Article by Larry Jock
ASMFC Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board Takes No Action Regarding Projected Recreational Overages
The Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board
met via a web-based conference call on Tuesday and decided to take no action regarding potential overage in the 2009 recreational fisheries for black sea bass, scup, and summer flounder. The recreational fishing community should be prepared for considerably reduced fishing opportunities next year due to anticipated large overages in the 2009 harvest of scup and black sea bass.
“The take away from yesterday’s meeting was the clear message from the Board that 2010 recreational size limits, possession limits, and/or seasons will be significantly restricted for the 2010 recreational fisheries,” stated Board Chair A.C. Carpenter.
Last month the Commission’s Interstate Fisheries Management Program Policy Board had unanimously directed the Board to take action prior to September 1. The Board was presented with recreational harvest projections for black sea bass that indicated the harvest target could be exceeded by 86% to 165%. Based on these projections, the Board considered and rejected a motion to close the black sea bass recreational fishery on September 30, 2009. The motion failed with four votes in favor (Virginia, North Carolina, National Marine Fisheries Service, and US Fish and Wildlife Service) and seven votes in opposition (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland).
For more information, contact Toni Kerns, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator for Management, at (202)289-6400 or
ASMFC Striped Bass Board Approves Draft Addendum II for Public Comment
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board has approved for public comment Draft Addendum II to Amendment 6 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass. The Draft Addendum proposes to allow unused coastal commercial quota of striped bass to be rolled over from one year to the next.
Options include state eligibility and the amount of unused quota that may be carried over. The Draft Addendum also outlines procedures for implementing and monitoring quota roll over. Under the Draft Addendum, roll over would be prohibited if the fishing mortality rate exceeds the Plan's target or if the spawning stock biomass is below the Plan's target.
The existing management program addresses coastal commercial quota overages, requiring payback of an overage in the subsequent year, yet it is silent on coastal commercial quota underages. Since the implementation of Amendment 6, coastal commercial quota underages have been more common than overages. While avoiding a quota overage signifies managerial success, a quota underage represents lost opportunity to commercial harvesters. Quota underages may result from changes in fish abundance or distribution, environmental factors, fishing effort, and regulatory measures.
The Draft Addendum presents a hypothetical situation to analyze the potential effect of allowing roll over. Had all unused coastal commercial quota in 2003 through 2007 been rolled over and then harvested in 2004 through 2008, the average increase in the total coastal commercial quota would have been less than 15 percent and the average increase in the total coastwide harvest less than two percent. An analysis by the Technical Committee indicated that a 15 percent increase in the coastal commercial quotas would have a limited effect on the fishing mortality rate, and that large fluctuations in recreational harvest, which is not regulated by quota, present a greater level of risk of exceeding the fishing mortality target or threshold. However, the Technical Committee also noted that the potential effect of roll over on the stock increases if quota underages occur due to population decline. Other concerns included the two to three year lag in reporting the fishing mortality rate estimate for any given year and that allowing roll over could provide an incentive to under report harvest.
Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on Draft Addendum II, either through attending public hearings or providing written comments (a subsequent press release on scheduled public hearings will be released once the hearings have been finalized). Copies of Draft Addendum II will be available by August 28 and can be obtained by contacting the Commission at (202) 289-6400 or via the Commission's website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on October 8, 2009 and should be forwarded to Nichola Meserve, FMP Coordinator, 1444 'Eye' Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at [email protected] (Subject line: Draft Addendum II).
Cape Henlopen State Park’s Point Beach Reopened to Public
The Division of Parks and Recreation announced that Cape Henlopen State Park’s Point Beach reopened on Tuesday, Sept. 1. The oceanside beach is open to pedestrians and surf fishing vehicles, while the bayside beach will remain closed until Oct. 1, for use by shorebirds migrating south for the winter.
Shorebirds return to the Delaware coast in March and build their nests in the sand between the dunes and the water. Point Beach closed on March 1 to help protect piping plovers, oystercatchers, least terns and other threatened and endangered beachnesters and migratory shorebirds. The beach is reopened at the end of the summer when nesting season is over.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s divisions of Parks and Recreation, Fish and Wildlife, and Soil and Water Conservation have been working together since 1990 to implement a management plan to halt the decline of beachnester and migratory shorebird populations. The Point has been closed annually since 1993.
