Upcoming Council Meetings: August 6, 2020 and August 10-13, 2020

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC or Council) has two upcoming meetings in August. Both meetings will be conducted by webinar.

August 6, 2020 – ASMFC Summer 2020 Meeting

On Thursday, August 6, the Council will meet jointly with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board and Bluefish Management Board. This joint meeting will be held on the last day of the ASMFC’s Summer 2020 Meeting. Topics to be addressed include the Bluefish Allocation and Rebuilding Amendment, Black Sea Bass Commercial State Allocation Amendment, Recreational Reform Initiative, and Massachusetts 2020 Black Sea Bass Recreational Proposal. An agenda and other details related to the joint portion of the meeting are available at the link below. Additional details may be found on the ASMFC Summer 2020 Meeting page.

August 10-13, 2020 – MAFMC August 2020 Meeting

The Council will meet again via webinar on August 10-13, 2020. A portion of the meeting will be conducted jointly with the ASMFC’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board and Bluefish Management Board. During this meeting, the Council (and Board, as applicable) will develop or review specifications for butterfish, longfin squid, Atlantic mackerel, bluefish, summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, surfclams, and ocean quahogs. Other agenda items include development of a river herring and shad cap for the Atlantic mackerel fishery, review of commercial scup discards, review of the range of alternatives for the Summer Flounder/Scup/Black Sea Bass Commercial/Recreational Allocation Amendment, swearing in of new and reappointed Council members, and election of officers. An agenda is available at the link below. Briefing materials and webinar connection details will be posted as they become available.

Council Approves Changes to Management of Illex Fishery

Last week the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council approved an amendment that proposes modifications to the permitting and management of the Illex squid fishery. These changes are intended to both reduce excess capacity in the fishery and mitigate the rapid use of the quota seen in recent years. The amendment also revises the goals and objectives of the Mackerel, Squid, Butterfish (MSB) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). After considerable discussion and consideration of public comments, the Council selected preferred alternatives and adopted the amendment for Secretarial review and implementation. Below are summaries of the issues and the Council’s preferred alternatives.

Illex Permitting

In June 2017, the Council considered, but did not adopt, revisions to Illex squid permits as part of Amendment 20 to the MSB FMP. Since then, effort and landings have substantially increased, and the fishery closed early in 2017-2019 after harvesting the Illex squid quota. Given recent fishery performance, the Council initiated this amendment to evaluate whether permitted access to the Illex fishery should be modified based on present and historical participation, and/or other considerations. The amendment considered a range of permitting alternatives, including various time periods and thresholds for permit re-qualification and options for a tiered permitting system.

During last week’s meeting, the Council reviewed analyses and public comments and heard additional public testimony from fishery participants both in favor of, and opposed to, potential changes to Illex permitting. The Council ultimately voted to implement a tiered permitting system. The proposed tiers, qualification criteria, and trip limits are described in the table below.

 

Qualification Criteria

Trip Limit

Tier 1

Either:

  • Landed at least 500,000 pounds in one year between 1997 and 2013
    • OR
  • Purchased and installed a refrigerated seawater system, plate freezing system, or blast freezer between January 1, 2012 and August 2, 2013 and landed a minimum of 200,000 pounds of Illex in the 2013 fishing year

None

Tier 2

Landed at least 100,000 pounds in one year between 1997 and 2018

62,000 pounds

Tier 3

Landed at least 50,000 pounds in one year between 1997 and 2018

20,000 pounds

Under this tiered permitting system, of the 75 current limited access moratorium permits, it is estimated that 35 would qualify for Tier 1, 13 would qualify for Tier 2, 2 would qualify for Tier 3, and 25 would not qualify for any Tier. The Council acknowledged that this action would have positive and negative economic consequences for some fishery participants but ultimately concluded that the selected alternative best balanced the needs of historic participants, present participants, and dependent fishing communities.

Other Illex Management Measures

The Council also voted to require that Tier 1 permit holders obtain a baseline measurement of their vessel fish hold volume. These permit holders would then be subject to a 10% upgrade restriction. This measure is intended to help freeze the footprint of the fishery and avoid additional over-capitalization. The amendment would also clarify that daily catch reporting of Illex is required via Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) for vessels with limited access Illex permits.

Next Steps and Additional Information

The Council will submit this amendment to the Secretary of Commerce for approval and implementation. Updates will be posted on the Council’s website at http://www.mafmc.org/actions/illex-permitting-msb-goals-amendment. For additional information about this action, contact Jason Didden at jdidden@mafmc.org or (302) 526-5254.

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June 2020 Council Meeting Report

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council met via webinar June 16-18, 2020. Presentations, briefing materials, and webinar recordings are available on the meeting page.

Summary of Actions Taken and Issues Considered

During this meeting, the Council:

  • Reviewed scoping comments and provided input on draft alternatives for the Black Sea Bass Commercial State Allocation Amendment*

  • Received preliminary results of an updated summer flounder commercial/recreational allocation model*

  • Provided input on the range of alternatives to be considered in the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Commercial/Recreational Allocation Amendment*

  • Reviewed a draft outline of topics under consideration through the Recreational Reform Initiative and directed staff to determine which items could be addressed through a framework/addendum and which would require an amendment*

  • Revised the range of alternatives to be considered in the Bluefish Allocation and Rebuilding Amendment and directed the Fishery Management Action Team to incorporate alternatives that would allow states to have a minimum default allocation*

  • Adopted Illex squid specifications for 2021, including an Acceptable Biological Catch of 30,000 metric tons and a quota of 28,644 metric tons, and recommended additional measures to help avoid overages

  • Received four presentations on habitat-related updates and activities within the region

  • Reviewed a report on commercial landings of unmanaged species from Maine through North Carolina and commercial landings of the species managed through the Council’s Unmanaged Forage Omnibus Amendment

  • Approved changes to the Overfishing Limit Coefficient of Variation guidance document as recommended by the Scientific and Statistical Committee

  • Received an update on planning for a Research Set-Aside Workshop and discussed the feasibility of holding an in-person workshop in the fall

  • Directed staff to draft a letter expressing concern about the redeployment of observers and at-sea monitors on fishing vessels beginning July 1 during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

  • Reviewed several hybrid meeting options and agreed to continue meeting via webinar for the near term to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19

  • Reviewed Executive Order 13921 on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth and briefly discussed next steps for developing a response

* Items denoted with an asterisk (*) were undertaken during joint meetings with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board and Bluefish Management Board.