April 2014 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 13. MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL FISHING NEWS
abundance and oceanic conditions including climate change, and the timing of migra- tions. This meeting brings researchers from different fi elds and managers together to exchange the latest information.” Maine’s Penobscot River has the largest Atlantic salmon run remaining in the United States. Although salmon numbers remain very low in New England, access to habitat has improved as dams have been removed and fi sh passage improved. The Penobscot River Restoration Project, a collaborative effort to restore 11 species of sea-run fi sh to the river while maintaining energy produc- tion, has led to the removal of the lowermost dams on the river. The removal of Great Works Dam in 2012 and Veazie Dam in 2013 opened the section of river between Veazie and Milford to sea-run fi sh for the fi rst time in almost 200 years. Future fi sh passage upgrades are also scheduled for the river’s Howland Dam in 2014. More than 3,000 Atlantic salmon returned to the Penobscot River in 2011, the highest number since the mid-1980s. Although fewer salmon returned in recent years, researchers like NEFSC’s John Kocik are cautiously optimistic the Penobscot Riv- er population can rebound. “The expected positive effects of improved fi sh passage are an essential step in increasing the number of salmon that head to sea,” Kocik said. “The research presented at the forum is helping us understand the next steps of improving marine survival.”
Kocik, head of the Northeast Salmon
Team, has been working with the Atlantic Salmon Federation and with Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans since 1997. U.S. and Canadian salmon have ex- perienced record low survival at sea since 1990. Trying to fi gure out why the survival rates are so low, and where the losses are happening, has been a priority. “We can’t study salmon or save them if
we don’t know where they are,” said Kocik, who gave a presentation on migration timing of Atlantic salmon smolts from Penobscot Bay to the Scotian Shelf at the forum. “Studying salmon at sea using telemetry enables us to tag and follow very small fi sh in saltwater. We have also used satellite tags to study adult salmon at West Greenland to look at their return trip. Tracking wild Atlantic salmon with tags has provided in- formation on the migration cycle and where mortalities occur.”
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Other technologies, such as hy- droacoustic monitoring, have enabled researchers to better understand where salmon smolts and other river-run species are found at different times of the year and in what locations in the Penobscot River. A comprehensive fi sheries survey of the Penobscot Estuary to monitor and describe pre-and post-dam removal conditions was conducted by NOAA Fisheries from 2010 to 2012 using mid-water trawling, seining, fyke nets and hydroacoustics. Some results from that study and ongoing research were presented at the recent forum. “We’re focused on the ecosystem as a whole,” Renkawitz said. “Our ongoing research projects focus on the estuary, on the near shore marine ecosystem, and on the large-scale ocean ecosystem and what role oceanographic conditions may play in the survival of salmon and other diadromous fi sh species. We want to determine what makes a healthy estuary, a healthy ecosys- tem, and if it is broken, how do we fi x it for future generations.”
Monitoring diadromous species in Maine rivers begins again in April, when salmon smolts head to sea. NEFSC staff will be on the river tracking fi sh and their movements.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is pleased to provide you with our 2013 Annual Report,
http://www.asm-
fc.org/files/pub/ASMFC_2013Annual- Report.pdf. It describes the Commission’s activities and progress in carrying out our public trust responsibilities for the valuable marine fi sheries under Commission stew- ardship. Included in this report are fi gures displaying the historical trends in stock status or landings for each species managed by the Commission. Also provided is a sum- mary of the signifi cant management actions Commissioners took in 2013 to maintain and restore the abundance of Commission man- aged species. This report refl ects our Com- missioners’ commitment to accountability and transparency in all they do to manage and rebuild stocks under their care. We hope that you will fi nd the information contained within this report useful and interesting.
ASMFC Schedules Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Workshop for June 2 -5, 2014 in Beaufort, NC
ARLINGTON, VA – The Atlantic States
Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Workshop will be conducted June 2-5, 2014 at the Na- tional Marine Fisheries Service’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center, General Audi- torium, 101 Pivers Island Road, Beaufort, North Carolina. The assessment will eval- uate the health of Atlantic menhaden and inform the management of this species. The Commission’s stock assessment process and meetings are open to the public, with the exception of discussions of confi dential data, when the public will be asked to leave the room.
The Commission welcomes the sub- mission of alternative analyses and models for consideration in the Atlantic menhaden benchmark stock assessment. For alterna- tive analyses and models to be considered, they must be sent in the required format, with accompanying description of methods, to the Commission by May 2, 2014. For more information on requirements for submission and presentation of materials at the Assess- ment Workshop, please contact Dr. Genny Nesslage, ASMFC Stock Assessment Sci- entist.
The benchmark stock assessment will be peer reviewed through the Southeast Data, Assessment and Review process in December 2014 in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. For more information or details
Commercial Fishing News
on attending the workshop, please contact Michael Waine, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0740.
Maine Elver Season to Start April 6 The 2014 elver fi shing season will begin
Sunday, April 6, 2014 at noon. Originally scheduled to begin on March 22, 2014, the season opening has been delayed due to deliberations over the two bills impacting the fi shery, LD 1723 signed into law by Governor LePage Thursday, March 13, and LD 1625, signed into law on Tuesday, March 18.
“The cold weather is expected to delay elver runs this season, so the late start will likely have little impact on landings,” said Colonel Joseph Fessenden, Chief of the Maine Marine Patrol.
The additional time is required by the Department of Marine Resources to imple- ment necessary emergency rulemaking to allocate individual fi shing quotas to Maine’s non-tribal elver harvesters, to obtain infor- mation from Maine’s federally recognized Indian tribes necessary for allocation of individual fi shing quota to licensed tribal members, and to distribute new elver trans- action cards.
LD 1723 established the elver transac- Continued on Page 20.
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