Public Comment
Oct. 6: ASMFC seeks public comment on the Draft Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Migratory Group (AMG) Cobia, The intent of the Draft FMP is to complement federal AMG cobia management actions and distribute catches among member states through a proposed allocation strategy. The Draft FMP was initiated in response to recent overages of the federal annual catch limit (ACL) for AMG Cobia.
(Find more information here).
Oct. 16:
NOAA Fisheries is initiating a new status review of alewife and blueback herring
to determine whether listing under the Endangered Species Act is warranted. NOAA is
requesting submission of information on alewife and blueback herring rangewide, including any information on the status, threats, and recovery of the species that has become available since the previous listing determinations in 2013. (Find more information here.)
Oct. 20: ASMFC seeks public input on Draft Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Menhaden. The Draft Amendment seeks to manage the menhaden resource in a way that balances menhaden's ecological role as a prey species with the needs of all user groups. To this end, the Draft Amendment considers the use of ecosystem reference points (ERPs) to manage the resource and changes to the allocation method. In addition, it presents a suite of management options for quota transfers, quota rollovers, incidental catch, the episodic events set aside program, and the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap.
(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 October 6
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MD DNR: Oyster Season Starts October 2
Maryland's 2017-2018 public oyster harvest season kicks off Oct. 2 and runs through March 31, 2018. The opening month is reserved for divers and watermen using patent and shaft tongs, as well as recreational oystering.
The
recreational harvest of oysters in Maryland is open to any resident during the season. Each harvester may take up to one bushel of oysters per day as long as they are only for personal, noncommercial use.
"Oysters are ingrained in Maryland's culture, diet and heritage,"
Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Mark Belton said. "Since the time of Captain John Smith and the skipjacks of yesteryear, these beloved bivalves have been intrinsically linked to the brackish bay, as well as to the state's economy and environment. This iconic species' management is vitally important to industry, stakeholders, our state and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay."
Last season, 1,086 licensed watermen harvested 224,609 bushels of oysters with a dockside value of about $9 million. The oyster industry provides funding to invest in its own future - oyster seed and shell plantings - through the state's license surcharge and oyster tax revenue, as well as through funding from the Maryland Department of Transportation.
Find more information
here
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RI DEM: DEM, Central Falls Team Up To Host Family Fishing Event At Lincoln Woods This Weekend
PROVIDENCE - The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), in partnership with the City of Central Falls and Progreso Latino, will host a family fishing event at Lincoln Woods State Park on Saturday. The event is part of DEM's ongoing efforts to promote outdoor recreation and environmental education in communities across the state.
WHEN: Saturday, October 7 | 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
WHERE: Lincoln Woods State Park, Lincoln
As part of the festivities, instructors from DEM's Aquatic Resource Education (ARE) program will teach participants how to catch and clean trout. DEM teamed up with the City and Progreso Latino this summer to host a saltwater fishing excursion for residents of the Central Falls community; as part of this earlier event, some 50 people enjoyed a day on Narragansett Bay aboard the Francis Fleet Charter from Galilee, learning about the diversity and abundance of marine life in the Bay and catching over 50 fish.
To learn more please click
here .
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NYS DEC: Tautog Season Opens October 5
As the fall chill sets in upon us, it brings with it the Tautog season for recreational anglers. Tautog get their common name "blackfish" from the dark markings on their sides and have distinctively arched heads and toothed mouths. They are predominately found in structural habitats, so whether you are fishing the rocky bottoms of the North Shore of Long Island or the wrecks and artificial reefs of the South Shore, you're likely not far from finding fish. At night, blackfish find a hole or some other place to hide and enter a sleep-like state until morning.
Tautog season opens on October 5th and closes on December 14th. Fish must be 16 inches in total length to keep, and only 4 fish may be possessed by each angler.
Find more information
here
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NYS DEC: Striped Bass Cooperative Anglers Program
Do you want to have a more active role in the conservation and management of striped bass? By joining the NYS DEC Striped Bass Cooperative Anglers Program (SBCA), you can take part in an effort to help manage and maintain a healthy striped bass population.
New York State is required by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) - an interstate cooperative fishery management agency - to supplement the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) with additional information from our recreational fishery. We satisfy this requirement with the help of New York State volunteer recreational anglers.
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| Image courtesy of NYS DEC |
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We provide volunteer anglers with logbooks to record information about their fishing trips, scale envelopes to take scales from striped bass, and instructions on what information is needed and how to properly collect it. The logbook information helps us determine the catch per unit effort (CPUE= fish caught/hours spent fishing) or fishing success for striped bass in New York waters. Scale samples are used to determine the age of the fish. At the end of the year, all of the data is analyzed and presented in an
annual newsletter (PDF, 763KB) giving you an inside look into how striped bass fishing was that year. In addition to the newsletter, all anglers that send in scale samples will receive a report documenting the ages of those fish.
By providing information about your fishing trips and the fish you catch, we can better understand and manage the striped bass fishery together!
If you would like to participate in the Striped Bass Cooperative Angler Program and fish for striped bass in New York waters south of the George Washington Bridge, please contact the Diadromous Fish Unit at
[email protected] or (631) 380-3314.
Find more information
here
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FL FWC: Florida's recreational and commercial saltwater fishing industries are open for business
Looking for a fun time out on the water, or a nice locally caught fish dinner? The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is reminding residents and visitors that, despite the effects of Hurricane Irma, recreational and commercial saltwater fishing operations are reopening for business.
While charter for-hire and commercial fishing operators were hit hard by the storm, many in these industries are back up and running and ready to show residents and visitors why Florida remains the Fishing Capital of the World.
"Keep those fishing trips and vacations on the books if you can. These fishermen and women are ready to work, and need your business now more than ever," said FWC Commissioner Robert Spottswood. "We are going to come back stronger than ever, but we need your help."
Find more information here.
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NOAA Fisheries Celebrates National Seafood Month
 Join us all month long as we celebrate the bounty of sustainable seafood! From finfish to shellfish, Americans love seafood-and it's easy to see why. This healthy food choice provides key nutrients and proteins for children and adults. The seafood caught and farmed in the United States comes from some of the most sustainably managed fisheries in the world.
A Global Leader in Sustainability
The United States is recognized as a global leader in sustainable seafood thanks to a rigorous science-based fisheries management process. This process is enforced under ten national standards of sustainability through the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act-exceeding the international standards for ecolabeling of seafood.
Our Fisheries Management Process
NOAA Fisheries tracks 474 fish stocks managed under 46 fishery management plans. We have rebuilt 43 stocks since 2000 as a result of our fishery management process. Overfishing and overfished numbers remained near all-time lows in 2016. To learn more about seafood, check out
FishWatch.gov-the nation's database on sustainable seafood-providing science-based facts on more than 100 marine species.
Find more information
here.
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NOAA Fisheries: Atlantic Bluefin Tuna General Category Fishery: October through November Time-period Fishery Closing October 5, 2017
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) closes the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) General category fishery for large medium and giant BFT (measuring 73 inches curved fork length or greater) effective 11:30 p.m. local time on October 5, 2017, until it reopens on December 1, 2017. Based on the best available landings information for the General category BFT fishery, as well as recent and anticipated catch rates and fishing conditions, NMFS has determined that the General category September subquota will be reached by October 5, and that a closure is warranted at this time.
Retaining, possessing, or landing large medium or giant BFT by persons aboard vessels permitted in the Atlantic tunas General and Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Charter/ Headboat categories must cease at 11:30 p.m. local time on October 5, 2017, through November 30, 2017. The intent of this closure is to prevent overharvest of the General category October through November BFT subquota and help ensure reasonable fishing opportunities in the December subquota time period. Catch-and-release fishing is permissible as described below. NMFS reminds General category participants that when the fishery reopens December 1, 2017, the BFT General category daily retention limit will be one large medium or giant BFT (measuring 73" or greater) per vessel per day/trip.
Find more information
here.
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NOAA Fisheries: NOAA Fisheries Releases Response to National Academies Recommendations, Final Version of MRIP Strategic Plan
NOAA Fisheries has released its Framework for Addressing the National Academies Recommendations and the final version of the five-year MRIP Strategic Plan. Both documents will serve as important guideposts as we continue our commitment to making improvements to catch and effort surveys and the resulting estimates.
Response to National Academies Review
In January 2017, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a comprehensive follow-up review to their 2006 independent, expert analysis of MRIP. NOAA Fisheries requested this follow-up review to measure MRIP's progress in implementing recommendations from the Academies' previous report. The review and its findings will help us further refine our recreational fisheries information collection efforts and prioritize our improvement efforts to best meet the evolving needs of fisheries scientists, stock assessors, managers, and stakeholders.
While the Academies recognized the agency for making "impressive progress" over the past 10 years, the review also highlighted some remaining challenges and offered a series of recommendations. The Framework lays out our approach for addressing each of the Academies' specific recommendations. The Academies report, Review of the Marine Recreational Information Program, is available for PDF download on the National Academies Press
website. The Framework for Addressing the National Academies Recommendations is available on the MRIP
website.
Find more information
here.
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NEFMC: Council Receives 2017
Scallop Survey Overview and Progress Report on 2018 Management Measures in Framework 29
During its late-September meeting in Gloucester, MA, the New England Fishery Management Council received a comprehensive overview of the "very successful" 2017 scallop survey season. The Council then reviewed the range of measures under development for Framework Adjustment 29 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan. These measures, once fully developed and approved, will apply to the 2018 scallop fishing year, which will begin on April 1 instead of March 1 as in previous years.
Given the high biomass, catch limits may increase in 2018. Roughly half of the total biomass is projected to be "exploitable," meaning 50% of the resource will be of harvestable size for the fishing fleet.
However, the Scallop Plan Development Team (PDT) expressed a few cautionary notes: (1) similar to last season, the surveys overall did not come across any strong signs of incoming recruitment, so very few seed scallops are in the pipeline for the future, especially in open areas; (2) scallops in high density areas were found to be "slow growing" and below the size they normally would be at a given age; and (3) of the various survey methods - dredge, drop camera, and HabCam - all three methods showed general agreement in estimating biomass, except in very high density areas.
Find more information
here.
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[email protected].
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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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