Public Comment
May 30:
NOAA Fisheries has published a
proposed rule
for the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's Unmanaged Forage Fish Omnibus Amendment. This amendment would implement an annual landing limit, possession limits, and permitting and reporting requirements for certain previously unmanaged forage species and species groups within Mid-Atlantic Federal waters. The purpose of this action is to prevent the development of new, and the expansion of existing, commercial fisheries on certain forage species until the Council has adequate opportunity and information to evaluate the potential impacts of forage fish harvest on existing fisheries, fishing communities, and the marine ecosystem. (
Find more information here.
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May 31: The MAFMC is considering measures to manage Atlantic chub mackerel (Scomber colias) as a stock in the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish FMP with catch limits, accountability measures, and other conservation and management measures required by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The Council is developing this action in response to the recent development of a directed chub mackerel commercial fishery in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern New England. (Find more information here.)
June 21:
ASMFC seeks public comment on Draft Amendment 3 to the Northern Shrimp Fishery Management Plan. Proposed options in the Draft Amendment include state-by-state allocations and accountability measures to better manage effort in the fishery. The Draft Amendment also explores the mandatory use of size sorting grate systems to minimize harvest of small (presumably male) shrimp, as well as reporting measures to ensure all harvested shrimp are being reported. (Find more information here.)
June 23: The Omnibus Electronic Vessel Trip Report Framework proposes management measures to increase the timeliness, accuracy, and quality of fisheries data submitted to NMFS while also reducing the burden on the charter and party fishing fleets. The electronic vessel trip report Framework would implement a requirement for charter and party vessels that hold a permit to fish for Atlantic bluefish, black sea bass, scup, summer flounder, tilefish, squid, Atlantic mackerel, and/or butterfish, while on a trip carrying passengers for hire, to submit required VTRs by electronic means. These proposed measures are intended to improve the timeliness and accuracy of charter and party vessel trip reporting. (Find more information here.)
June 30: MRIP is requesting input on its draft five-year Strategic Plan from partners and stakeholders.
The Plan lays out a clear, well-defined strategy for continuing to improve survey methods while providing a sound basis for implementing new and expanded surveys through a system of regional partnerships. MRIP is particularly interested in whether the outlined goals, strategies, and tactics are likely to meet partner and stakeholder needs, as well as achieve the mission and vision stated in the Plan.
(Find more information here.)
July 14: ASMFC seeks public comment on
Draft Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Tautog. The Draft Amendment proposes a fundamental change in tautog management, moving away from management on a coastwide basis towards regional management. In addition, Draft Amendment 1 proposes the establishment of a commercial harvest tagging program, as well as new goals and objectives, biological reference points and fishing mortality targets, and a stock rebuilding schedule. (Find more information here).
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Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO)
Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC)
Southeast Regional Office (SERO)
Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC)
USFWS - Northeast Office (Region 5)
USFWS - Southeast Office (Region 4)
New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC)
Potomac River Fisheries Commission (PRFC)
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC)
South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC)
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Featured Stories for the Week of May 25
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ASMFC: States Schedule Hearings on Tautog Draft Amendment 1
 The states of Massachusetts through Virginia have scheduled hearings to gather public comment on Draft Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Tautog. The details of those hearings follow.
The Draft Amendment proposes a fundamental change in tautog management, moving away from management on a coastwide basis towards regional management. In addition, Draft Amendment 1 proposes the establishment of a commercial harvest tagging program, as well as new goals and objectives, biological reference points and fishing mortality targets, and a stock rebuilding schedule.
Specifically, Draft Amendment 1 proposes delineating the stock into four regions due to differences in biology and fishery characteristics, as well as limited coastwide movement.
Find more information
here
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NH FGD: Help Protect Endangered Piping Plovers on NH Beaches
The public is being asked to help protect endangered birds on the beaches this holiday weekend and beyond, as the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department reports there are six pairs of piping plovers nesting along the sandy shores of Hampton and Seabrook. Piping plovers are endangered in New Hampshire and threatened nationally. Their breeding habitat is fenced with yellow roping to indicate the birds' presence to beach-goers and to allow the mating pairs space to nest and raise their young.
"Our goal is to protect these rare birds during their breeding season and manage the beaches for both people and wildlife," said Brendan Clifford a biologist with the Fish and Game's Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program who oversees the piping plover protection effort. "The cool, wet spring may be delaying some nesting this year. So far we have three active nests and three pairs we're still waiting on to nest."
Find more information
here
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NJ DFW: New Jersey Summer Flounder Season to Start on Thursday, May 25 with 18-inch Minimum Size Impact
 The recreational summer flounder season will begin tomorrow, May 25, which keeps intact an 18-inch minimum length requirement for the fish, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin announced today.
New Jersey's Marine Fisheries Council adopted the state's new regulations last week, which substantially achieve conservation equivalency requested by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service. Conservation equivalency allows for alternative regulations that achieve the same quantified level of conservation.
Find more information
here
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NJ DFW: Artificial Reef Program Launches Into a New Season of Reefing
Deployment is scheduled for May 30, sea and weather conditions permitting.
Find more information
here
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SC DNR: Favorable Forecast for 2017 Shrimp Season
 America's favorite seafood is back in season at South Carolina docks and markets.
Commercial shrimp trawling will open in all legal South Carolina waters at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, May 24, 2017, and South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) biologists are optimistic about the coming season.
"So far we've seen indications that it should be a good year," said Mel Bell, director of SCDNR's Office of Fisheries Management. "Of course, after establishing the opening date, based on the condition of the resource, we have no control over how things will go. The success of the season will be up to the hard work of the fishermen and the environmental conditions they encounter throughout the year."
Find more information
here
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US FWS: President Proposes $1.3 Billion FY2018 Budget for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
President Donald Trump today proposed a $1.3 billion Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) budget for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Service's budget also includes $1.5 billion in permanent funding, which is mostly administered to states through various grants and other initiatives for their wildlife and sportfish conservation programs. The bureau budget helps put the federal government on track to a balanced budget by 2027.
"President Trump promised the American people he would cut wasteful spending and make the government work for the taxpayer again, and that's exactly what this budget does," said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke. "Working carefully with the President, we identified areas where we could reduce spending and also areas for investment, such as addressing the maintenance backlog in our National Parks and increasing domestic energy production on federal lands. The budget also allows the Department to return to the traditional principles of multiple-use management to include both responsible natural resource development and conservation of special places. Being from the West, I've seen how years of bloated bureaucracy and D.C.-centric policies hurt our rural communities. The President's budget saves taxpayers by focusing program spending, shrinking bureaucracy, and empowering the front lines."
Find more information
here
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US FWS: New Requirements for International Shark Trade
 At the Seventeenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), several additional commercially harvested shark and ray species
were listed in Appendix IIÂ of CITES.
The newly listed shark species include: devil rays, thresher sharks, and silky sharks. Shark species already listed in Appendix II include the basking shark, whale shark, great white shark, oceanic whitetip shark, three species of hammerhead sharks (scalloped, great, and smooth), porbeagle shark, and manta rays.
Find more information here.
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NOAA: Workshop Highlights Key Role of Ecosystem Status Reports
 There is a considerable and growing demand from many marine resource sectors for ecosystem condition information.
Ecosystem Status Reports
(ESR) have become an integral component in providing ecosystem context to support management needs for fisheries and other marine resource decision-support processes. Successfully meeting these current and future demands requires understanding the status of ecosystems, as reported via ESRs, in each region.
To address this issue, NOAA Fisheries hosted an ESR workshop in Silver Spring, Maryland on May 16 - 18, 2017. The workshop was propelled by management partners' growing interest in these synthetic products and driven by recent agency priorities identifying ESRs as key decision-support products including the
NMFS Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (EBFM) Policy and Road Map
,
NMFS Climate Science Strategy (NCSS), and the
NOAA Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) program priorities. The ESR workshop brought together regional experts involved in the development of ESRs, senior leaders, related specialists, or stakeholders identified by each of the regional ESR experts, and ecosystem program managers from headquarters. Attendees analyzed the current state and application of ESRs, assessed requirements for enhancing and advancing ESR applicability, and identified next steps to address current, emerging, and future ecosystem science and management objectives.
Find more information
here
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NOAA: What's the Value of a River?
 This spring migrating fish returned, right on schedule, to New Jersey's historic Raritan River. Thanks to NOAA Restoration Center, more than 15 new miles of habitat reopened, expanding habitat for these native fish. Their return is the sign of a healthy river-a good thing considering more than 2 million people depend on the Raritan for drinking water.
With each stage of American history, the river has been valued for different reasons. In the 1700s water power from hundreds of dams helped build every mill town. Many of the dams still stand long past their useful life. When they were built, no one worried about abundant small river herring. When the native fish couldn't swim above a dam, their spawning territory shrank, and over time their numbers dwindled. Now we know that the cod, halibut, and striped bass that ate them declined as well.
Find more information
here
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NEFSC: Turtle Team Sets One-Day Record for Tagging Loggerhead Turtles
Sixteen loggerhead sea turtles were sampled and tagged during a May 15-19 cruise to the Mid-Atlantic area off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and offshore into the Gulf Stream. NOAA Fisheries researchers and their colleagues hoped to capture animals at the start of their migration north as ocean waters warm.
"The first morning we had ideal sea conditions, so with an outstanding nine-person team of fishermen, researchers, and a student headed to work this summer for the Canadian DFO sea turtle program, we sampled and tagged 13 turtles in one day," said Eric Matzen of the NEFSC's Protected Species Branch at the Woods Hole Laboratory. "I believe that was a record for us. We saw some very interesting sea turtle behavior out there, so it will be exciting to look at the data on that and see how the migration progresses," he added.
Find more information here.
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NEFSC: Marine Species Distribution Shifts Will Continue Under Ocean Warming
Scientists using a high-resolution global climate model and historical
observations of species distributions on the Northeast U.S. Shelf have found that commercially important species will continue to shift their distribution as ocean waters warm two to three times faster than the global average through the end of this century. Projected increases in surface to bottom waters of 6.6 to 9 degrees F (3.7 to 5.0 degrees Celsius) from current conditions are expected.
The findings, reported in
Progress in Oceanography, suggest ocean temperature will continue to play a major role in where commercially important species will find suitable habitat. Sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Maine have warmed faster than 99 percent of the global ocean over the past decade. Northward shifts of many species are already happening, with major changes expected in the complex of species occurring in different regions on the shelf, and shifts from one management jurisdiction to another. These changes will directly affect fishing communities, as species now landed at those ports move out of range, and new species move in.
Find more information here.
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GARFO: 2017 Surfclam and Ocean Quahog Cost Recovery Cage Tag Fees
 We are announcing the 2017 cost recovery fee for cage tags used under the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog individual transferable quota (ITQ) program. These fees are used to recover costs associated with the operation of the 2016 ITQ program.
Cost recovery bills will be sent in March of 2018 for cage tags used in the 2017 fishing year; shareholders will have 30 days to pay their bill.
Find more information
here
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GARFO: NOAA Fisheries Announces New Voluntary Speed Restriction Zone East of New York
NOAA Fisheries has established a voluntary vessel speed restriction east of New York to protect an aggregation of 8 right whales
sighted in this area on May 17.
Mariners, please avoid or transit at 10 knots or less inside the area (see map).
East of New York zone coordinates:
40 32 N
39 51 N
072 46 W
071 49 W
This voluntary speed restriction zone is in effect through June 1.
Find more information here.
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info@accsp.org.
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Upcoming Meetings and Events
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Maine Department of Marine Fisheries (ME DMR)
New Hampshire Fish & Game Department (NH FGD)
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (MA DMF)
Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife (RI DFW)
Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (CT DEEP)
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC)
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC)
New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife (NJ DFW)
Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife (DE DFW)
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Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MD DNR)
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District Department of the Environment (DC DOEE)
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Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC)
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North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (NC DMF)
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SC DNR)
Georgia Department of Natural Resources - Coastal Resources Division (GA CRD)
Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC)
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