Page 12. MAINE COASTAL NEWS November 2013 Commercial Fishing News


2013 Landing Days for the Inshore Atlantic Herring Fishery


MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL FISHING NEWS The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries


Commission’s (Commission) Atlantic Her- ring Section members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, with input from members of the sea herring commer-


cial industry, set a “days out” effort control measure to allow four (4) landing days a week for Trimester 3 of the Atlantic herring 2013 fi shing season for Area 1A. Trimester 3 spans from October 1 through December 31, 2013 and the remaining total allowable catch (TAC) of 92% of the total for Area 1A to date is 6,455 metric tons. The sea herring fi shery in Area 1A will


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open on Tuesday, October 1 at 12:01am. In the fi rst week, landing days will span from Tuesday through Thursday at midnight. In the consecutive weeks, the four landing days will be from Monday from 12:01 am through Thursday at midnight. With four landings days for Area 1A’s


Trimester 3, the entire TAC is projected to be caught in the week of October 20. Landings will be monitored closely and the directed fi shery will be closed when 92% of the pe- riod’s quota has been harvested. Monitoring activities are considered essential and will not be affected in the event of a federal government shutdown.


Fishermen are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring from Area 1A until October 1. Please note that the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area is closed and will reopen on October 7 at 12:01 am (the eastern and west- ern Maine spawning areas are open at this time). If spawning is detected, the spawning closure could be extended. Please contact Melissa Yuen at (703) 842-0740 for more information.


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www.newmeadowsmarina.com 120 Bluefi sh


Black Sea Bass


ASMFC & Mid-Atlantic Council Ap- prove Summer Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass and Bluefi sh Specifi cations and Terms of Reference for 2014 Bluefi sh Benchmark Stock Assessment PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Atlantic


Species


Commer- cial Quota (mil- lions of pounds)


Summer Flounder


Scup


11.44 10.51 10.74 23.53 21.95 20.60 2.17 2.17 2.17 8.67 7.49


States Marine Fisheries Commission (Com- mission) and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Man- agement Council (Council) have established commercial quotas and recreational harvest limits for summer fl ounder, scup, black sea bass, and bluefi sh for the 2014 fi shing sea- son and beyond. The Commission’s actions are fi nal, while the Council will forward its recommendations to NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Regional Administrator for fi nal approval. The table below summarizes quotas and limits (2013 values are provided for comparison purposes). Please note that specifi cations for years beyond 2014 may be adjusted based on changes in the fi shery or new scientifi c information. *Values for years 2014 and beyond in- clude the maximum 3% Research Set Aside deductions. Prior to the start of the new fi shing year, the above commercial quotas and recreational harvest limits may increase if the full RSA quota is not utilized.


For summer fl ounder, the Commission approved and Council recommended a com- mercial quota of 10.51 million pounds and the recreational harvest limit of 7.01 million pounds for the 2014 fi shing year, a decrease from 2013 levels. The reduction responds to the fi ndings of the 2013 benchmark stock assessment and peer review which increased the spawning stock biomass (SSB) target level (now 137.6 million pounds) and esti- mated a decrease in spawning stock biomass (112.9 million pounds in 2012). While SSB has dropped below the new target it is well above the new SSB threshold (68.8 million pounds), with the stock still considered to be rebuilt. The Commission approved and the Council recommended specifi cations for 2014 and 2015 in response to industry’s re- quest for increased stability in management


Com- mercial Mini- mum


Fish Size (TL)


14” 14” 14” 9” 9” 9”


11” 11” 11” --- ---


Com- mercial Mesh Size


5.5” 5.5” 5.5” 5” 5” 5”


4.5” 4.5” 4.5” --- ---


Recre- ational Harvest Limit


(millions of pounds)


7.63 7.01 7.16 7.55 7.03 6.60 2.26 2.26 2.26


14.07 13.59


measures from year to year. Last year, both the Commission and Council approved multi-year specifi cations extending through 2015 for the scup fi shery; those quotas have not changed. The 2014 commercial quota is 21.95 million pounds and the recreational harvest limit is 7.03 million pounds. This represents a decrease of 1.58 and 0.52 million pounds, respective- ly, compared to 2013 levels due to a slight decrease in SSB. Additionally, the Commis- sion approved and the Council recommend- ed an increase in the scup possession limit for the 2014 Winter II commercial season (November 1 – December 31) from 2,000 to 12,000 pounds. The rollover provision from the Winter I fi shery still remains intact. For black sea bass, the Commission approved and Council recommended a commercial quota of 2.17 million pounds and 2.26 million pounds for the recreational fi shery in 2014 and 2015. This is a contin- uation of the specifi cations set for the 2013 quota due to little change in the scientifi c information for black sea bass. Finally for the bluefi sh fi shery, the Commission approved and the Council recommended a commercial quota of 7.49 million pounds and 13.59 million pounds for 2014. These levels represent a decrease from 2013 to account for scientifi c uncer- tainty regarding age-length key data and retrospective bias, which underestimates recruitment. These issues will be evaluated in the upcoming benchmark stock assess- ment. The Commission also approved the Fishery Management Plan Review for the 2012 fi shing year and the Terms of Refer- ence for the 2014 Bluefi sh Benchmark Stock Assessment.


For all four species, the approved and recommended actions are consistent with the recommendations of the Council’s Sci- entifi c and Statistical Committee regarding acceptable biological catch, which is the level of total removals that cannot be ex- ceeded based on the best available scientifi c information. The Commission and Council maintained the 2013 commercial manage- ment measures for all four species, with the exception of the scup commercial Winter II trip limit and approved a Research Set-Aside (RSA) quota of up to three percent for each fi shery.


For more information about summer


fl ounder, scup, black sea bass, or bluefi sh please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, FMP Coordinator, at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org.


Council Approves Measures to Protect River Herring and Shad


NEWBURYPORT, MA: In the heart of Cape Cod, MA where, in historic times river her- ring once supported a large commercial fi sh- ery, the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) approved measures that would protect these fi sh, as well as two spe- cies of shad, in federal waters from Maine south to the Mid-Atlantic region. Meeting in Hyannis, MA, the NEFMC formally adopted recommendations that would add to other state and federal mea- sures underway to address the poor con- dition of alewives and blueback herring, collectively referred to as river herring, and their cousins, American and hickory shad. Because they are vulnerable to mid- water and bottom trawl gears used in the Atlantic herring fi shery, the proposals would establish catch “caps” or limits by area for the four species collectively during 2014 and 2015. Future caps would be set during the Council’s Atlantic herring fi shery specifi ca- tions-setting process. If approved by NOAA Fisheries, acting on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce to fi nalize the Council’s recommendations, the


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