September 2010 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 15.
2011 TALs for Summer Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass and Bluefish Continued from Page 13.
2011 fishing year. This action was consistent with the recommendations of the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) regarding acceptable biological catch (ABC). The Monitoring Committee (MC) recommend a slightly lower TAL of 28.93 million pounds to reduce the risk of overfishing in 2011 due to a strong retrospective pattern in recruitment in the past 3 years (meaning the model overestimates the number of age 0 fish coming into the population). The 2010 stock assessment update indicates a projected stock biomass for 2009 at approximately 89% of its rebuilding target.
For the 2011 scup fishery, both the Commission and Council set a TAL of 20 million pounds, an increase of 6.5 million pounds compared to 2010. Based on the recommendations of the SSC and MC, the Commission took a precautionary approach in setting the scup TAL in light of the scientific uncertainty surrounding the scup assessment model. Specifically, the uncertainty about the dynamics of older fish in the stock (current surveys do not do a good job of capturing fish older than age 2), and poorly estimated discards, which are a significant component of fishing mortality. Both committees recommend a continued stepwise increase in the quota. The Board adopted a new weekly landing limit to not exceed 30,000 pounds for the Winter I fishery (January 1-April 30), previously it was a two-week landing limit.
Following the SSC’s ABC recommendation and advice from the MC, both the Commission and Council adopted a 3.6 million pound TAL for 2011 black sea bass fishery, this is 100,000 pounds less than 2010. As with scup, the Commission took a precautionary approach in setting the black sea bass TAL due to concerns regarding scientific uncertainty in the assessment model. These include the sensitivity and reliability of the model, the uncertainty inherent in assessing a species with an unusual life history (some females change sex to become males), the presence of a retrospective pattern which tends to overestimate stock size, and the adequacy of fishery-independent surveys in sampling this species.
The Commission and Council adopted a bluefish TAL of 27.29 million pounds for 2011, which is a small decrease from the 2010 TAL of 29.26 million pounds. The 2010 stock assessment update indicates a projected stock biomass for 2009 at approximately 106% of its rebuilding target, which is a slight decline from 2008. The stock was declared rebuilt in 2009, which was a year ahead of the original stock rebuilding deadline. Under the current fishery management plan, the commercial fishery will be allocated 4.64 million pounds and the recreational sector will be allocated 22.65 million pounds. Later this year when recreational landings are available, the commercial sector could receive a transfer from the recreational sector of up to 4.77 million pounds in quota. The recreational possession limit remained at a 15 fish limit, which is consistent with 2010. In recent years recreational landings have increased, but the overall TAL for the fishery has not been exceeded. These actions were consistent with the recommendations of the SSC and MC.
The Commission and Council maintained the 2010 commercial management measures for all four species for 2011, with the exception of the Winter I landing limit, and approved a Research Set-Aside (RSA) quota of up to three percent for each fishery. Prior to the start
DELA Newsletter Continued from Page 13.
erings this summer. I’ll be headed to Winter Harbor this weekend for the Annual Lobster Festival and Lobster Boat races. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again. We have also been invited to the Maine Windjammer Festival in Camden this year. They would like to give the festival a taste of Maine Tradition, so we’re going to show how the lobster traps are put together and how they work. I have one or two old half-round wooden traps that we can bring along. If anyone would like to come along and participate, come along. We are scheduled to be there Friday and Satur- day of Labor Day weekend which will be Sept. 3 & 4.
We have also been invited to co-spon- sor the Maine Boat Building Show in Portland in October. They also are encouraging fish- ermen and their families to come along and attend.
The effort to keep pride in our fishery and marine industry has been very strong this year.
I hope you enjoy the pictures of our DELA families that are on the cover of this issue.
Each picture was sent in by the family for
this newsletter. It always makes my day to see family pictures coming in! Please, keep your pictures, letters and articles coming in. Brenda Tredwell has suggested putting together a DELA cookbook for fund raising. Please let me know if you’d like to do this. Send along your recipes either by e-mail or in the regular mail.
We’d really like to know if you’d like to follow through with a project like this. The scholarship fund has been slow this summer. I have applied at various banks for
scholarship donations, but the funding hasn’t always been allowed in their budgets. I will continue to follow the scholarship trail, but would still appreciate any support or ideas that you may have to make it grow. I know that the students can use the extra help, even if it just helps supply text books. Have a good “rest of the summer!” See you around, Sheila
of the new fishing year, RSA quota allocations will reduce the above TALs and related allocations. For more information about summer flounder, scup, or black sea bass, please contact Toni Kerns, FMP Coordinator, at (202) 289-6400 or . For more information about bluefish, please contact Kate Taylor, FMP Coordinator, at (202) 289-6400 or .
Maine Island Trail Association Online Continued from Page 8.
tronic alternative that is as environmentally- friendly as MITA itself,” reports Welch. Development of the Online Guide was made possible with the financial support of the Maine Department of Conservation’s Bureau of Parks and, the Horizon Founda- tion, three anonymous donors, and MITA’s 3,600 dedicated members. The Online Guide was developed by Database Designs of Bos- ton, MA with extraordinary support from Membership and Marketing Manager Eliza Ginn and others on staff. We also had help from a technical advisory committee of MITA members.
MITA’s balances access to the coast with a model of stewardship that engages the user of the Trail, and advises visitors in Leave No Trace® recreational practices for visiting these fragile places, encourages them to clean up any trash and report on any prob- lems they encounter on their visits. The end result of thousands of caring visitors looking out for the islands is that the islands remain
in pristine condition to be enjoyed by the next visitors. These efforts are supported by two recent grants from the Kay E. Dopp Fund of the Maine Community Foundation and the Hildreth Family Fund of the Maine Commu- nity Foundation.
The Maine Island Trail Association is a membership organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the wild islands of coastal Maine since 1988. With 185 trail sites and over two decades of community- building, stewardship and education, the organization has developed a model of sus- tainable recreation while creating America’s first recreational water trail.
A version of the Guide is available to nonmembers with full access to ten Maine Island Trail sites that are owned by the Bu- reau of Parks and Lands. Membership, which starts at $45, provides password-protected access to all 185 + Trail sites in addition to a wide variety of other member benefits. For more information contact MITA at 207-761- 8225,
info@mita.org or visit
www.mita.org.
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