Tag Archives: SAFMC
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for January 31, 2023
Snapper Grouper Discard Mortality Reduction & Private Rec. Permitting (Amendments 35 & 46)/REMINDER: Southern Shrimp Alliance Needs Your Help/Legislative Update. The last year or so the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council (SAFMC) has been working on multiple Snapper Grouper Amendments. Amendments 35 and 46 were voted on and approved for scoping and public comment at the December SAFMC meeting. Informational webinars with opportunities to provide public comment for both amendments are scheduled soon (Amendment 46 webinar is scheduled for January 30th and February 6th at 6pm and Amendment 35 webinar is scheduled for January 31st at 6pm). Links >click to read< 12:04
Bycatch stirs debate at fisheries roundtable
Hosted at Kenai Peninsula College by the Kenai River Sportfishing Association, the three-hour event brought together a who’s-who lineup of fisheries and policy experts from Alaska. That lineup included Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang, who said Bering Sea trawling is not responsible for Alaska’s declining chinook salmon runs. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act defines bycatch as fish harvested in a fishery that are not sold or kept for personal use. The phrase is sometimes used generally to refer to the capture of fish that are not being targeted by a specific fishery that are discarded. >click to read< 09:59
SAFMC votes to allow rock shrimp harvest adjacent to Oculina coral reefs
Commercial rock shrimpers are one step closer to being allowed to fish on the Oculina coral reef bank that’s been protected from their bottom-raking trawler nets since 2014. The SAFMC Friday morning voted 12-1 to reopen 22 square miles of ocean bottom off Florida’s central Atlantic coast, ending a process that began seven years ago. The decision needs more approvals to be final. Dismayed environmentalists said the measure will allow the destruction of Oculina coral, also known as ivory tree coral, a deep water, slow growing live coral that provides essential habitat to many fish and marine organisms, including the targeted shrimp. >click to read< 12:09
SAFMC decides for now to not limit the number of head and charter boats
Some good news. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council at their meeting this month decided, at least for now, to not move forward with limiting the number of charter and head boats in the snapper-grouper fishery. The comments received by the SAFMC were overwhelmingly against limited entry. My thanks to all who submitted comments. One of the important points we made was that the SAFMC really doesn’t know what permitted snapper-grouper charter boats are catching or targeting, whether they are fishing in state or federal waters or even if permit holders are not fishing at all and simply banking the permit. click here to read the story 18:01
Catch share threat is back
As we enter 2017, the biggest threat to commercial and recreational fishermen in the South Atlantic is back: private ownership of the snapper-grouper fishery through a catch share program. Fishery stakeholders have year after year overwhelmingly rejected any form of catch shares. Most recently, 97 percent of the comments on the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s long-range snapper-grouper management plan opposed catch shares — a plan the council promised would be “stakeholder-driven.” Yet, SAFMC Vice Chair Charlie Phillips has revealed that he, SAFMC member Chris Conklin and former SAFMC member Jack Cox, all commercial snapper-grouper fleet owners and dealers, are leading an effort to get a voluntary “pilot” catch share program in place this year using an “Exempted Fishing Permit,” which is a back door way to avoid the normal fishery regulation approval process. In a recent article in the Charleston, SC Post & Courier, Vice Chair Phillips touts that the permit would “allow them to catch all year.” The article also reveals that the Seafood Harvesters of America, which has been funded with over $300,000 from the radical Environmental Defense Fund, is supporting the EFP application. The Seafood Harvesters represent some of the biggest catch share owners in the nation. Read the post here 11:06
South Atlantic – More no-fishing zones unjustified – Rep. Steven Goldfinch
Of the 59 snapper-grouper species managed by the SAFMC, just six are now considered experiencing overfishing or are overfished. None of the mandatory fishery rebuilding plans require any additional closed fishing areas for success. Until the SAFMC and NOAA can properly assess spawning activity and other fishery biological information within the existing MPAs, it’s wrong and unfair to fishermen and fishing communities to close more fishing areas without solid justification. Read the rest here 16:19
SAFMC, and GMFMC tackle mandatory reporting at joint meeting
Federal fishery managers this week debuted the latest drafts of rules they say will give them more data for crafting fishing regulations. Fishermen have been calling for increased information and science as more regulations are being put in place. Many question the rationale behind the new rules. Currently only commercial fishermen and large recreational head boats are required to report their catch. Also this week, the two councils will vote on moving forward with a plan to set aside spawning areas,,, Read the rest here 13:59
SAFMC REMINDER: January 1, 2015 brought changes to federal fishing regulations in the South Atlantic
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council reminds commercial and recreational fishermen about several fishery openings and closures in federal waters of the South Atlantic effective January 1, 2015. Read more here 17:33
You SAFMC guys don’t have to hook up the Huskies. Your Pooler, GA Meeting has been canceled!
Public Hearing/Scoping Meeting Scheduled for Pooler, GA on January 30, 2014 CANCELLED Due to Winter Storm – The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is cancelling the January 30, 2014 public hearing and scoping meeting in Pooler, GA. The recent winter storm that hit the Southeast region has provided conditions unsafe for travel to and from the scheduled meeting. Therefore, in the interest of public safety the meeting is being cancelled. SAFMC website 17:32
SAFMC Dolphin Wahoo Amendment 7 – To fillet or not fillet? Webinar Slated
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Dolphin Wahoo Amendment 7 would allow fishermen to fillet the dolphin and wahoo they legally catch in Bahamian waters on their boat before they reach port, said Brian Cheuvront, the council’s fisheries economist. more@keysnet 13:12
East Coast Fishery Managers Sign Agreement to Coordinate Deep Sea Coral Conservation
Attached is a joint news release from the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, New England Fishery Management Council, and South Atlantic Fishery Management Council continued here
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