Annapolis, MD – The Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board approved Addendum I to Amendment 6 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass. The Addendum establishes a bycatch monitoring and research program to increase the accuracy of data on striped bass discards, as required by Amendment 6. More accurate discard mortality estimates will improve our understanding of stock status and provide for more effective striped bass management. The Addendum also recommends that states, through the Commission if possible, develop a web-based angler education program on fishing techniques known to reduce post-release hooking mortality.
The bycatch program establishes a suite of mandatory and voluntary data collection standards, discard mortality studies, and technical committee analyses for commercial, recreational, and for-hire fisheries. The states from Maine through North Carolina are required to collect commercial data elements consistent with ACCSP standards and recreational quantitative data as reported by interviewed fishermen. Further, the states are to review existing discard mortality studies to develop gear-specific discard mortality estimates. The Striped Bass Technical Committee will be required to analyze any newly collected at-sea observer data, and review temperature-specific estimates of recreational discards and post-release mortality rates.
The Addendum is effective immediately and will be available in early November. Copies can be obtained by contacting the Commission at (202) 289-6400 or via the Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News. For more information, please contact Nichola Meserve, Fisheries Management Plan Coordinator, at (202) 289-6400 or nmeserve@asmfc.org.