The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisory Panel will hold a public meeting, jointly with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisory Panels on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

The meeting will be held via webinar with a telephone-only connection option. 

Webinar Link: http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/sfsbsb2

Call In number: 800-832-0736, room number 4472108

Agenda

The purpose of the meeting is to discuss recreational management measures for the upcoming fishing year.

• 1:30 - 2:30 p.m. Summer flounder recreational management measures
• 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. Scup recreational management measures 
• 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Black sea bass recreational management measures 

Special Accommodations

These meetings are physically accessible to people with disabilities.  Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aid should be directed to M. Jan Saunders, (302) 526-5251, at least 5 days prior to the meeting date.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will conduct a question and answer session via webinar on Friday, October 03, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. with NMFS’s Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP). The purpose of the meeting is to brief the Council on ongoing MRIP efforts to improve recreational data collection and to provide a forum for Council Members to ask questions regarding MRIP.  NMFS MRIP staff will be on the webinar to respond to questions.  There will also be an opportunity for questions and comments from any public attendees.  The meeting will be informational in nature.

Webinar Link: http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/mrip-qa/.

When the webinar begins, once attendees click/navigate to this link audio connection details are provided.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee will meet via webinar on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 from 9 AM to 12 PM to consider developing alternative management measures for the 2015 fishing year based on the recommendations of the Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC).  

Webinar link:  http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/dogfish/

Spiny dogfish management measures for the 2015 fishing year were established via rulemaking effective August 8, 2014.  The Monitoring Committee will review and recommend existing or new management measures for the 2015 fishing year that will ensure that ABC for 2015 will not be exceeded. 

In addition the webinar, a listening station will be available at the Council Address below. 

Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council
800 N. State Street, Suite 201
Dover, DE 19901
telephone:  (302) 674-2331.  

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Spiny Dogfish Advisory Panel will meet via webinar on September 29th, 2014 from 9 AM to 12 PM to develop comments relative to the 2015 spiny dogfish fishing year. Spiny dogfish management measures for the 2015 fishing year were established via rulemaking effective August 8, 2014.  Comments will be reviewed by the Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee and the Council in their consideration of alternative management measures for the 2015 fishing year.  

Webinar link:  http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/dogfish/

A listening station will also be available at the Council's office at 800 N. State Street, Suite 201, Dover, DE 19901.

The most recent Observer Funding Omnibus Amendment PDT/FMAT Meeting was held on August 5 at NMFS' Gloucester, MA office. 

Morning Recording                    Afternoon Recording

Agenda

• 9:30 Introductions, review agenda - Melissa 
• 9:45 Omnibus timeline and schedule - Melissa
• 10:00 Review of EA outline and document structure - Carrie
• 10:20 Prioritization process schedule and refinement - Melissa
• 11:00 Break
• 11:10 Prioritization criteria and refinement – Melissa/Wendy
• 12:00 Public comment period
• 12:30 Lunch
• 1:30 Review incidental catch analysis for midwater trawl gear – Kiersten
• 3:00 Public comment period
• 3:30 Break
• 3:40 Other updates and plan for next PDT meeting and Observer Committee meeting
• 4:00 Adjourn

Documents

• Draft Action Plan
• Draft outline of the omnibus EA
• Draft Prioritization Timeline Spreadsheet
  • Spreadsheet Notes
• Overview of MAFMC Research Prioritization Process

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Bluefish Advisory Panel (AP) will meet via webinar on Friday, July 11, from 9 AM to 12 PM. The primary purpose of the meeting is to develop a Fishery Performance Report for the Bluefish fishery in preparation for the Council and the Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee review of 2015 specifications. Click here to view last year's Bluefish Fishery Performance Report. 

Webinar Link: http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/bluefish/

The meeting is open to the public and is physically accessible to people with disabilities.  Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to M. Jan Saunders at the Mid-Atlantic Council Office (302) 526-5251 at least five days prior to the meeting date.

For additional information about the meeting, contact Jim Armstrong, bluefish fishery management plan coordinator - (302) 526-5250, jarmstrong@mafmc.org. 

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (MAFMC) Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisory Panel (AP) will meet jointly with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisory Panels on July 1, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The meeting has two primary purposes, as described below:

1.  The AP will review fishery performance and create AP Fishery Performance Reports for Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass. Specifications for the 2015 fishing year, including catch and landings limits and commercial management measures, have already been implemented as part of previously set multi-year specifications. Specifications for 2015 will be reviewed by the MAFMC and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASFMC) to determine whether any changes are warranted. The Advisory Panel's Fishery Performance Reports for each species will be provided to the MAFMC and the ASMFC prior to their review of 2015 specifications.
2. The AP will be asked to provide input on the range of issues to be considered in a recently-initiated amendment to the MAFMC's Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan. This amendment will relate to summer flounder management goals and strategies. More information can be found at: http://www.mafmc.org/actions/summer-flounder-amendment/.

Background Documents

• 2014 Fishery Information Documents: 
  • Summer Flounder
  • Scup
  • Black Sea Bass

• Draft Scoping Document: Comprehensive Summer Flounder Amendment

• 2013 Fishery Performance Report: Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass

Contact

For more information, contact Kiley Dancy, summer flounder scup and black sea bass FMP coordinator - (302) 526-5257, kdancy@mafmc.org.

Special Accommodations

The meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities.  Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to M. Jan Saunders at the Mid-Atlantic Council Office (302) 526-5251 at least five days prior to the meeting date.