Page 10. MAINE COASTAL NEWS March 2015 Commercial Fishing News
Atlantic Menhaden Benchmark Assess- ment Finds Resource Not Overfi shed and Overfi shing Not Occurring ALEXANDRIA, VA – The 2015 Atlantic menhaden benchmark assessment indicates the resource is not overfi shed nor experi- encing overfi shing relative to the current maximum spawning potential (MSP) based biological reference points. Population fe- cundity, a measure of reproductive capacity, is estimated to be 71% higher than the target value (100 trillion eggs). Additionally, total fi shing mortality is estimated to be 0.27, below both the fi shing mortality thresh- old (2.98) and target (1.03). The Atlantic Menhaden Management Board approved the benchmark stock assessment for man- agement use. “The assessment fi ndings bring good news regarding the status of the Atlantic menhaden resource and sets the stage for the Board to begin to discuss how it wants to move forward in sustainably managing Atlantic menhaden. This discussion will include Board management objectives that address the needs of the reduction and bait fi sheries as well as the ecological services menhaden provides as an important prey species,” stated Board Chair Robert Boyles
ATLANTIC STATES MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION MEETING 3) Dome-shaped selectivity for all fi sh-
from South Carolina. “The assessment re- sults are different from prior assessments and this is in large part due to the tremendous efforts of stakeholders, and state and federal scientists to improve upon both the data and modeling approaches used in the assess- ment. We are grateful for their hard work and dedication in advancing our understanding of the Atlantic menhaden stock status.” Atlantic menhaden is harvested by both commercial reduction and bait fi sheries. From 2010 to 2012, reduction fi shery land- ings averaged 172,600 metric tons and are substantially lower than historical levels. Conversely, total bait landings have been increasing in recent years, averaging about 52,900 metric tons during 2010-2012, with peak landings of about 63,540 metric tons in 2012. In 2013, landings for both fi sheries were reduced by 20%, consistent with the requirements of Amendment 2.
Through the consideration of new and existing datasets and the exploration of alternative model confi gurations, signifi - cant changes were made during the 2015 assessment to address the issues identifi ed with the 2010 assessment. Below are a few of the major changes that led to signifi cantly different assessment results.
1) Using new datasets, maturity at age was corrected, resulting in a higher estimat- ed proportion of mature fi sh at ages 1, 2, and 3. This higher proportion of mature fi sh at the earlier ages resulted in a stock that had higher reproductive potential (i.e., increased fecundity) than previously estimated. 2) Two composite adult indices of rela- tive abundance were created using nine new standardized fi shery-independent indices that spanned a much broader spatial scale. This was a signifi cant improvement from the 2010 benchmark assessment that used one
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MARINE FABRICATORS
Chesapeake Bay fi shery-dependent pound net index to characterize adult abundance for the entire stock.
ery fl eets was used to account for the fact that larger sized individuals were observed in multiple fi shery-independent surveys than captured by the bait and reduction fi sheries during the entire history of sampling. This ultimately results in more fi sh at older ages because the larger fi sh are not being captured by the fi sheries.
All these improvements combined
led to signifi cantly different assessment results. A more detailed description of the stock assessment results is available on the Commission’s website at
http://www.asmfc. org/uploads/fi le/54d26f852015Menhaden- StockAssessmentOverview_Feb2015.pdf. Following the acceptance of the assess- ment, the Board tasked the Technical Com- mittee with conducting a thorough review of the peer review fi ndings and performing projections that explore different constant harvest scenarios based on the results of the assessment and the current stock status. The Board will review the projection analyses at the Commission’s Spring Meeting and fur- ther deliberate on management objectives that address the needs of the reduction and bait fi sheries as well as the ecological ser- vices menhaden provides. The fi nal assess- ment and peer review will be posted to the Commission website the week of February 9th,
www.asmfc.org, on the Atlantic Menha- den webpage. For more information, please contact Mike Waine, Senior Fishery Man- agement Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0740 or
mwaine@asmfc.org.
Atlantic Menhaden Benchmark Assess- ment Finds Resource Not Overfi shed and Overfi shing Not Occurring The 2015 Atlantic menhaden bench- mark assessment indicates the resource is not overfi shed nor experiencing overfi shing relative to the current maximum spawning potential (MSP) based biological reference points. Population fecundity, a measure of reproductive capacity, is estimated to be 71% higher than the target value (100 trillion eggs). Additionally, total fi shing mortality is estimated to be 0.27, below both the fi shing mortality threshold (2.98) and target (1.03). The Atlantic Menhaden Management Board approved the benchmark stock assessment for management use.
“The assessment fi ndings bring good news regarding the status of the Atlantic menhaden resource and sets the stage for the Board to begin to discuss how it wants to move forward in sustainably managing Atlantic menhaden. This discussion will include Board management objectives that address the needs of the reduction and bait fi sheries as well as the ecological services menhaden provides as an important prey species,” stated Board Chair Robert Boyles from South Carolina. “The assessment re- sults are different from prior assessments and this is in large part due to the tremendous efforts of stakeholders, and state and federal scientists to improve upon both the data and modeling approaches used in the assess- ment. We are grateful for their hard work and dedication in advancing our understanding of the Atlantic menhaden stock status.” Atlantic menhaden is harvested by both commercial reduction and bait fi sheries. From 2010 to 2012, reduction fi shery land- ings averaged 172,600 metric tons and are substantially lower than historical levels. Conversely, total bait landings have been increasing in recent years, averaging about 52,900 metric tons during 2010-2012, with peak landings of about 63,540 metric tons in 2012. In 2013, landings for both fi sheries were reduced by 20%, consistent with the requirements of Amendment 2.
Through the consideration of new and existing datasets and the exploration of alternative model confi gurations, signifi - cant changes were made during the 2015 assessment to address the issues identifi ed with the 2010 assessment. Below are a few of the major changes that led to signifi cantly different assessment results.
1) Using new datasets, maturity at age was corrected, resulting in a higher estimat- ed proportion of mature fi sh at ages 1, 2, and 3. This higher proportion of mature fi sh at the earlier ages resulted in a stock that had higher reproductive potential (i.e., increased fecundity) than previously estimated. 2) Two composite adult indices of rela- tive abundance were created using nine new standardized fi shery-independent indices that spanned a much broader spatial scale. This was a signifi cant improvement from the 2010 benchmark assessment that used one Chesapeake Bay fi shery-dependent pound net index to characterize adult abundance for the entire stock.
3) Dome-shaped selectivity for all fi sh-
ery fl eets was used to account for the fact that larger sized individuals were observed in multiple fi shery-independent surveys than captured by the bait and reduction fi sheries during the entire history of sampling. This ultimately results in more fi sh at older ages because the larger fi sh are not being captured by the fi sheries.
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led to signifi cantly different assessment results. A more detailed description of the stock assessment results is available on the Commission’s website at
http://www.asmfc. org/uploads/fi le/54d26f852015Menhaden- StockAssessmentOverview_Feb2015.pdf. Following the acceptance of the assess- ment, the Board tasked the Technical Com- mittee with conducting a thorough review of the peer review fi ndings and performing projections that explore different constant harvest scenarios based on the results of the assessment and the current stock status. The Board will review the projection analyses at the Commission’s Spring Meeting and fur- ther deliberate on management objectives that address the needs of the reduction and bait fi sheries as well as the ecological ser- vices menhaden provides. The fi nal assess-
Continued on Page 21.
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