 2 trap transfer program established by Addendum VII.
Approved in November 2005, Addendum VII established a multi-state effort control program for Lobster Conservation Management Area 2 (Southern New England), including a trap transferability program that is currently under development. This program will allow Area 2 lobstermen to increase or decrease the number of traps they fish as long as they stay within the maximum allowable limit of 800 traps. Addendum VII also called the use of a passive reduction strategy through a conservation tax, which would retire a set amount of traps with every trap transfer. Draft Addendum IX proposes to further clarify the conservation tax by establishing the percentage of passive reduction. The Draft Addendum solicits public comment on what percentage of total trap transfer the conservation tax should be, offering a range of zero to 25 percent reduction.
Copies of the Draft Addendum will be available by August 21 by contacting the Commission at 202-289- 6400 or via the Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM on September 27, 2006 and should be forwarded to Toni Kerns, Fisheries Management Plan Coordinator, 1444 ‘Eye’ Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; 202-289- 6051 (FAX) or at tkerns@asmfc.org (Subject line: Draft Addendum IX).
The Management Board also initiated the development of an addendum to establish a landing data collection program that is consistent with the standards of the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program and responds to the recommendations of the 2005 Lobster Stock Assessment and Peer Review Advisory Report. The draft addendum will be available for Board consideration in October at the Commission’s Annual Meeting in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. For more information, please contact Toni Kerns at 202-289-6400 or tkerns@asmfc.org.