September 2015 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 13. Commercial Fishing News MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL FISHING NEWS


spawning stock biomass in the absence of a range-wide stock assessment. The Plan was initiated in response to concern about increasing targeted fi shing pressure for Jo- nah crab, which has long been considered a bycatch in the American lobster fi shery. Since the early 2000s, growing market demand has increased reported landings by more than six-fold. The vast majority of Jonah crab are harvested by lobstermen using lobster traps. With the increase in demand for crab, a mixed crustacean fi shery has emerged that can target both lobster or crab or both at different times of year based on modifi cations to the gear and small shifts in the areas in which traps are fi shed. The mixed nature of the fi shery makes it diffi cult to manage a Jonah crab fi shery completely separate from the American lobster fi shery without impacting the number of vertical lines and traps in state and federal waters. Furthermore, a lack of universal permitting and reporting requirements makes it diffi cult to characterize catch and effort to the full extent in order to manage the fi shery. In fed- eral waters, the crab resource is not directly regulated but rather is regulated incidentally by the American lobster regulations. There- fore, in the absence of a comprehensive management plan and range-wide stock assessment, increased harvest of Jonah crab may compromise the sustainability of the resource.


The FMP establishes commercial, recreational, and fi shery-dependent moni- toring measures for the Jonah crab fi shery. In addition to the issues of minimum size, permitting, and crab part retention addressed above, the Plan also establishes a non-trap incidental bycatch limit of 200 crabs per calendar day, 500 crabs per trip extending longer than one calendar day and prohibits the retention of egg-bearing females. For fi shery-dependent sampling, the plan re- quires 100% harvester reporting and 100% dealer reporting with port and sea sampling. Jurisdictions that currently require less than 100% harvester reporter are required to, at a minimum, maintain their current programs and extend them to Jonah crab. In the recreational sector, the FMP establishes a possession limit of 50 whole crabs per person per day. Finally, the FMP specifi es that states whose commercial landings are less than 1% of the three-year coastwide av- erage may qualify for de minimis status. De minimis states are not required to implement


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fi shery-independent or port/sea sampling. Since the fishery primarily occurs within federal waters, the Board has recom- mended that NOAA Fisheries implement the provisions of the Jonah Crab FMP in federal waters, pursuant to the NOAA’s authority under the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Co- operative Management Act. The New En- gland Fishery Management Council, which will meet in the fall to set its management planning activities for 2016, will consider whether the development of a Council Jo- nah Crab FMP will be one of its priorities. Regardless of its decision, the Commission and its federal partners will continue to work closely on Jonah crab management. The FMP, which will be implement- ed by June 1, 2016, will be available by the end of August via the Commission’s website, www.asmfc.org, on the American Lobster page under Fishery Management Plans. Upon recommending the FMP’s fi nal approval by the Interstate Fisheries Manage- ment Program Policy Board, the American Lobster Management Board agreed to move forward on the development an addendum to identify management measures for crab-on- ly trap fi shermen (e.g., trap and landing limits). The Board will discuss the specifi c measures to be included in the addendum at its next meeting. For more information, please contact Megan Ware, FMP Coordina- tor, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.


ASMFC & MAFMC Approve Summer Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass, and Bluefi sh Annual Specifi cations The Atlantic States Marine Fisher- ies Commission (Commission) and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) have established specifi cations for the summer fl ounder, scup, black sea bass, and bluefi sh fi sheries. The Commission’s actions are fi nal and apply to state waters (0-3 miles from shore). The Council will forward its recommendations for federal waters (3 – 200 miles from shore) to NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisher- ies Administrator for fi nal approval. Summer Flounder


For summer flounder, both groups approved an acceptable biological catch (ABC) limit of 16.26 million pounds, an approximate 29% decrease from 2015. Af- ter accounting for projected discards in the commercial and recreational fi sheries, this ABC is divided into a commercial quota


of 8.12 million pounds and a recreational harvest limit of 5.42 million pounds for the 2016 fi shing year. This decrease in catch and landings limits responds to the fi ndings of the 2015 stock assessment update, which indicates that the summer fl ounder stock was experiencing overfi shing in 2014. The fi sh- ing mortality rate in 2014 was estimated to be 16% above the fi shing mortality threshold reference point. These results appear to be driven largely by below-average recruit- ment, as the assessment update indicates that the stock experienced four below average year classes from 2010 to 2013. The update also estimates that recruitment has been overestimated by a range of 22% to 49% for 5 of the last 7 year classes, which has contributed to an overestimation of stock size in recent years. According to the 2015 update, estimated biomass has been trending down since 2010.


Although reported landings have equaled or only slightly exceeded commer- cial quotas and recreational harvest limits in recent years, there is evidence of substantial illegal harvest in the form of unreported, underreported, or misreported landings. In 2013 and 2014, two separate investigations revealed that large quantities of summer fl ounder were being taken illegally under the guise of quota acquired through the Council’s Research Set-Aside (RSA) pro-


gram (the Council subsequently suspended the program in order to consider alternative cooperative research options). There may also be substantial non-RSA related illegal/ unreported landings, although fewer details are available on the extent of unreported landings outside of the RSA program. While the exact amount of illegally harvested sum- mer fl ounder is not known, the effect may have resulted in substantial overages of the fi shery’s annual catch limits (ACLs). For more information on the assessment update and its impacts on harvest limits for 2016, please see the Council’s Summer Flounder Catch and Landings Limit Fact Sheet. Scup


For scup, the Commission and Council


approved an ABC of 31.11 million pounds. After accounting for projected discards in the commercial and recreational fi sheries, this ABC is divided into a commercial quota of 20.47 million pounds and a recreational harvest limit of 6.09 million pounds for the 2016 fi shing year. This represents a decrease from 2015 levels due to a slight decrease in spawning stock biomass (SSB) as projected by the 2015 benchmark stock assessment. Black Sea Bass


For black sea bass, the Commission and Council approved an ABC of 5.50 million


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