Article by Larry Jock
States Set Dates for Public Comments on Fishery Management Plans
The States of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia have scheduled hearings to gather public comment on various addendums to Interstate Fishery Management Plans for various species. The dates, times, and locations of the scheduled meetings follow.
Delaware
Shad, Menhaden, Striped Bass
October 7, 2009; 6:00 PM
Richardson and Robbins Building Auditorium
89 Kings Highway
Dover, DE
Contact: Craig Shirey
302-739-9914
Virginia
Shad, Striped Bass, Scup, Sea Bass & Weakfish
Sept. 28, 2009; 6:00 PM
Menhaden
Sept. 29, 2009; 6:00 PM
2600 Washington Avenue
4th Floor
Newport News, VA
Contact: Jack Travelstead
757-247-2247
Maryland
Shad, Menhaden, Striped Bass
October 6, 2009; 5:30 PM
Weakfish, Scup, Sea Bass
October 13, 2009; 5:30 PM
Tawes Building
C1 Conference Room
580 Taylor Avenue
Annapolis, MD
Contact: Alexei Sharov
410-260-8288
Draft Addendum IV of the menhaden plan proposes extending the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery harvest cap, established through Addendum III, for an additional three years (2011 - 2013). Under the proposed Addendum, the Board would annually review measures to determine if they are appropriately given the most recent information available about the stock and fishery.
Addendum III established the current annual cap of 109,020 metric tons on reduction fishery harvests in Chesapeake Bay as a precautionary measure while research was conducted to address the question of menhaden abundance in the Bay. The cap has been in place since 2006 and will extend through 2010. Harvest for reduction purposes is prohibited in the Chesapeake Bay when 100 percent of the cap is landed. Over-harvest in any given year would be deducted from the next year's quota. Addendum III also includes a provision allowing under-harvest in one year to be credited only to the following year’s cap, not to exceed 122,740 metric tons. Since Addendum III was implemented, reduction landings of menhaden from Chesapeake Bay has not exceeded the cap.
Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on Draft Addendum IV, by attending public hearings or providing written comments. Copies of Draft Addendum IV 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 9, 2009 and should be forwarded to Braddock Spear, Senior FMP Coordinator for Policy, 1444 'Eye' Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at [email protected] (Subject line: Draft Addendum IV).
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The Draft Addendum for the weakfish plan will propose a range of options to reduce fishing mortality, including complete harvest moratoria and limited bycatch only fisheries. It was developed in response to the findings of the 2009 weakfish stock assessment which shows weakfish stocks at an all time low and current fishery removals unsustainable under existing stock conditions. Specifically, the assessment indicated that weakfish abundance has declined markedly, total mortality is high, non-fishing mortality has recently increased, and the stock is currently in a depleted state. The assessment report was reviewed and approved for management use by an independent panel of fisheries scientists.
Copies of Draft Addendum IV will be available shortly after September 28th via the Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News. Public comment will be accepted until late October (final deadline to be set upon the Draft Addendum's release) and should be forwarded to Nichola Meserve, FMP Coordinator, 1444 'Eye' Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at
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The Draft Amendment for the shad plan proposes modification to current coastwide commercial and recreational fisheries management measures. Recreational management options include reducing harvest, implementing a licensing or permitting program, closing fisheries with exceptions for fisheries with a sustainable system, allowing a catch and release fishery only, and a coastwide moratorium. The Draft Amendment also proposes increased monitoring measures.
Copies of Draft Amendment are available via the Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM EST on October 22, 2009 and should be forwarded to Kate Taylor, FMP Coordinator, 1444 ‘Eye’ Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at [email protected] (Subject line: Draft Amendment 3).
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Draft Addendum XX of the sea bass and scup plans proposes changes to the transfer provisions for the commercial fisheries for both black sea bass and scup summer period (May 1-October 31) managed under the Commission’s plans. The current FMP does not provide adequate guidance for Commission-only state-by-state quota management. As a practical matter, states routinely under harvest or slightly overharvest their state-specific allocations due to delays in reporting, inconsistencies in the data collection processes, unanticipated changes in catch rates, and implementation delays in trip limit changes or fishery closures. The FMP requires that each state deduct overages from the following year’s quota when they occur. The Draft Addendum proposes a process to reconcile quotas to address states' unintended minor overages.
The Draft Addendum proposes to establish clear policies and administrative protocols to guide the allocation of transfers from states with underages to states with overages. It also proposes to automatically reconcile a state’s overage in its entirety in a year where the coastwide quota or fishing period (e.g., scup summer period) quota was not exceeded. The proposed options would allow Commission staff to streamline and coordinate the transfers of quota as well as allow for quota transfers to reconcile overages after year’s end.
Copies of Draft Addendum XX are available via the Commission's website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on October 9, 2009 and should be forwarded to Toni Kerns, Senior FMP Coordinator for Management, 1444 'Eye' Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at [email protected] (Subject line: Draft Addendum XX).
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Draft Addendum II of the striped bass plan 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.
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. 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.
Copies of Draft Addendum II are available via the Commission's website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on October 16, 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: Striped Bass Draft Addendum II).
