Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Tautog Management Board approved Addendum V to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Tautog. The Addendum modifies the management program contained in Addendum IV by allowing states flexibility to achieve the necessary 25.6 percent reduction in exploitation through adjustments to their recreational and/or commercial fisheries.
Addendum IV, approved in January 2007, required a 25.6 percent reduction in exploitation rate to be taken exclusively from the states’ recreational fisheries. While the recreational sector accounts for approximately 90 percent of tautog harvest coastwide, some states have significant commercial fisheries. Addendum V allows states to apply the necessary reductions to their recreational fisheries, commercial fisheries, or a combination of both according to each state’s needs.
The Board declined North Carolina’s request to be removed from the management unit based on concern that undersized tautog caught in Virginia could legally be landed in North Carolina if no minimum size law existed. North Carolina concurred and agreed to maintain its 14” minimum size limit and remain in the management program as a de minimis state.
In order to implement the required management measures by January 1, 2008, states submitted reduction proposals for Technical Committee review in July. The Board reviewed the Committee’s recommendations and approved proposals for all states within the tautog management unit (Massachusetts through North Carolina). The Board deferred action on a proposal by New Jersey as well as a joint proposal by Massachusetts and Rhode Island requesting a 12% reduction in their harvest versus the Addendum’s reduction requirement of 25.6 percent. The Board will revisit these proposals in October at the Commission’s Annual Meeting.
Copies of Addendum V will be available by September 1 and can be obtained via the Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News. For more information, please contact Christopher Vonderweidt, Fisheries Management Plan Coordinator, at 202/289-6400 or cvonderweidt@asmfc.org.