CFRF Offers Mid-Atlantic Fishermen Bycatch Avoidance Gear Modification Vouchers

The Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation is currently administering a voucher program for fishing vessel owners to obtain financial assistance to install one or both promising gear modifications onboard their vessels for use in small mesh fisheries (including squid, whiting, and scup) to avoid unwanted bycatch of winter flounder.  

ACCSP Seeks Fishing Industry's Input on Electronic Reporting

The Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP) has brought together fishermen, dealers, and fisheries managers to evaluate electronic reporting on the Atlantic coast. The first part of this project is a survey to collect attitudes and opinions from Atlantic coast fishermen and dealers about the current state of electronic reporting.

Council Seeks Public Input on Deep Sea Coral Protection

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council has scheduled two scoping hearings for the public to provide comments on Amendment 16 to the Atlantic mackerel, squid, and butterfish fishery management plan. 

Council Passes Hurricane Sandy Resolution

​During the most recent Council meeting, more than 40 members of the public turned out in person or online to ask questions and discuss the storm's impacts with Council members and National Marine Fisheries Service representatives. The next day, the Council unanimously approved a resolution of support for the federal fisheries disaster declaration in the Mid-Atlantic region following Hurricane Sandy (full text below).  The resolution was introduced by Chairman Rick Robins and was passed unanimously by the full Council.

Council Considers Black Sea Bass Overage and 2013 Management Measures

​At last week’s meeting in Baltimore, MD, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council considered a number of issues related to the recreational black sea bass fishery. The fishery closed on November 1 after preliminary landings estimates indicated that the harvest limit had been exceeded. This closure prompted concerns related to the black sea bass stock assessment and the current accountability measures that could result in a recreational fishery closure in 2014. 

Council Recommends Higher Butterfish Catch for Remainder of 2012

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Dover, DE – During a special meeting last week the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted to recommend that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) increase the acceptable biological catch (ABC) of butterfish for the remainder of 2012 to a total of 4,200 metric tons (mt). The recommendation was based on advice from the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC).

The proposed increase would have the most direct impact on participants in the longfin squid fishery. The Council has used a butterfish mortality cap to limit butterfish bycatch in the squid fishery since 2011. Under the existing ABC of 3,622 mt, the longfin squid fishery could be restricted toward the end of the year depending on butterfish catches.  It is hoped that the increase will allow the squid fishery to stay open later in the year, allowing the squid fishery to utilize the full squid quota if squid are abundant and they continue to work to minimize butterfish bycatch.

“Butterfish and squid are some of the Council’s most unpredictable fisheries, and the recommendations of the SSC and Council are reasonable given the relatively high abundances of both butterfish and longfin squid indicated by the most recent data,” said Council Chairman Rick Robins. “This action allows us to avoid an unnecessary closure that would create hardships for the industry and families that depend on these fisheries, without compromising our statutory obligation to prevent overfishing.” 

The impetus for an in-season adjustment was the Council’s June decision to increase the 2013 butterfish ABC to 8,400 mt.  This increase more than doubles the existing 2012 ABC of 3,622 mt. At the August meeting, the Council discussed whether an in-season ABC adjustment was also appropriate and decided to have the SSC reconsider the 2012 butterfish ABC. The SSC met via webinar on September 13 and recommended that the ABC be increased to 4,200 mt for 2012, noting that the increase appeared likely to have no impact on the risk of overfishing the butterfish stock. 

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New England Council adopts action alternatives in Amendment 3

At its September meeting in Plymouth, MA the New England Fishery Management Council voted to adopt four actions in Amendment 3:  1B Allow 3% of commercial quota to be set aside for RSA, 2B  Update essential fish habitat (EFH) definitions, 3B  Maintain management measures until replaced via rulemaking, 4B  Eliminate seasonal allocation of the quota.  The Mid-Atlantic Council will adopt action alternatives at its October meeting and the amendment will be effective May 1, 2013. 

Mid-Atlantic Council to Initiate Scup Amendment

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Last week the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted to initiate an amendment that could result in changes to catch allocations in the scup fishery. Under the current system, the commercial catch limit is set at 78% of the allowable catch, and the recreational harvest limit is set at 22%.  If passed, the amendment could shift allocation from the commercial industry to the recreational sector and may also change the distribution of the commercial allocation among seasonal fishing periods. 

The amendment was proposed in response to growing concerns about the current allocation system, which has not been revised since it was first established in 1996.  The fishery was managed under a rebuilding plan from 1999 until it was declared rebuilt in 2009.  During this ten-year period, commercial and recreational participants were restricted by low quotas and strict management measures to allow the stock to rebuild.  

As a result of these efforts, stock size has continued to increase, and the Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission were able to increase the 2012 catch limit to a level that was more than double the 2010 limit.  Despite these increases, the recreational community has continued to voice frustration that higher catch limits have not resulted in more liberalized recreational regulations. In addition, fishermen harvesting scup in the summer have indicated that they should have a higher allocation. 

“Prior to 2009, allocation concerns were typically associated with the low limits required under the rebuilding plan,” said Council Chairman Rick Robins. “We are now able to set higher harvest limits and quotas, and neither the recreational nor commercial sectors came close to exceeding their catch limits in 2011. However, our management partners at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and many of our constituents are still questioning whether the system that was established in 1996 is still appropriate for the fishery in 2012 and the future.”  

The Council began discussing strategies for evaluating scup allocations more than two years ago, but this is the first time the Council has voted to initiate an amendment to address the issue. The amendment development process will begin with a thorough biological, social, and economic analysis of the current system.

“One of the most prominent themes that we heard from all stakeholder groups during the Visioning Project was that they want the Council to make decisions using contemporary data,” said Chairman Robins. “Scup allocation is an issue that the fishery community feels strongly about, but it speaks to the broader importance of considering whether the regulations we have for all of our managed fisheries are still appropriate as socioeconomic and biological conditions change over time.”