June 2015 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 21. MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL FISHING NEWS Continued from Page 13.
restrictive rule applies. The Addendum’s measures are effective immediately. The Addendum will be available on the Commission’s website,
www.asmfc. org, on the American lobster page. For more information, please contact, Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at
mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.
NOAA Fisheries and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Release River Herring Conservation Plan to Aid in Restoration Efforts
NOAA Fisheries and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commis- sion) announce the release of the River Herring Conservation Plan. The goals of the plan are to increase public awareness about river herring (alewife - Alosa pseudoharen- gus and blueback herring - A. aestivalis), and to foster cooperative research and conservation efforts to restore river herring along the Atlantic coast. The plan, which is available online and will be refi ned over time with public input, builds upon past and current river herring conservation projects and coordinates ongoing activities. The Plan was developed with input and information provided by the River Herring Technical Expert Working Group (TEWG), a group of scientists, industry representatives, conservation groups, tribal leaders, and government offi cials with expertise related to river herring. The Plan seeks to achieve the following goals:
Increase coordination of river herring data collection, research and conservation: Identify and undertake key research projects related to assessment and conservation; Identify any further conservation actions to address threats; Cultivate and engage research groups to address key topics in protecting or restoring herring populations; Identify funding sources and secure funds for river herring research and conservation; Improve information to be used in conser- vation efforts and incorporated into the next assessment; and Increase public outreach about river herring and the need for address- ing impacts to these resources.
“By focusing on areas where there is the greatest need, the plan is an ideal tool for anyone interested in restoring river her- ring populations coastwide,” said Kimberly Damon-Randall, Assistant Regional Ad- ministrator for Protected Resources, Greater Atlantic Region, NOAA Fisheries. “It pro- vides extensive background on each species’ life history, stock condition, and current management measures, and identifi es areas where research and conservation efforts should be concentrated. Importantly, the plan and what it seeks to achieve represent the collective input and efforts of a broad constituency of individuals and agencies dedicated to the restoration of these import- ant species. It is our hope that by following the roadmap we have laid out in the plan, restoration can be achieved.” On August 12, 2013, NOAA Fisheries announced that listing river herring under the Endangered Species Act as either threat- ened or endangered was not warranted based on the analysis of available information. As part of that decision, NOAA Fisheries committed to working collaboratively with the Commission, which manages U.S. East Coast river herring stocks, and other part- ners to implement a coordinated coastwide effort to proactively conserve river herring and help to fi ll data gaps. The Conserva- tion Plan and the TEWG are products of that commitment and collaborative effort. Since initiation of these efforts, important progress has been made towards each of
the plan’s goals, including: Increased co- ordination among partners by establishing the TEWG and developing the Conservation Plan. Provided funding to: A collaborative project involving the Massachusetts Divi- sion of Marine Fisheries, the University of California-Santa Cruz, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, The Nature Conservancy, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit to advance our understanding of alewife and blueback herring bycatch in commercial Atlantic herring and mackerel fi sheries and impacts of this fi shing activity on river herring populations. The project will also gather information from six nursery systems between Maine and Connecticut to provide insights into what factors infl uence freshwater productivity of juvenile river herring. These efforts will then be combined to examine the importance of different life stages to river herring populations. The Barnegat Bay Partnership and Rutgers Uni- versity to conduct surveys and collect data to improve our understanding of historic and current distribution of alewife and blue- back herring spawning habitats in Barnegat Bay and the Raritan River in New Jersey. NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center to develop a river herring/ Atlantic herring oceanic habitat overlap forecast tool for use by the commercial Atlantic herring fi shery to minimize incidental river herring catches. The Atlantic Salmon Federation to continue river herring counts at the Milltown Dam fi shway in the St. Croix watershed. Con- ducted a coastwide social science survey to document fi shermen’s observations of river herring in commercial, recreational, and subsistence fi sheries. Identifi ed the Penob- scot River in Maine and the Choptank River in Maryland as Habitat Focus Areas under NOAA’s Habitat Blueprint, targeting fi nan- cial resources and technical assistance to support habitat conservation and restoration efforts in these high-priority watersheds. Incorporated information provided by the Passamaquoddy Tribe, Pleasant Point, on the cultural importance of river herring to the Tribe into this conservation plan. NOAA Fisheries and the Commission are committed to strengthening river herring conservation. An important fi rst step is to improve upon and ensure data collection consistency throughout the Atlantic coast, including the Canadian Provinces. The Commission’s Shad and River Herring Technical Committee in conjunction with federal partners will convene later this year to develop recommendations to standardize data collection methods for future survey programs, as well as how best to standard- ize current survey data collected across the species range. NOAA Fisheries and the Commission will be providing support for this meeting.
While this conservation planning initiative is a committed long-term effort, your input is welcome on the River Herring Conservation Plan during its evolving early phase. Please send your comments on the structure and contents of the plan to nmfs.
gar.riverherringplan@noaa.gov by June 1, 2015. The Conservation Plan is available at
http://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa. gov/protected/riverherring/conserv/index. html
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts set the “days out” effort control measures for the 2015 Area 1A Tri- mester 2 (June 1 through September 30) as follows:
June 1 through July 5: Vessels may land
herring fi ve (5) days a week starting on 12:01 AM on Mondays up to midnight on Fridays. Please note a state may implement different start and fi nish times for the fi ve consecutive landings days.
July 6 through September 30: Vessels may land seven (7) days a week until further notice.
Area 1A has a 30,290 metric ton (mt) annual catch limit after adjusting for a carry- over from 2013, 295 mt fi xed gear set-aside, and 3% research set-aside awarded in 2015. The Section allocated 72.8 percent of the quota to Trimester 2.
Fishermen are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip from Area 1A until June 1, 2015. By starting with fi ve landings days per week and then adjusting to seven days during Trimester 2, the quota is projected to be caught close to the end of the trimester. Landings will be monitored closely and the directed fi shery will be closed when the trimester’s quota is projected to be reached. The Atlantic Herring Section members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts are scheduled to reconvene via conference calls to review the fi shing effort and adjust landing days as necessary on the following days: Monday, June 29 at 10:00 AM To join the call, please dial 888- 394-8197 and enter passcode 499811 as prompted. Thursday, July 30 (time to be determined)
For more information, please contact Toni Kerns, ISFMP Director, at tlkerns@
asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.
ASF Disappointed by Lack of Action to Restrict the Kill of Quebec’s Wild Atlantic Salmon
Provincial angling regulations announced just days ahead of meetings of Ministerial Advisory Committee on Atlantic salmon to be held in Quebec City
ST ANDREWS, NB—The Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) shares the disappointment of the Fédération québécoise pour le sau- mon atlantique (FQSA) that the measures announced by Laurent Lessard, Quebec’s Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks are far from strong enough to address the severe decline of wild Atlantic salmon populations in Quebec.
The FQSA had advised Minister Les-
sard to take fi rm action in the wake of a unanimously-adopted resolution calling for the live release of all large salmon. Under the new measures announced late last week, it will be mandatory to release large salmon on only 16 of the province’s 118 salmon rivers.
“Quebec’s announcement is out of step with the strong conservation measures tak- en in other regions,” says Charles Cusson, ASF’s Director of Quebec Programs. “Que- bec’s salmon resource is in a serious state of decline, with fewer than one-third of the salmon populations of assessed rivers meet- ing or surpassing minimum conservation
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