ML072060344
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,\\£ STATt-S Volume 13, Issue 1
- A S M F C January 2004 Al S
Et RIES Fe fC" Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission 1444 Eve Street, N.A Washington, D.C.
Worklng towards healthiy self-sustaining populations for all Adantic coast fish species or successful restoration well it progress by the year 2015.
Senator Owen Johnson and
- 2Jack Travelstead Honored at ASMFC Annual Meeting The Commission's 62nd Annual Meeting was a time for hard work and celebration. On the celebratorv front, the Commission had the opportunity to honor two remarkable men -- Senator Owen Johnson and Jack Travelstead -- for their contributions to Atlantic coastal fish-eries conservation.
The Honorable Owen Johnson of New York was presented the Commission's most prestigious award, the Chairman's Award for Distinguished Meritorious Service. Throughout his career of public service as a Member of the New York State Senate, Owen Johnson has maintained a Inside This Issue steadfast commitment to interstate marine fisheries conservation and manage-rnnt. For over twenty ),ears he has worked tirelessly to promote the mutual Upcomng efforts of the states in the Commission process. As Chair of the Legislative Com-
§SpeciesProfile: Atlantic Striped missioners for many years, Senator Johnson was a strong advocate of a greater
.Bass.
Page 4 role for the Legislative and Governors' Appointee Commissioners on.species 2004 -2008 Strategic Plan management boards. His vision and efforts resulted in the full participation Approved page 6 that is today afforded to all Commissioners.
AtatcHerring }PID Releasedl@*
forPubic HeComrment P aD 8eas Senator Johnson's long-standing presence and support of the Commission and Lobster Addendum IV its programs provides a model for responsible stewardship of our shared coastal Page 9' resources. He sets an example of support for the Commission's work through his iactive participation and that of his staff. His public life is a testament to safe-ASFC 2004 Meeting Weeks guarding the mutual interests of both the people and marine environment he represents. Through his actions Senator Johnson has consistently demonstrated Summer Flounder, Scup and his commitment to the Commission's vision of healthy, self-sustaining popula-BlckS*a B ass 200<4 Recre a-Blac n.Bass1 et Pea-tions for all Atlantic coast fish species or successful restoration well in progress tina u
by the year 2015.
SSummier Flounder Addendum Vil* Approved Pg 10 Senator Johnson is the fourth recipient of the Chairman's Award for Distin-SpinyDogfish 2004 - 2005 guished Meritorious Service, established by the Commission in 1996.
It is Specifications Set
,Page II !
conferred to individuals that have had a unique and profound impact on the February Technical Meeting conservation of Atlantic coastal resources over the course of their career. Prior Week Agenda Page II honorees are Representative Gerry E. Studds, the late Senator John H. Chafee of
'AC*SPAnnounces2004 Funding Rhode Island, and Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire.
Page 12 SEo2003 Hart Award Recipient Nm
.i>Page 1-3 Jack Travelstead, Chief of Fisheries Management for the Virginia Marine Re-sources Commission was presented the Commission's David H. Hart Award, at New 'ASMFMC \\Website Launched contintied onz page &
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-L~ A~m(:C 72b
Upcoming Meetings 1/27 - 29:
New England Fishery Management Council, Hotel Viking, Newport, Rhode Island.
2/2 - 4:
ASMFC American Lobster Model Development Subcommit-tee, Stock Assessment Subcommittee and Technical Com-mittee, New Hampshire Fish and Game, 225 Main Street, Durham, New Hampshire.
2/2 - 6 ASMFC Technical Committee Meeting Week, The Lord Bal-timore Radisson Hotel, 20 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Maryland; (410)539-8400 (see page I I for additional infor-mation).
2/11 & 12:
ASMFC Horseshoe Crab Alternative Bait Workshop, Com-fort Inn (BWI) Airport, 6921 Baltimore Annapolis Boule-vard, Baltimore, Maryland.
2/11 (10AM - SPM):
ASMFC Winter Flounder Technical Committee, Sheraton Providence Airport Hotel, 1850 Post Road, Warwick, Rhode Island.
2/24:
ASMFC Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Techni-cal Committee, Providence Biltmore Hotel, Kennedy Plaza, Providence, Rhode Island.
2/25 - 27:
ASMFC Bluefish TIchnical Committee, Providence Biltmore Ho-tel, Kennedy Plaza, Providence, Rhode Island; (401)421-0700.
3/1-5S:
South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, Sea Palms, 5445 Frederica Road, St. Simons Island, Georgia; (912)638-3351.
3/14-6.
Maine Fishermen's Forum, Samoset Resort, Rockport, Maine.
3/8-11.
ASMFC Meeting Week, Radisson Hotel Old Town Alexan-dria, 625 First Street, Alexandria, Virginia.
3/16-18:
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, Shell Island Oceanfront Suites, Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.
2 ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 1, January 2004
Our 62"' AniuaL Mseri iiig.
NeYv IYortk City was ter-GIfc;, lhanks to tChC gCeirous siip1ort arid hard; work of-Ur.hdsts frFrom New York. We I/{ad the opp(or5Ituty-roFO f6rtallv recogiilze' New Yo6rk StaIe SenatorF OwCen Johnson iand ack'iTravelstead afrom Virginia for dthi:r long, history of itivovenintitai spot for~ the'C~orrm mission.
ur, O
covet-aricil contains additionailinfor-,*
maation about theiir, awards. Followig is my Executive Dirccror's R6rpfor t
2003.,
2004,.
ommr drritted to providli-iga iidVCear_
progress 'Ipoit This is anothexr cxample o' fd tvwoin-7derful talent and cdcdication We h aveC on Or Stiaff.
Lookiig outside the Commissioni 2004 will be, ani imI-p~ortantý,year as, the ntational dialogue oni lishdiesic man agellent for the reauthotrizatrion of tIle Magnuson-Stieve* i;Act xwill be framed: by the findings orf te Pew and U.S. Oceanis Commissmiins. Several key themes ire elgIngrl Lthat: xwill likeix result in calls for policy chýangCs..
TIere is conceirn-that certaint fishtcrIes manages ae voUr-t~ti Year at a
V6rint For the Comhi.
- ially when strocks firSt ~l 0
ensu niued ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 1, January 2004 3
Species Profile: Atlantic Striped Bass The Challenges of Managing a Restored Stock Introduction Striped bass have formed the basis of one of the most important fisheries on the Atlantic coast for centuries. They have been regulated since European settlement of North America.
Early written accounts recorded their great abundance. Striped bass were once so plentiful they were used to fertilize fields. Like those earlier y'ears, today's Atlantic striped bass population is thriving. In a little more than 15 years, the resource has rebuilt from an historic lowv of about 20 million pounds to an all-time high of 160 million pounds. This rebuilding did not occur without hardships. Both commercial and recreational fishermen alike have endured severe harvest restrictions and closures in some cases with the hope of seeing greater benefits in the near future. Fortunately, those sacrifices are paying off. Now the Commission focuses on the challenge of managing a restored stock.
Life History The Commission's Atlantic striped bass management program centers on the migratory population and spawning stocks from Maine through North Carolina, but the species can be found as far north as the St. Lawrence River in Canada and as far south as the St.
John's River in Florida. A long-lived species (at least up to 30 years of age), striped bass typically spends the majority of its adult life in coastal estuaries or the ocean, migrating north and south seasonally and ascending to rivers to spawn in the spring.
Mature females (age six and older) produce large quantities of eggs (see side-bar), which are fertilized by mature males (age two and older) as they are released into riverine spawning areas. While developing, the fertilized eggs drift with the downstream currents and eventually hatch into larvae. The larvae and post-larvae begin feeding on micro-scopic animals during their downstream journey. After their arrival in the nursery areas, located in river deltas and the inland portions of coastal sounds and estuaries, they mature into juveniles. They) remain in coastal sounds and estuaries for two to four years and then join the coastal migratory population in the Atlantic Ocean. In the ocean, fish tend to move north during the summer and south during the winter. Important winter-ing grounds for the mixed stocks are located from offshore New Jersey to North Carolina.
With warming water temperatures in the spring, the mature adult fish migrate to river-me spawning areas to complete their life cycle. The majority of the coastal migratory stock originate in the Chesapeake Bay spawning areas, with significant contributions from the spawning grounds of the Hudson and Delaware Rivers.
Commercial & Recreational Fisheries Commercial fishermen harvest striped bass with a variety of gears including gill nets, pound nets, haul seines, and hook-and-line. Commercial harvest peaked at almost 15 million pounds in 1973, then declined to 3.5 million pounds in 1983, a 77 percent decrease. During the early to mid-1980s, a number of states closed their striped bass fisheries in order to initiate rebuilding of the stocks. The commercial fishery grew slowly under a partial reopening of state waters in the early 1990s, with coastwide harvest rising from 825,000 pounds in 1990 to 2.01 million pounds in 1994. Most of this growth resulted from the fact that Maryland was permitted to impose flexible quotas that have risen with increasing stock size.
Under restored status, the striped bass commercial harvest steadily grew from 3.4 mil-lion pounds in 1995 to peak at 6.6 million pounds in 2000. Over the past two years, the commercial harvest dropped slightly to six million pounds. Beginning in 2003, the 4
ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 1, January 2004
comnmercial quotas in-creased Under Amendment 6 allowing the states to implement coastal com-mercial qluotas equivalent to the average harvest during 1972-1979.
Figure 1. Atlantic Striped Bass Total Catch & Fishing Mortality, 1982-2002 Source: ASMFC Atlantic Striped Bass Technical Committee, 2003 NOTE: Landings are shown in #s of fish, not pounds Recreational Commercial Fthreshold N
F (ages 8-11, 13+)
El 0.6 5,000.000 4,000,000 0
V 3.000,010 The growing popularity of i z saltwater recreational fish-
+
ing since the 1960s and
-S 2.000,000 1970s, and th, lack of rec-reational harvest caps in 1,0000.00 most states, led the sport fishing sector to land a larger percentage of the to-I c
(N tal catch. Recreational har-Year vest grew from 3.1 million pounds in 1990 to a record high of 19.6 million pounds in 2001. In 2002, the recreational harvest declined to about shows the breakdown of striped bass landings and discard losses by fishing sector in 2002.
0.3 0.2 I Co
ý20,2 a.
18.6 million pounds. Figure 2 The payoff for the years of restricted harvest has been big. Total biomass., or the total pounds of fish in the fishery, has increased eightfold over the last 20 years.
Recreational fishing for striped bass is at an all-time high. Commercial fisheries have also benefited with increases in commercial quotas, yielding greater eco-nomic profits.
Figure 2. Total Atlantic Striped Bass Catch in 2002 (3,770,486 fish)
Source: ASIVFC Atlantic Striped Bass Technical Committee, 2003 Scientific Losses Commercial Harvest 0.03%
17.35%
Recreational Discard Losses 29.67%
Conmmercial Discard Losses 4.46%
Stock Status The Atlantic Striped Bass Technical Committee, Stock Assessment Subcommittee and Tagging Sub-Recreational Harvest committee completed the latest annual assessment 48.49%
in late 2003. The assessment report included data through the 2002 fishing year and determined that striped bass are not overfished and overfishing did not occur in 2002.
Not only is the spawning stock biomass 25 times greater than the levels seen in the early 1980s, but the total biomass increased by an order of mag-Figure 3. Atlantic Striped Bass Total & Female Spawning Stock Biomass, 1982-2002 nitude during the same pe-Source: ASMFC Atlantic Striped Bass Technical Committee, 2003 niod (Figure 3). Both the to-120"
ý=Total Bio.....tal striped bass population
-U-Spawning Stock iomas Amendment 100.
.A. SSB Thtosho biomass peaked in 2002 at 0
114 million pounds and 49 80 million pounds, respectively.
.The fishing mortality gener-Ane60 e ally trends upward since the men A ent I
moratoria in the mid-1980s.
E 40 A
I" The 2002 average fishing mor-tality rate for ages 8 to 11 20 F
equaled 0.35, which is above the Amendment 5 and 6 04 Nt 0
0 t
0t0 Ftargets of 0.3.1 and 0.30, re-0 0
0 0
W 1
0 0
0
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I
.0 0
0 0
W c,,
o, ea on c o Co o
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aY Year continued on page 7 ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 1, January 2004 5
ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 1, January 2004 5
Senator Owen Johnson and Jack Travelstead Honored at ASMFC Annual Meeting (continued from page I) it's 62" Annual Meeting in New York City.
Jack Travelstead epitomizes the traits for which the Hart Award was first created
- leadership, commitment, and integ-rity. For nearly a quarter of a century; Mr. Travelstead has been dedicated to the conservation and management of At-lantic coastal fisheries, not only in the Commonwealth of Virginia, but coastwide. He has been a consistent and valuable participant of the Commission process since the early 80s. represent-ing the Commonwealth well while re-specting and supporting the principles and mission of the Commission and the Compact that unites the member states.
Mr. Travelstead has helped guide the evolution of the Commission's programs and policies into the 21V century. His forward thinking and continuous par-ticipation have aided the Commission in making significant changes to the Commission's Interstate Fisheries Man-agement Program, as well as the devel-opment and implementation of a coastwide data collection and manage-ment program under the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program.
As management board chair, he has a direct influ-ence on the de-velopment and implementation of sound fisheries conservation and management pro-grams for many of the Commission's managed species, including blueý fish, tautog and shad & river her-ring.
From left to right: ASMFC Vice-Chair Preston Pate, Jr. (NC), William Pruitt (VA), ASMFC Chair John 1. Nelson Jr., Hart Award Recipient, Jack Travelstead (VA) and ASMFC Executive Director John V. O'Shea He has also been a longtime member of the Mid-Atlan-tic Fishery Management Council on which he currently serves as Chair of its Highly Migratory and Blfefish Boards.
He has been instrumental in the devel-
,opment of some two dozen fishery man-agement plans for the Coommonwealth.
A consummate fisheries manager, Jack Travelstead has provided effective and consistent leadership at the.state, inter-state and federal levels for over twenty years, earning the respect of peers and fishing constituents alike.
The Commission instituted the "Cap-tain David H. Hart Award" in 1991 to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the bet-terment of marine fisheries on the At-lantic coast. The award is named for the Commission's oldest and longest serving member, a Governor's Appoin-tee from New Jersey who was dedicated to the advancement and protection of marine fishery resources.
6 ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 1, January 2004
Species Profile: Atlantic Striped Bass (continued from page 5) spectively, but below the overfishing threshold of 0.38 under Amendment 5 or 0.41 under Amendment 6.
Overall, the Atlantic stocks of striped bass appear to be abundant in number, capable of producing strong incoming year classes and are being fished at lev-els within the bounds of the current fish-ery management plan. The population should be considered fully exploited.
Atlantic Coastal Management Considerations Before the Interstate Fishery Manage-ment Plan for Striped Bass (1981), states independently promulgated regulations (i.e. minimum size limits) to constrain the fishing mortality on the Atlantic coast striped bass population. Striped bass fisheries would not be where they are today, however, without the support of the 1984 Atlantic Striped Bass Con-servation Act. This Act, which was the precursor to the Atlantic Coastal Fish-eries Cooperative Management Act, pro-vided Atlantic coastal states with the nec-essary tools to cooperatively and more effectively conserve and manage striped bass stocks.
In an effort to regenerate the scarce ma-ture adult portion of the population, many of the jurisdictions implemented moratoria in the mid-1980s to protect the 1982 and subsequent year classes.
As a result of Amendments 4's stringent management program, the Commission declared Atlantic coastal striped *bass stocks fully recovered in 1995.
Since Amendment 4, the foundation of the striped bass management program has been to maintain harvest below a target fishing mortality rate (F). While Amendment 6 modifies the F targets and thresholds, it also introduces a new set of biological reference points to more effectively monitor the status of the population (Figure 4). On an annual ba-sis, the female spawning stock biomass will be monitored to ensure this por-tion of the population remains above the threshold of 30.8 million pounds to avoid an overfished status. These new reference points, as well as new man-agement triggers, enable the Manage-ment Board to be more responsive to changes in the stock.
Figure 4. Amendment 6 Control Rule The Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle-Roanoke regulatory programs differ from the coastal migratory stock because these programs are predicated on a more conservative Ftarget than the coastal mi-gratory stock. The independent Ftarget allows these jurisdictions to implement separate seasons, harvest caps, and size and bag limits as long as they remain under that target.
While the NOAA Fisheries continues to implement a ban on the possession and harvest of striped bass in the exclusive FISG MORTALITY RATE FEMALE SPAWNING TARGET F = 0.30*
38.6 million pounds
<THRESHOLD F = 0.41 30.9 million pounds
- The target fishing mortality rate for the Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle-Roanoke stock is F=0.27 In addition to the control rule, Amend-ment 6 phases in new regulations for both the commercial and recreational fisheries. Beginning in 2003, the coastal commercial quota for striped bass was restored to the state's historical aver-age landings during the 1972-1979 base period, a 43 percent increase from the 2002 coastal commercial quotas. As of January 1, 2004, all states are required to implement a two fish recreational bag limit with a minimum size limit of 28 inches, ex-cept for the Chesapeake Bay fisheries, Albemarle-Roanoke fisheries, and states with approved conservation equivalency proposals.
economic zone (3-200 miles offshore),
Amendment 6 includes a recommenda-tion to the Secretary of Commerce to consider reopening the EEZ to a con-trolled striped bass fishery. NOAA Fish-eries has initiated the rulemaking pro-cess and is considering the Commission's recommendation.
Over the next year, the states will fully implement Amendment 6 and begin to monitor the effects of its regulations on the stock. For more information, please contact Megan Gamble, Atlantic Striped Bass Fishery Management Plan Coordi-
- nator, at (202)289-6400 or
<mgamble@asmfc.org>.
Gene Kray with a keeper.
ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 1,January 2004 7
ASMFC Releases Atlantic Herring PID for Public Comment States Schedule Hearings for February The Commission's Atlantic Herring Section approved the Public Information Document (PID) for Amendment 2 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for public review and comment. Initially developed in response to increased effort in the inshore Gulf of Maine component of the stock complex, the PID has expanded to address the implementation of a limited access program for all management areas. Additionally, the PlD identifies Maxiiuulnt sustainable yield, manage-ment area boundaries, spawning area restrictions, internal waters processing, fixed gear fisheries, as well as several other issues for public comment. While many of the PID topics arc similar to the New England Fishery Management Council's (NEFMC) scoping document for Amendment I to the federal FMP, the Commission is specifically seeking input on the management of Atlantic herring in state waters.
Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey have scheduled the dates and times of their public meetings. The specific details follow.
Maine Department of Marine Resources February 9, 2004; 6'00PA1 Samoset Resort, Penobscot Bay Room 220 Warrenton Avenue Rockport, Maine
Contact:
Lewis Flagg at (207)624-6548 February 11, 2004; 6.00PMJ Scarborough Town Hall Council Chambers B 259 US Route 1 Scarborough, Maine
Contact:
Lewis Flagg at (207)624-6548 February 12, 2004; 6.0OPAI Perry Municipal Building US Route I Perry, Maine
Contact:
Lewis Flagg at (207)624-6548 New Hampshire Fish & Game February 17, 2004; 7-00 PMf Urban Forestry Center 45 Elwyn Road Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Contact:
John Nelson at (603)868-1095 Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Februaty 18, 2004; PM Holiday Inn -
Dedham 55 Ariadne Road Dedham, Massachusetts
Contact:
Melanie Griffin at (617)626-1528 Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife February 12, 2004; 6.00 PM URI Narragansett Bay Campus Corless Auditorium South Ferry Road Narragansett, Rhode Island
Contact:
Najih Lazar at (401)423-1926
. Connecticut Dept. of Environmental Protection February 11, 2004; 7.00 PM DEP Marine Headquarters 333 Ferry Road Old Lyme, Connecticut
Contact:
David Simpson at (860)434-6043 New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife February 10, 2004; 7:00 PM Nacote Creek Research Station Mile Post 51, Route 9 Port Republic, New Jersey
Contact:
Bruce Freeman at (609)633-2408 In addition to approving the PID in December 2003, the Section approved a timeline that brings the Commission's process in sync with the development of the NEFMC's Amendment 1 to the federal FMP. The PID is the first step in the amendment development process. Following the public comment period, the Section will begin drafting Amendment 2.
Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the PID, either through attending public_
hearings or providing written comments. Copies can be obtained by contacting the Commission at (202) 289-6400 or via the Commission's website at www.asmfc.org under Public Input. While public comment will be accepted throughout the entire process, comments on the PID will be accepted until March 5, 2004. All comments should be forwarded to Megan Gamble, Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, 1444 Eye Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at <mgamble@asmfc.org>.
For more information, please contact Megan Gamble at (202) 289-6400.
8 ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 1, January 2004
American Lobster Board Approves Addendum IV The Commission's American Lobster Management Board approved Adden-dum IV to Amendment 3 to the Inter-state Fishery Management Plan. The Addendum establishes management measures for Areas 2 and 3' and modi-fies vent sizes and the interpretation of the most restrictive rule for multi-area fishermen.
In addition, the Board ap-proved Massachusetts' request for con-servation equivalency in the Outer Cape Management Area.
Addendum IV was initiated to address significant stock declines in lobsters of all sizes in Area 2 (waters off of Rhode Island and Massachusetts). The manage-ment measures include gauge size in-creases and effort control, neither of which will be implemented until 2005.
Gauge sizes will increase incrementally from 2005 to 2008, ending at a mini-mum gauge size of 3 1/2". The Board approved a proposal by the Area 2 Lob-ster Conservation Management Team (LCMT) designed to decrease the num-ber of traps in Area 2 over time through a trap transferability program.
Reduc-tions would occur through passive re-movals when permits and traps are trans-fetrred.
For offshore waters (Area 3), the Board approved a LCMT proposal for a new trap transferability program and a 10%
trap reduction by 2008. This program would allow Area 3 fishermen to trans-fer traps to other Area 3 fishermen. The Board discussed the overall trap cap for the program and decided to initiate Ad-dendum V to address the issue.
Addendum IV includes a vent size in-crease for circular vents associated with the 3 3/8" minimum gauge size to 2 5/
8" as well as specifying the required vent sizes for minimum gauge sizes of 3 1/
2". These vent size changes are based on a vent selectivity study by the Mas-sachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.
In other business, the Board approved a Massachusetts conservation equivalency proposal for the Outer Cape Cod Man-agement Area.
Instead of allocating traps as outlined in Addendum III, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fish-eries will be using 1999 through 2001 as qualifying years to identify potential participants and will allocate traps based on fishing performance during 2000 -
2002, with pounds as the qualifying parameter.
The Commission will be conducting a peer reviewed stock assessment for American lobster in 2004. This stock assessment will consider new modeling approaches and input parameters such as natural mortality.
Copies of the Addendum will be avail-able injanuary and can be obtained from the Commission's website at wwvw.asmfc.org on the American lobster page. For more information, please con-tact Carrie Selberg, FMP Coordinator, at <cselberg@asmfc.org.
Fourth Long Island Sound Lobster Health Symposium Postponed The Fourth Long Island Sound Lobster Health Symposium, previously sched-uled for May 3 at SUNY Stony Brook, has been postponed to late summer (date to be announced).
Anyone wishing more infoimation should contact Nancy Balcom, with the Connecticut Sea Grant Extension
- Program, at nancy.balcom@uconn.edu or (860) 405-9127 (phone).
ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 1, January 2004 9
ASMFC & MAFMC Approve 2004 Recreational Measures for Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass In December, the Atlantic States Ma-rine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council approved the following recreational management measures for the 2004 summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass recreational fisheries. These mea-sures are intended to restrict catch to meet recreational harvest limits.
The 2004 scup recreational fishery will be managed under separate regulations for state and federal waters (see above table for federal regulations). The Board approved conservation equivalency for scup fisheries occurring in state waters; management measures will be developed in early 2004. The Council approved the development of a framework to period's total quota (5.56 million pounds) is projected to be met. This action is intended to prevent an early closure of the fishery, thereby, allowing commercial fishermen the opportunity to land scup throughout the entire quota period.
Industry members have voiced concern that this trip limit may not address the potential discard prob-lem if the fishery
- 1....
... I, A,....
Species Recreational Harvest Minimum Fish Size Possession Limit Open Season LimitI Summer Flounder 11.21 million lbs state-specific state-specific state-specific Scup 3.99 million lbs 10" (EEZ)*
50 fish (EEZ)*
Jan 1 - Feb 29 1
1 Aug 15 - Nov 30*
Black Sea Bass 4.01 million lbs 12" 25 fish Jan 1 - Sept 7 1 __
Sept 22 - Nov 30 c oses ear ty.
suc,RI the Commission will begin develop-ing an addendum in 2004 to address 2005 Scup Winter I Period trip limits.
- For state waters, the Board will develop a conservation equivalency system for scup in The Commission and Council adopted conservation equivalency for the 2004 summer flounder fishery, requiring the states to develop state-specific manage-mcnt measures (i.e., possession limits.
size limits, and seasons). The states will develop management proposals and sub-mit them to the Commission for ap-proval in early 2004.
implement conservation equivalency for scup, allowing for consistent state/fed-eral management.
'['he Commission established a 15,000-pound weekly trip limit for the 2004 Scup Winter I Period (January 1-April 30). Trip limits will drop to 1,000 pounds per week once 80 percent of the 2004.
The Council will be forwarding its recommendations to NOAA Fisheries for final approval. The Commission's ac-tions are final. For more information, please contact Toni Kerns, Fisheries Management Plan Coordinator, at (202)289-6400 or <rkerns@asmfc.org>.
ASMFC Summer Flounder Board Approves Addendum VIii Recreational Repayments Omitted from Addendum On December 15, the Commission's Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board decided to not implement the payback provision of Addendum VIII. This provision would have required states that exceeded their annual summer flounder recreational harvest limit to deduct overages from the following year's quota. While the Board did not take action to address the prob-lem of recreational overages at this time, it committed to working with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council on a future amendment to address the issue.
The Board approved one provision of Addendum VIII, establishing 1998 as the base year for calculating the propor-tion of state-specific recreational alloca-tions. This action was based on the rec-ommendation of the Technical Commit-tee that 1998 is the most appropriate base year, since it was the last year regu-lations among the various states were consistent.
While the Atlantic States Marine Fish-eries Commission and the Mid-Atlan-tic Fishery Management Council man-age summer flounder jointly, the Board's actions regarding Addendum VIII are taken exclusively uinder the states' man-agement authority. Addendum VIII will be available on the Commission's web site in January.
For more information please contact, Toni Kerns, Fisheries Management Plan Coordinator, at <tkerns@asmfc.org>.
10 ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 1, January 2004
ASMFC Spiny Dogfish Board Approves 4 Million Pound Quota for 2004 - 2005 Fishing Year The Commission's Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Shark Management Board ap-proved specifications for the 2004-2005 fishing year, setting a 4 million pound annual quota with trip limits of 600 pounds in quota period one (May 1 to October 31) and 300 pounds in quota period two (November I to April 30).
These actions were taken in response to the results and recommendations of the 3 7"h Stock Assessment Review Committee and the Commission's Spiny Dogfish 'Ikchnical Committee.
The 2003 peer reviewed stock assessment report indicates a seventh year of the lowest pup biomass in the time series, a truncated size range (i.e., low pup and reproductive female biomass), and no progress towards rebuilding the population to the female spawning stock biomass target. Using the constant fishing mortality rate of 0.03 and ignoring the low recruitment over the last seven years, the projections indicate the stock will recover in 23 years. While discard mortality is projected to be 10.5 million pounds, the Board did not have enough scientific evidence that a higher quota would change discards into landings without increasing the mortality on the stock.
The federal specifications for the spiny dogfish fishery are still to be determined. The Mid-Atlan-tic and New England Fishery Management Councils recom-mended to the Secretary of Com-merce a 1,500 pound trip limit and quotas for the 2004-2005 fishing year of 4 million pounds and 4.4 million pounds, respec-tively. The Secretary will set the federal specifications prior to the start of the fishing year on May 1, 2004.
The Board will next meet in the fall of 2004 to set the annual specifications for the 2005-2006 fishing year, as required by the Interstate Fishery Manage-ment Plan. For more information, please contact Megan Gamble, Spiny Dog-fish Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at (202)289-6400 or
<mgamble@asmfc.org>.
February Technical Commttee Week~
February 0 0:
6,04 Lord ~Baltinre bRadisson Hot~el 20 West Balim'o~re Strre
~Baltimore, Marylaffd (4 10) 539-8~400~
2004 Technical Committee Meeting Weeks Scheduled In 2003, the Commission piloted two Technical Committee Meeting Weeks with the hope of reducing the number of travel days for members of the tech-nical support groups, as well as travel costs for the Commission. Given the fa-vorable review of the 2003 pilot, the Commission has decided to implement four Technical Committee Meeting Weeks in 2004.
The schedule for these meetings fol-low:
February 2 - 6, Baltimore MD April 12 - 16, location to be determined (TBD)
June 21 - 25, location TBD September 20 - 24, location TBD To help members improve the efficiency of their meetings, meeting management train-ing seminars will be periodically conducted throughout 2004. All members are encour-aged to attend these seminars.
For more information, please contact Dr. Lisa Kline or Robert Beal at (202)289-6400.
ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 1, January 2004 11 ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 1, January 2004 I1I
A CCL;S P tQood Datq Quad Decisions The ACCSP Announces 2004 Funding Increased Proposals and Stagnant Budget Make Funding Decisions Difficult The Coordinating Council of the Atlan-tic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Pro-gram (ACCSP), a state and federal part-nership for marine fisheries statistics, has allocated $3.5 million to its state and federal partners for new and ongoing projects to improve fisheries-dependent data in 2004.
For the first time, the ACCSP's partner agencies requested more than twice the Program's total annual budget. Given the increased readiness to implement commercial trip reporting in the North-east and the relatively stignant ACCSP budget, the Coordinating Council was unable to fund several quality proposals for dockside biological sampling and at-sea bycatch sampling.
$1,176,828 was allotted for improving commercial catch and effort data collec-tion and vessel/fisherman/dealer regis-tration systems. This sum will support ACCSP-standard trip-level reporting and electronic reporting by dealers through the Standard Atlantic Fisheries Information System (SAFIS) by Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, Massachusetts Di-.
vision of Marine Fisheries (DMF),
Rhode Island Department of Environ-mental Management, Maryland De-partment of Natural Resources (DNR),
and Virginia Marine Resources Coin-mission.
New England and Mid-Atlantic state partners will continue their implemen-tation of SAFIS, a web-based system to collect real-time landings data. NOAA Fisheries Northeast Regional Office (NERO) and Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), and the ACCSP staff are de-veloping an integrated state-federal sys-cem that eliminates duplicative report-ing, provides better real-time access to information, provides an extremely cost-effective data collection and data entry application for multiple partners, and allows the fishing industry access to its own data while protecting confi-dentiality.
Some ACCSP partners that are already collecting commercial data to the Program's standards requested funds to upgrade and maintain infrastructure.
Funding was provided to NERO and NEFSC for travel costs to ACCSP and SAFIS implementation meetings with various state partners. Georgia DNR will receive funds for implementing elec-tronic reporting using a commercial soft-ware product and for a onetime redevel-opment of their commercial fishing li-cense and boat registration system.
Partners will receive a total of $329,929 for biological sampling projects, pro-viding critical management informa-tion on important Atlantic coast fish-eries. A cooperative project to sample the snapper-grouper complex and coastal pelagic fish by North Carolina DMF, South Carolina DNR, Georgia DNR, and NOAA Fisheries Southeast Fisheries Science Center expands on similar work conducted by Noith Carolina with a 2003 ACCSP grant.
The ACCSP Coordinating Council ap-proved continuation of work conducted by the Maine DMR that samples At-lantic herring and other Northeast fish-eries from Maine through New Jersey.
NOAA Fisheries NERO and NEFSC roving sampler project will continue and further improve sampling of fish-eries with traditionally low levels of biological samples. important for stock assessments and management of ground-fish, spiny dogfish and other Northeast fisheries.
The ACCSP awarded a total of $663,924 to NOAA Fisheries for continuing im-provements of recreational and for-hire fisheries data collection on the Atlantic coast. These funds will support increased sampling of private boat and shore fish-ing from Maine to Virginia through the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey and increased sampling of char-ter and head boats on the Atlantic coast through the new for-hire survey, which began on the Atlantic coast in 2003.
Remnaining funds were allocated to the administrative grant, which supports travel for partners participating in con-tinued develo'pment of program stan-dards, ACCSP administration and per-sonnel, and operation of the ACCSP data warehouse and SAFIS. Actual project proposals and specific funding amounts will soon be available at www.accsp.org.
12 ASMUC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue ijanuary 2004 12 ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue.1, January 2004
Megan Gamble Awarded ASMFC Employee of the Quarter Megan Gamble is truly an exceptional employee. Since joining the Commis-sion two and a half years ago, she has become a vital part of its interstate fish-eries management program, coordinat-ing the development of fishery manage-ment programs for several contentious Atlantic coast fisheries. Her exacting eye for derail and thoroughness, her ability to be proactive and to anticipate poten-"
tial problems, and her dedication to a job well done have all contributed to her success at the Commission and to the betterment of Atlantic coast fisher-ies.. It is these traits for which Megan was recently named the Commission's newest Employee of the Quarter (Janu-ary - March 2004).
Megan personifies the qualities for which the award was developed -- team-work, initiative, responsibility, quality of work, positive attitude and results.
She willingly assists members as they tackle difficult projects. During staff transitions, she has provided guidance and support to the new coordinators and taken on additional responsibilities, in-cluding the coordination of striped bass while in the middlc of Amendment 6 development. Her work products are or-ganized and complete, clearly framing issues and serving to optimize Commissioner's valuable time.
In less than three years, her efforts have resulted in an updated striped bass man-agement program, a new spiny dogfish management program, and a cbmpre-hensive plan for the next update of At-lantic Herring.
All of this was accom-plished with a cheerful, optimistic, and energetic attitude. Her outstanding teamwork and exceptional professional competence have increased the overall productivity and quality of work of the ISFM P, and promoted the Commission's vision of "health)y, self-sustaining popu-lations for all Atlantic coast fish species, or successful restoration well in progress, by the year 2015."
Megan received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Environmenta'l Science from Boston University and a Masters of Arts in Marine Affairs from the Uni-versity of Rhode Island: Her masters the-sis was on "An assessment of social im-pacts analyses in US regional fishery management plans."
As Employee of the Quarter, Megan re-ceived a $500 cash award, an engraved pewter pencil cup, and a letter of ap-preciation for her personnel record.
In addition, Megan's name will be enr graved on the Employee of Quarter Plaque displayed in the Commission's lobby, alongside those of Edith Carr, Carrie Selberg, Geoffrey White and Kristina Ballard. Congratulations, Meg!
The Commission extends a special thanks to New York Commissioners, Senator Owen Johnson (and his proxy Brian Culhane), Gordon Colvin and Pat Augustine for a wonderful Annual Meeting!
ASMFC Chair John 1. Nelson Jr. congratulates Senator Owen Johnson of New York on his award for Duistinguished Meritorius Serrvice.
ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 1, January2004 13 ASMFC Fisheries Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 1, January 2004 13
ASMFC Launches New Website www.asmfc.org The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission announces the launch of its new website at www.asmfc.org. Come visit our new species, fisheries research and habitat pages; participate in discus-sion forums on fisheries management, law enfircement and protected species; provide your input on proposed man-agement measures; or just learn more about the Commission.
"We are excited about our new site, de-signed to be user friendly, informative and accessible to all our stakeholders,"
states John V. O'Shea, ASMFC Execu-tive Director. "The new website reflects a commitment by the Commission in our new Strategic Plan to empower stakeholders to become active partici-pants in the Commission's programs. It provides the public greater access to our management process and activities. It also provides the public tools to mnea-sure the Commission's progress in meet-ing our stewardship responsibilities. The new discussion forums offer additional opportunities to learn more about the Commission, while exchanging views in an open and constructive way."
New websitc features include:
Species-specificpages, with links to fishery management plans and ad-denda, stock assessment reports, and meeting summaries and pro-ceedings; Expanded pages on the Commission's science, research and statistics. activities, including Multispecies assessments, socioeconomics, power plants, aquaculture and fisheries inde-pendent data collection and man-agement; Revised habitat pages with links to species-specific habitat fact sheets and fishery management plan information; Contact information and com-mittee lists for all relevant boards, committees and advisory panels; and Discussion forums providing an informal way for stakeholders and constituents to dialogue with Commission staff, ASMFC Com-missioners and other interested parties on issues related to Atlan-tic coastal fisheries conservation and management.
To access the web site go to www.asmfc.org. If the site is already bookmarked on your computer, press control/refresh to load the new version.
For more information, please contact Tina Berger, Public Affairs Specialist, at (202)289-6400.
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission 1444 Eye Street, N.W, 6th Floor Washington D.C. 20005 Return Service Requested