Tag Archives: Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council
Fate of the blueline tilefishery is now in the hands of the National Marine Fisheries Service
The species grabbed anglers’ attention in February when the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council requested that NMFS take emergency action on bluelines when it learned commercial fishing boats out of North Carolina planned on landing tilefish in New Jersey to take advantage of a no-limit loophole. A week after the Mid-Atlantic made its request, The SAFMC directed its Science and Statistical Committee (SSC) to determine if its earlier assessment, SEDAR 32, was applicable to the entire Atlantic Coast. Read the rest here 13:11
Mid-Atlantic Council Initiates Action to Manage Blueline Tilefish
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted to move forward with development of measures for the long-term management of blueline tilefish in the Mid-Atlantic. The Council will consider several approaches, including creation of a new fishery management plan (FMP) and development of an amendment to add blueline tilefish to the existing Golden Tilefish FMP. Read the rest here 14:28
Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council Meeting Apr 14 – 16, 2015, in Long Branch, NJ,
Briefing Materials & Agenda Overview Agenda, click here Complete Briefing Book, click here MAFMC Stock Status click here Attend Meeting with Adobe Connect click here Webpage, click here 18:07
Latest twist in blueline tilefish tale
It appears that the management of blueline tilefish is turning into a battle of emergency actions.Last week, at the South Atlantic Management Council Meeting in Georgia, a motion was approved that directed the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee to determine if the stock assessment for the tilefish, SEDAR 32, was applicable to the entire range of the species. That includes the waters off New Jersey, which is under the jurisdiction of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. As of right now, there are no limits on tilefish here. Read the rest here 15:49:
Mid-Atlantic Council to Hold Workshop on Deep Sea Coral Zone Boundaries
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted during its meeting last week to postpone final action on its Deep Sea Corals Amendment in order to allow for further analysis of the alternatives and to provide additional opportunities for stakeholder input. In the coming months, the Council will convene a workshop with its advisory panels, coral experts, and other stakeholders to review and potentially refine the discrete protection areas being considered. Read the rest here Deep Sea Corals Amendment 11:26
No vote to protect deep-sea corals off Va and Mid-Atlantic
Council members meeting in Raleigh, N.C., decided instead to postpone a final decision until its June meeting in Virginia Beach, giving them time to hold another workshop to gather more input from coastal fisheries. The council is considering several options to restrict fishing in “broad zones” of the Atlantic based on ocean depth and in “discrete zones” already known to contain valuable coral habitats. Several members said they believe they’re close to an agreement with commercial fisheries on discrete zone boundaries but that another workshop could seal the deal. Read the rest here 17:02
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council looks at deep-sea restrictions
On Wednesday, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council likely will vote on a proposal to limit the use of bottom-fishing gear that is dragged along the ocean floor, often scouring the area of sea life. Any new limits would have to be approved by federal officials. Limits on fishing are often contentious, these even more so. They have drawn tens of thousands of comments – albeit most of them form letters prompted by environmental advocacy groups – from proponents who want the corals protected, Read the rest here 07:19
Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council Meeting, Raleigh, NC – Tue, Feb 10, thru Thu, Feb 12, 2015, Listen Live!
The public is invited to attend the meeting at Doubletree by Hilton Raleigh,
Butterfish—Little Fish Big Science
For this assessment, scientists developed a new method for estimating fish abundance that takes changing environmental conditions into account, something that will become increasingly important as the climate changes and the oceans warm.,,, Much of that uncertainty was caused by the fact that butterfish shift their distribution in response to changing bottom water temperatures.,, The breakthrough came when scientists devised a way to account for the effect of bottom water temperature,,, Read the rest here 11:09
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Meeting in Philadelphia, PA October 7-9, 2014 – Listen online
The public is invited to attend the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s meeting on October 7 – 9, 2014 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The meeting will be held at the Courtyard Marriott Downtown Philadelphia. Access the briefing material here, Meeting Agenda is here, For online access click here 12:18
Federal fisheries regulators holding LI hearings on fluke take
Representatives from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council were in Montauk Tuesday night and will be in East Setauket Wednesday to solicit comments on the plan,, At the Montauk meeting, dozens of commercial fishermen blasted rules that reduce fluke quotas to 50 to 100 pounds a day and force those with federal permits to steam to faraway ports to land their fish. Read the rest here 10:34
Summer flounder fishing rules to get examined and overhauled
Summer flounder fishing rules for the Atlantic Ocean may get an overhaul. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is starting a process to prepare an environmental impact statement and plan a scoping process to change the fishery management. NMFS is announcing the effort in the Federal Register of Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014. NMFS plans a series of 14 public scoping meetings where the public can speak between Sept. 22 and Oct. 29. Read the rest here 08:23
Catch Shares: Investment Firms are taking over the Fishing Rights
What does it take to buy a share of the American ocean? Policymakers assured the nation that fishing rights would never migrate out of U.S. control through catch shares or end up as properties of investment firms. Environmental groups have similarly touted catch shares as a tool for communities and fishermen and overlooked the role investors can and do play. As the Snow’s deal now makes clear, those pacifications are baloney. Read the rest here 22:29
If you have an opinion on fluke management, now is the time to make it known.
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will be holding a series of scoping hearings to collect the public’s input on a broad range of issues to be considered for the Comprehensive Summer Flounder Amendment. Fourteen scoping meetings have been scheduled from Virginia through Massachusetts from the end of September through the third week in October. Read the rest here 09:48
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council – The August 2014 Council Meeting Report is now available
Issues Addressed: Deep Sea Coral Amendment – Research Set-Aside – Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Specifications – Bluefish Specifications – Comprehensive Summer Flounder Amendment – Black Sea Bass Wave 1/May 1 Framework – Special Management Zones – Omnibus Amendment to Simplify Vessel Baselines – Listening Session: NOAA Fisheries’ Fishery-Dependent Data Visioning Project Read more here 14:35
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council suspends controversial research set-aside program
A federal fisheries council voted Tuesday to suspend for at least a year a controversial program that allows fishing boats to pay to extend their catch beyond legal limits. The move follows a year of criminal enforcement actions on Long Island related to the program that have resulted in five guilty pleas, and 70 subpoenas issued to other New York fishing interests in an ongoing federal probe. Read more here 13:38
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Meeting in Washington, DC August 11-14, 2014
Monday 2:00 p.m. Council Convenes To review the Agenda Click here Webinar Access: For online access during the meeting, enter as a guest at adpbeconnect here 18:57
Who knew? Rhode Island is King of squid; More pounds are brought to shore than any other seafood
Squid is to Rhode Island what lobster is to Maine; cod is to Massachusetts. “Fifteen years ago, you didn’t see calamari on the menu,” says Glenn Goodwin, co-owner of Seafreeze in North Kingstown, a seafood freezing facility. “Now you see it everywhere. It was a low-cost item that was plentiful. It took some time for people to try it.” Read more here 14:02
Uncivil War Brews Over Summer Flounder as Waters Warm
The summer flounder – one of the most sought-after catches on the U.S. East Coast – is stirring up a climate change battle as it glides through the sand and grasses at the bottom of a warming North Atlantic. Some scientists say in recent years the species has begun adapting in another way. As the Atlantic Ocean has warmed, they say, the fish have headed north. (like codfish? yellow tail flounder? hmm?) Read more here 10:05
Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council Meeting – June 10-12, Freehold, NJ – Listen Live
View MAFMC page here June 2014 Meeting Agenda Click here Listen Live via Adobe Connect Click here 12:33
Time to rethink fishery management?
Fishery management traditionally has focused on fishing pressure, the removal of animals from a population with nets, lines and traps, as the only statistic worth using in the regulatory equation. The rationale is simple, at least in theory: If the landings in a fishery drop, it’s assumed that the population has declined. Read more here PBN.com 07:12
Dogfish ‘everywhere’ (not just) in Gulf of Maine, but sales go nowhere
Regulators may raise catch limits on the voracious little shark, which competes with more valuable ocean species for food. And here’s the problem: Scientists say there are huge and growing numbers of dogfish in the Gulf of Maine competing for the same food as more commercially valuable species, such as cod and haddock. Read more here 08:10
Out-of-season fishing research set-aside program ripe for abuse, critics say
“The perception held by many of our stakeholders has been that certain fishermen have been abusing the system by not reporting their [research set-aside] landings,” Richard B. Robins Jr., chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, wrote in a Nov. 8 letter. Read more@newsday 2014 RSA Auction Lots, and Revised Auction Contract here @fishingunited.com 10:22
ANNOUNCEMENT: Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council
Due to inclement weather, several items scheduled for the Council’s February meeting have been cancelled or rescheduled. The meeting will continue to be streamed online at http://mafmc.adobeconnect.
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Seeks Applications for New River Herring and Shad Advisory Panel
The Council is soliciting applications from qualified individuals to serve on its newly-formed river herring and shad advisory panel (AP). Advisors will assist in the development of management measures to support the conservation of river herring (alewives and blueback) and shad (American and hickory) populations. Information here 12:01
Catch-22 hobbles sea bass fishery – a combination of regulatory red tape, inadequate science and cautious regulators.
Black sea bass are everywhere, says charter boat captain Dorwin “Gov” Allen of Marstons Mills. They’re in Nantucket Sound, of course, but they are also in Cape Cod Bay, and 20 or more miles east of Chatham, where they were once rarely seen. They are even being caught in New Hampshire, once considered too cold, in numbers that surpass catches in North Carolina and Maryland. Read more@capecodonline 07:38
Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council Meeting in Annapolis, MD: December 9-12, 2013
The public is invited to attend the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s December meeting in Annapolis, Maryland. December 9-12, 2013 Westin Annapolis Hotel 100 Westgate Circle Annapolis, Maryland, 21401
Telephone (410) 972- 4300 Webinar Link: http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/dec2013/ (select “enter as a guest”). Briefing Book: Briefing materials will be posted in late November on the December 2013 Council meeting page. Agenda: Download the agenda as a PDF, or see the agenda below. 08:30
Recreational Fishermen Hire Earthjustice to Sue National Marine Fisheries Service to Protect River Herring and Shad from Industrial Trawlers
Recreational fishing groups have filed a lawsuit in the D.C. District Court challenging a decision by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to terminate a plan to protect river herring and shad in the Atlantic Ocean. more@enewspf 10:33
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Votes to Initiate Interagency Working Group on River Herring and Shad
Philadelphia, PA This week the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted to address additional conservation of river herring and shad through an interagency working group. PDF/Printer-friendly version 11:52
LISTEN LIVE: Attend the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting October 7-10, 2013 in Philadelphia, PA
Click here to open the meeting
agenda – Location: Courtyard Philadelphia Downtown, 21 N. Juniper Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, phone 215-496-3200. Webinar Registration http://www.mafmc.org/ 19:41
