Page 12. MAINE COASTAL NEWS June 2015


Commercial Fishing News MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL FISHING NEWS


Continued from Page 1.


ber 1, after which the remaining set-aside is made available to all Area 1A gear types. Maine fi xed gear fi shermen have requested access to the set-aside until the overall total allowable landings limit has been harvested. Draft Amendment 3 also includes a proposal to establish a requirement for fi sh holds to be empty of fi sh prior to trip departures. Mem- bers of industry initiated the empty fi sh hold provision because it would prevent mixing of catch from multiple trips, which can improve accounting of catch and bycatch. In addition, the provision could encourage less wasteful fi shing practices by creating an incentive to catch amounts of herring as demanded by markets.


Maine, New Hampshire, and Massa- chusetts, and possibly the states of Rhode Island through New Jersey, will be conduct- ing public hearings on the Draft Amendment this spring and summer. Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Amendment either by attending state public hearings or providing written comment. The Draft Amendment will be available on the Commission web- site, www.asmfc.org, on the Public Input page no later than May 15th. A subsequent press release will announce the details of the scheduled hearings as well as the deadline for the submission of public com- ment, which will be 14 days following the last public hearing. For more information, please contact, Toni Kerns, ISFMP Director, at tkerns@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.


ASMFC Presents Annual Awards of Excellence


The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries


Commission presented Steven Heins, Dr. Matthew Cieri, Jeffrey Brust, Michael Hendricks, Sergeant James Kane, and Janice Plante with its Annual Awards of Excellence for their outstanding contributions to fi sher- ies management, science, law enforcement, and outreach along the Atlantic coast. “Every year a great many people contribute to the success of fi sheries man- agement along the Atlantic coast. The Com- mission’s Annual Awards of Excellence recognize outstanding efforts by profes- sionals who have made a difference in the way we manage and conserve our fi sheries,” said ASMFC Chair Louis B. Daniel, III of the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries. “This evening, we honor several exceptional individuals for their contribu- tions to the management and conservation of Atlantic coast fi sheries.”


Management & Policy Contributions Steven Heins, New York State Depart- ment of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC)


Steven Heins has been dedicated to state, interstate and federal management issues for nearly three decades, providing of leadership, innovation and technical excellence that represents the core mission and values of the Commission. From 1988 – 2000, Mr. Heins oversaw New York’s species monitoring programs, playing an important role in helping to inform man- agement decisions at the Commission and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) level. He developed and im- plemented New York’s Artifi cial Reef and Access Program, authoring the original Reef Management Plan and environmental impact statement that made the program a reality. He is also a longstanding member


and past chair of the Commission’s Artifi cial Reef Committee, which has been providing guidance on and coordinating artifi cial reef development activities along the Atlantic coast since the mid-1980s.


Since 2006, with his promotion to


Chief of Finfi sh and Crustaceans Section, Mr. Heins has represented NYS DEC on the MAFMC and a number of its commit- tees including Atlantic mackerel, squid and butterfi sh; surf clam, ocean quahog and tilefi sh; and demersal and coastal migratory species. He is the lead for management and compliance information for all Commis- sion-managed species in New York and has been a longstanding member and active participant on the Management & Science Committee. He is also a member and current chair of the Northeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (NEAMAP) Board, which oversees three fi shery-independent data collection surveys for the coastal waters of Maine to North Carolina. When other funding was unavailable to support the program, Steven played a pivotal role in securing over $500,000 to support NEA- MAP. Recently, he helped craft the current summer flounder regional management approach and he continues to work to fi nd solutions to current management challenges with striped bass, black sea bass, tautog and Atlantic sturgeon. Scientifi c & Technical Contributions Matthew Cieri, Ph.D., Maine Department of Marine Resources (ME DMR) Throughout his career, Dr. Matthew Cieri has provided critical assessment expertise to aid in the management of marine resources in Maine, New England and along the Atlantic coast. Since 2001 as a marine resource scientist, Dr. Cieri has led ME DMR Maine’s Atlantic herring monitoring and stock assessment activities, providing technical advice and data analysis for resource assessment and management purposes. The monitoring program, which Dr. Cieri oversees, encompasses the collec- tion and verifi cation of landings data and biological information, and management of the herring ageing program and portside bycatch sampling program. On the regional front, Dr. Cieri has helped formulate herring “days out” options for managers and indus- try decision making, and worked closely with the New England Fishery Management Council’s Atlantic Herring Plan Develop- ment Team to develop river herring and shad catch cap options for use in the Council’s Framework 3.


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He is also a member and important contributor on numerous Commission and Council committees, including technical/ stock assessment committees for Atlantic menhaden, spiny dogfi sh, American eel, and Atlantic herring, which he chaired for many years. He chaired the Commission’s Mul- tispecies VPA (MSVPA-X) Subcommittee and the American Eel Stock Assessment Committee. His efforts led to the success- ful review of the MSVPA-X, as well the timely and successful completion of the fi rst coastwide benchmark stock assessment for American eel. The fi ndings of the American eel benchmark assessment led to the current American eel management program. Jeffrey Brust, New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife (NJ DFW), Marine Fisheries Administration For the past 16 years, Jeffrey Brust’s hard work, dedication and innovative ap- proaches to assessment science has made significant improvements to the Com- mission’s stock assessment process and modelling techniques. For the last decade, Mr. Brust has either chaired or been one of the lead scientists for a number of species assessments, including weakfi sh, Ameri-


can eel and tautog, developing innovative modelling approaches and successfully nav- igating them through peer review for their use in management. He is one of the lead scientists for assessing data poor species by employing methods traditionally used on the West Coast and applying those techniques to Commission species, such as American eel. Even when not serving on the stock assessment subcommittee, our recipient has a way making an impact on the success and utility of an assessment. As a member of the Atlantic Menhaden Technical Committee, which he also chaired through the develop- ment and implementation of Amendment 2, Mr. Brust conducted a review and analysis of the historical menhaden fecundity studies, fi nding an error in the interpretation of those


results which led to new fecundity-at-age/ size estimates and a signifi cantly improved stock assessment.


Dedicated to increasing the stock as- sessment capabilities of state biologists, Mr. Brust has taught a number of beginner and intermediate stock assessment train- ing courses. He also created, through the Assessment Science Committee, a stock assessment mentoring program to help tech- nical committee members get exposed to the assessment process in an effort to develop future lead assessment scientists. Michael Hendricks (retired), Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission Michael Hendricks dedicated his 32- year career to restoring American shad to Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna, Delaware, Lehigh and Schuylkill Rivers. As a past member and chair of the Commission’s Shad and River Herring Technical Committee, he pioneered the use of oxytetracycline (OTC) for marking American shad. He chaired the OTC Tagging Task Force which coordinates otolith tagging of hatchery produced Amer- ican shad among the Commission member states. He developed and implemented cul- ture techniques for American and hickory shad, and led research activities at the Van Dyke hatchery, located on the Juniata River, for over 25 years. The Van Dyke hatchery was constructed in 1976 and was the fi rst modern American shad hatchery in the nation. Under our recipient’s direction, ap- proximately 237 million American shad fry have been reared and stocked in Pennsylva- nia’s rivers. Mr. Hendricks has also chaired the Technical Committee of the Susque- hanna River Anadromous Fish Restoration Cooperative, playing a lead role in drafting the current comprehensive Susquehanna River Anadromous Fish Restoration Plan. He has served on the Delaware River Fish and Wildlife Cooperative Committee. Dedicated to improving the passage of


anadromous fi sh both up and down stream, Mr. Hendricks provided consultation on fishway development and implementa- tion on the Schuylkill and Lehigh Rivers and served on various Chesapeake Bay Commission fish passage and fisheries management plan committees. He was an active participant on fi sh passage technical committees for four Susquehanna River hydroelectric dams and was a key player in the ongoing FERC relicensing of four hydroelectric facilities on the Susquehanna River from 2004 - 2013 to ensure that anad- romous fi sh protection and restoration are in the forefront in the negotiations. Law Enforcement Contributions Sergeant Jim Kane of the Connecticut State Environmental Conservation Police Sergeant Jim Kane’s dedication, knowl-


edge of fi shing practices and laws, and abil- ity to work well with other law enforcement agencies throughout the region has earned him the respect and admiration of his law enforcement colleagues. For a decade, he


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