Ahab's Journal

June 21 Meeting on Spot, Spotted Seatrout, and Spanish Mackerel Amendment

Arlington, VA – Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina have scheduled their hearings  to gather public comment on the Draft Omnibus Amendment for Spot, Spotted  Seatrout  and Spanish Mackerel. The dates, times, and locations of the  scheduled meetings follow. (Note: South Carolina conducted its hearing on June 3 as part of its Marine Advisory Committee meeting.)

Striped Bass Population May Be Wavering

With restrictive regulations in place for the past 30 years, the commercial fishing bugaboo may not be so easy to blame for the recent downturn, despite some well-publicized illegal market fishing down south. The cause of slowly dwindling bass stocks may have less to do with fishing, managers say, and more to do with nature.
“Fishing pressure has not changed much,” said Robert Beal of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The commission is a federally-empowered body that manages near-shore migratory species including striped bass.

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Who Gets to Fish for Dogfish?

Perhaps the most interesting amendment is the provision to allow states to trade bits of their quota amongst each other.  Essentially, if one state isn’t able to or doesn’t want to fish its entire slice of the dogfish quota, it can sell off some of that quota to another state.  This is where having a share of the quota becomes valuable to a state like Delaware, which doesn’t really have a tooled-up dogfish fishery and probably won’t be a significant player in the game for a few years.  Until it builds up its own fleet, Delaware can still profit from its bit of quota by trading it off to other states.

Since each state has its own allocated share, the state’s fishermen can wait until good days to go fishing, comfortable in the knowledge that no one else is gobbling up their quota… hey, wait a second…  That’s right, the amendments to the spiny dogfish FMP basically create a coast-wide catch share program. 

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ASMFC Spiny Dogfish & Coastal Sharks Board Approves Addendum III

State-Specific Spiny Dogfish Shares Established for Southern Region

Arlington, VA – The Commission's Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board (Board) approved Addendum III to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Spiny Dogfish (Addendum III). The Addendum divides the southern region annual quota of 42% into state-specific shares (see table below). It also allows for quota transfer between states, roll-overs of up to five percent and state-specified possession limits, and includes a three-year re-evaluation of the measures.  The Addendum’s provisions apply only to states in the southern region (New York through North Carolina) and do not modify the northern region allocation. The states of Maine to Connecticut will continue to share 58% of the annual quota as specified in Addendum II.

ASMFC moves to curb striper mortality

Draft Addendum III will propose a range of fishing management measures including, but not limited to, adjustments to commercial and recreational minimum size, reductions in annual coastal commercial allocation, reductions in recreational bag limits, and reductions on fishing for striped bass in known spawning areas during the spawning season by at least 50 percent.

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Spiny Dogfish Quota to be increased in the United States

NOAA’s Fisheries Service has announced that it will propose increasing the spiny dogfish quota to 20 million pounds (9,000 tonnes) for 2011 a 33 percent increase over the 2010 catch limit.

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Feds move against charter boats poaching striped bass

A three-year federal undercover investigation into Virginia-based charter boats illegally fishing for striped bass more than 3 miles off the coast led to the seizure Thursday of electronics and records from a number of vessels.

Special agents from the law enforcement office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration served search warrants on at least four boats that primarily operate out of Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach.

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CCA: Marine Fisheries Commission sanctions striped bass slaughter

Anglers set to seek relief in General Assembly

In an appalling disregard for the indiscriminate killing of striped bass by the commercial trawl net fishermen, the North Carolina Marine fisheries Commission (NCMFC) voted to continue these wasteful practices. Following three tragic incidents where a massive number of ocean striped bass were killed in the North Carolina trawler fishery, recreational fishermen sent thousands of emails, phone calls and letters to the NC Division of Marine Fisheries and the NC Marine Fisheries Commission protesting the recent waste in this fishery. In response to these events and public outcry, the issue was placed on the MFC agenda for the Feb. 11, 2011 meeting. 

Marine Fisheries Commission Votes to Reopen Ocean Striped Bass Trawl Fishery

MOREHEAD CITY – The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission has instructed the director of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries to reopen the state’s ocean striped bass trawl fishery to allow the remaining quota to be caught.

Environmental groups join N.C. striped bass debate

Two powerful environmental groups are calling on state fisheries officials to prohibit commercial trawl boats from catching striped bass - also called rockfish - until a new management plan is put in place to curb wasteful practices.

The Southern Environmental Law Center and Defenders of Wildlife sent a joint letter Thursday to North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries Director Louis Daniel and Marine Fisheries Commission Chairman Robert Bizzell. The letter requests that the division and commission take action to prevent the commercial sector from discarding thousands of dead fish in a single incident, as has been documented several times off the coast of the Outer Banks since mid-January.

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Striped bass issue creates controversy

OUTER BANKS, N.C. (WAVY) - Thousands of fish were found dead and floating, and commercial fishermen in the Outer Banks are the accused killers.

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U.S. Proposes Aquaculture Guidelines

The guidelines, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, offer general standards that regional fishery councils will have to meet when they propose fish farms.

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RFA CALLS FOR END TO DIRECTED OCEAN NET FISHERY OF STRIPED BASS

Angler Advocacy Group Urges ASMFC To Address Wasteful Fishing Practices 

  February 10, 2011 - Two staggering fish kills by commercial trawlers fishing out of Oregon Inlet are just the tip of the iceberg as the state of North Carolina continues to promote fishing practices for Atlantic striped bass that are not only wasteful but filled with loopholes that encourage unreported landings.

CCA North Carolina Seeks End to Trawling

Striped bass kills highlight need to end destructive fishing practices

  
      PINE KNOLLS SHORES, NC - In response to a rash of massive striped bass kills along the coast, CCA North Carolina will request the NC Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) to eliminate trawling of any kind as a permissible fishing gear for striped bass. The incidents, photographed and videotaped by recreational anglers in the area, were the result of commercial trawling operations in state waters and have prompted outrage up and down the East Coast. CCA North Carolina will request decisive action at the MFC meeting in Pine Knolls, Feb. 10-11.

 

CCA: Different Regulations, Same Result off North Carolina

In a mistake that was entirely predictable, the state’s Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) has allowed the use of large trawl nets among large schools of striped bass.  And, for the third time in less than three weeks, a massive striped bass kill has occurred.  The latest example of “regulatory dead discards” was photographed from a helicopter off Oregon Inlet this week and was again evidenced by a long trail of dead striped bass in the vicinity of commercial trawlers. The latest kill was four miles long and a half-mile wide, and consisted of thousands of dead stripers, many of which were of the minimum legal size of 28 inches, that were dumped at sea after being snared and culled by commercial boats.

More striper kills off the Outer Banks. Feds investigating

The most recent striped bass kill off of Oregon Inlet was another one caused by North Carolina's commercial trawl fishery. Hundreds, maybe thousands of fish were photographed from a helicopter being released from the nets after crews had boated their limit of 2,000 pounds.

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Dogfish Meeting in Manteo February 24

States Schedule Hearings on Spiny Dogfish Addendum III
Public Comment Accepted Until March 4

Arlington, VA – Atlantic coastal states from Rhode Island through North Carolina have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on Draft Addendum III to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Spiny Dogfish. The dates, times, and locations of the scheduled meetings follow:

Complaints of fish kill surface again on Outer banks

For the second time in three weeks, reports of a large fish kill off the Outer Banks coastline are drawing attention to controversial commercial fishing practices and the regulations that govern the industry.

Commercial trawlers discarded thousands of dead striped bass into the ocean Thursday near the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, according to complaints logged with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries.

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States Schedule Hearings on Spiny Dogfish Addendum III

Public Comment Accepted Until March 4

 Arlington, VA – Atlantic coastal states from Rhode Island through North Carolina have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on Draft Addendum III to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Spiny Dogfish. The dates, times, and locations of the scheduled meetings follow:

Atlantic Weather May Be Key Culprit In Fish Decline

The striped bass is in trouble again.

During the 1980s, wildlife managers said these big, full-bodied fish — favorites of anglers along the East Coast — were overfished. So they laid down severe catch limits. The population recovered, and fishing resumed in what is considered one of conservation's great success stories.

But now catches are down again, and some biologists say the problem may not be overfishing this time: It could be the weather.

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Va. menhaden bills die in Richmond

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Legislation to restrict the commercial fishery of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay has died in the General Assembly.

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Spiny Dogfish Meeting in Manteo Postponed

The ASMFC hearing on Spiny Dogfish Addendum III that was scheduled for Jan. 24 in Manteo has been postponed.  The hearing is now planned for:

Overloaded Fishing Net Causes Striped Bass Spill

MOREHEAD CITY – An overloaded fishing net prompted fishermen on a commercial trawler to release thousands of striped bass they caught Saturday off of Bodie Island.

Fish kills put a spotlight on tension over rules

Thousands of dead striped bass and red drum floating in a long line off Dare County beaches create a disturbing image. And in the era of digital photography, it didn’t take long for the pictures to find their way online, spreading virally and grabbing the attention of news media in at least two states.

No one wants to believe, and few can understand, how something like this occurs. The accusations are flying.

Welcome to one of the longest running feuds in Dare County, played out in almost every other fishing community along America’s shorelines.

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Coast Guard to cast net for striped bass poachers

Striped bass populations are moving farther off shore into warmer waters and fishermen are often pursuing the fish beyond the authorized state waters. Atlantic striped bass may not be caught, harvested or possessed in the Exclusive Economic Zone. A person caught fishing for striped bass outside of 3 nautical miles and into the EEZ is subject to fines starting at $100 per fish.

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Research shows rain, temperature in spring affects striped bass

More than two months before biologists threw their first net into the water to gauge the success of this year’s striped bass reproduction, Ed Martino had the answer, and he never had to leave his desk.

Rockfish reproduction, Martino determined in May, would be “well below average.”

The researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Cooperative Oxford Laboratory came up with his conclusion by going online and looking at March though May river flows monitored by the U.S. Geological Survey and temperature data from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport for the same period, then plugging the information into a mathematical model.

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RFA: ASMFC VOTES FOR SCUP ALLOCATION ANALYSIS

RFA Notes Process Could Take Years - Recreational Access Is Needed Now!  

 

(11/11/2010) - Just days after getting word that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASFMC) rejected a proposed increase in commercial striped bass quota, the coastal angling community received what appears to be some more optimistic news in terms of the allocation of recreational fish stocks. 

 

In a joint meeting of the ASMFC with members of the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council (MAFMC), a motion was approved to analyze the social and economic impacts of the current allocation of scup (porgy).  As it currently stands, the commercial sector receives 78% of the annual porgy quota while the recreational community gets a scant 22% of the total annual harvest.  The joint MAFMC/ASMFC decision made yesterday in Charleston, SC could ultimately lead to porgy reallocation measures in the next 2 to 3 years.  

ASMFC Sets Spiny Dogfish 2011/2012 Fishing Year Quota at 20 Million Pounds

Charleston, SC - The Commission's Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board (Board) approved a 20 million pound quota with a maximum possession limit of 3,000 pounds for the 2011/2012 fishing season (May 1 - April 30).  As specified under Addendum II, the quota will be allocated with 58 percent to states from Maine through Connecticut, 26 percent to New York through Virginia, and 16 percent to North Carolina.  

ASMFC Striped Bass Board Approves Addendum II

Coastal Commercial Quotas Remain Unchanged; Juvenile Abundance Index Management Trigger Improved

Commission opposes increasing commercial striped bass catch

The regional agency that oversees fishing along the Eastern Seaboard rejected two attempts this morning to increase the commercial striped bass quota.

At its annual meeting in Charleston, S.C., the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted, 11-3, to maintain the status quo.

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O'Malley says no in rockfish/gamefish debate...maybe

Now that the pre- and post-election squawking has subsidied and my head has (kinda) cleared, it's time to look back at one of Gov. Martin O'Malley's answers to outdoors questions posed here: Should the state follow the lead of six East Coast jurisdictions and make striped bass a gamefish available only to recreational anglers?

To his credit, MOM was the only gubernatorial candidate to respond to the questions. On the issue of rockfish/gamefish, he said, "Allocation is ultimately guided by our state and regional commissions, our management plan and Maryland law, which prohibits discrimination for the sole purpose of economic allocation. Each of these directives also receives substantial public input."

After an initial, huh?, the statement bears closer scrutiny.

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Putting the brakes on more striped bass fishing

Unfortunately, it's getting to be the new norm. For the third consecutive year, the Chesapeake Bay has produced fewer striped bass babies than what is normal.

Three years of a nursery being half full, or less.

Could it be the weather--massive winter snowstorms followed by runoff? Or water temperature? Could fishing pressure be to blame? Or is myco beginning to take its toll on the adult population and the breeding stock is just vanishing as a result?

We don't know. That's just scary.

And that's the reason why when it meets next month, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission should kill the plan to increase the coastwide commercial harvest--or any harvest, for that matter--until after the 2012 stock assessment.

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Good coin on striped bass

Striped bass commercial fishing in Massachusetts is alive and well, especially in this economy.

For as little as $65, a license holder can land and sell striped bass legally. What many don't know is that the number of commercial striped bass fishermen is higher than you think.

With regulations aimed at taking breeding class fish, are we doing more harm than good for future stocks?

It stands to reason that any angler, if capable of catching fish they can sell, will. With current striped bass yielding $2.65 per pound, and a 30-fish limit on most fishing days, money can add up fast.

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ASMFC wobbles on weakfish

 At last week's meeting, the board approved a proposal from North Carolina that would allow 10 percent bycatch of weakfish up to 1,000 pounds, instead of the 100-pound trip limit.

The vote left Tom Fote, one of New Jersey's representatives to the ASMFC, bewildered.

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No striped bass for you!

I'm not sure I can support the concept that someone's hobby is more important than someone else's livelihood. And I don't know that it's always a good idea to link monetary benefits to societal importance.

If we go down that path in this economy, it won't be long until we're making the same arguments when it comes to programs for special needs children vs. the larger school population. Or building access ramps at parks vs. new trails. Or paying for senior citizen programs vs. youth services.

The resource, in this case striped bass, belongs to everyone, whether that person is driving a Grady White or a trawler.

If and when the stock is healthy--and scientists can prove it--I don't see why commercial fishermen shouldn't get a bigger slice of the pie so consumers can enjoy fresh striped bass fillets at a restaurant or at local market.

But if the stock isn't healthy, we should be talking about adjusting recreational activity, starting with protecting the big, female fish and shutting down the senseless winter slaughter of 200,000 to 800,000 striped bass off the coast of Virginia and North Carolina.

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Scientists suspect decline of herring is result of bycatch in other fisheries

Fish managers considering stepped-up monitoring and closing areas to trawlers 

Herring were so common in the Potomac River in the spring of 1832 that a single seine net captured a few more than 950,000 "accurately counted," according to a report at the time. A few decades later, Spencer Baird, head of the U.S. Fish Commission, estimated that during the 1830s, the herring in the river must have numbered 3 billion fish.

Today, their numbers are only a "faint shadow" of what they were, said Jim Cummins, a biologist with the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin. Like their cousin, the larger American shad, river herring numbers are thought to be at near-record lows along the East Coast.   

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VIRGINIA: NAACP, Bait, Watermen's Associations and Omega Protein pull out of Menhaden Panel

 

REEDVILLE, VA - July 1, 2010 - Just hours after the first meeting of the new menhaden fish working group formed by Virginia State Sen. Ralph Northam (D-Norfolk ,VA) was announced for July 15, the Virginia NAACP, Waterman’s Association, Bait Association, and Omega Protein announced they “have decided not to participate in these meetings.”

The organizations say they were “misled, either intentionally or inadvertently” about the agenda and deliberations of this “working group”.

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Endangered Species on Connecticut Coast: Last of the Lobstermen

On the good days, a cool breeze rising off Long Island Sound, the steel traps on the dock stacked and baited with thick chunks of skate, there aren’t many things better than being one of the last full-time lobstermen left in Connecticut.

“When you’re catching lobsters, everything’s good with the world,” said Michael Grimshaw, grandchildren splashing in the water, two of his sons working on his two boats, his girlfriend’s tiny bichon frisé, Lulu, sitting in his lap, swallowed up by his 350-pound frame.

But in this old fishing town, home of the last commercial fishing fleet in Connecticut, you’re reminded that it’s not just the oil-infested Gulf of Mexico where a way of life is perched on a very thin limb. So it’s likely that in the coming months, Mr. Grimshaw, whose great-grandfather began fishing here after arriving from Portugal, will find out whether lobstering in the Long Island Sound and beyond has a future.

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Regulators Weigh 5-Year Southern NE Lobstering Ban

Lobstermen in southern New England are facing a possible five-year fishing ban after biologists made that recommendation to regulators, saying the drastic step is needed to save the depleted stock.

The Lobster Technical Committee of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission acknowledged "the catastrophic effects" on local lobstermen if the moratorium was enacted. But it said it was needed to rebuild the lobster population and secure the industry's long-term health.

Rhode Island lobsterman Bill McElroy said there will be no industry in southern New England if the recommendation is adopted.

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Striped Bass Meeting in Manteo June 29

Washington, DC – Atlantic coastal states from Maine through North Carolina have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on Draft Addendum II to Amendment 6 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass.

The Draft Addendum proposes two changes to the striped bass management program: (1) an increase in the coastal commercial quota, and (2) revising the definition of recruitment failure based on Technical Committee advice.

Striped bass proposal a bad idea

Despite protests from the recreational fishing community, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission shocked anglers by voting to include a proposal to increase the commercial striped bass harvest.

The proposal is being done within Draft Addendum II for public hearings.

According to the Recreational Fishing Alliance, the purpose of the draft addendum is specifically to consider options to increase the coastal commercial quota of striped bass and revise the definition of striped bass recruitment failure.

"This proposal was not endorsed by the Striped Bass Advisory Panel, and it wasn't supported by anyone in the recreational fishing community," said RFA Executive Director, Jim Donofrio. "This decision is a slap in the face, and it contradicts all available data that shows that we should be doing more to protect the striped bass fishery from an illegal, unreported striped bass fishery," Donofrio said.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/more_sports/striped_bass_proposal_bad_idea_EEPe3bJTcB3GZ3ixgDmE7I#ixzz0pX4mxDdk
  

Baymen Plan Protest Hoping for citations for shipping porgies

To protest state and federal fishing laws, 20 members of the East Hampton Town Baymen’s Association will attempt to ship porgies to market without benefit of a commercial food fish license next month. The civil disobedience is scheduled for Saturday, June 26, at 11 a.m. at Stuart’s Seafood shop in Amagansett.   

Arnold Leo, secretary of the Baymen’s Association and a member of the East Hampton Town Fisheries Consultancy and Committee, said the protest was meant “to call attention to the fact that fishing regulations have become so restrictive and the process of setting them so inflexible that no one can make a living in the traditional way on the water.” Mr. Leo said the action was not an endorsement of illegal poaching.

    Much of the inflexibility has stemmed from a loss of autonomy at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a federally empowered body that oversees marine and anadromous species that migrate along the East Coast, Mr. Leo said.

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Striped Bass Public Hearings in NC: June 29 at Unknown Location & July 7 in Morehead City

Washington, DC – Atlantic coastal states from Maine through North Carolina have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on Draft Addendum II to Amendment 6 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass.

The Draft Addendum proposes two changes to the striped bass management program: (1) an increase in the coastal commercial quota, and (2) revising the definition of recruitment failure based on Technical Committee advice.

State bows to ASMFC

Outer Banks Sentinel - by Susan West - The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission decided by the slimmest of margins Friday morning that bucking a regional weakfish management plan wasn’t in the best interest of the state.

 

To bring the state into compliance with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) weakfish plan, rules limiting commercial fishermen to a 100-pound trip limit and recreational fishermen to a one-fish bag limit went into effect Sunday.

ASMFC Striped Bass Board Approves Draft Addendum II for Public Comment

Alexandria, VA – The Commission's Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board has approved Draft Addendum II to Amendment 6 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass for public comment. The Draft Addendum proposes two changes to the striped bass management program: (1) an increase in the coastal commercial quota, and (2) revising the definition of recruitment failure based on Technical Committee advice.

Menhaden Resource is Not Overfished ... Overfishing Not Occurring

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission ("ASFMC") today received the results of the latest Stock Assessment Workshop for Atlantic menhaden at the Menhaden Board meeting in Alexandria, Virginia.  Consistent with the prior two ASMFC stock assessments reports in 2003 and 2006, the new report concludes that the Atlantic menhaden stock is not overfished and that overfishing is not occurring. 

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State and local officials discuss fishing issues

Outer Banks Sentinel - by Susan West - Fishermen and county commissioners exchanged information with state officials about a host of fisheries issues at the Dare County Commission for Working Watermen meeting April 21.

State officials attending the meeting included NC Rep. Tim Spear, Division of Marine Fisheries director Louis Daniel, and Wildlife Resources Commission director Gordon Myers.  Chris Dillon, special projects director for Senator Marc Basnight, also participated.

In a report on issues affecting Dare County, state fisheries chief Louis Daniel said his agency fully supports the South Atlantic Council minority report objecting to Amendment 17B to the Snapper-Grouper Fishery Management Plan that was approved by the council majority in December.

Striped bass galore

The striped bass fishing along the New Jersey coast, and certainly in the Delaware River, is the best many have seen in 10 years. In my opinion, the Delaware River is fishing the best that I have ever seen.

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MFC member says weakfish regulations are government takeover

Bradley Styron wants folks to know that his vote against federal measures to regulate weakfish fishing in North Carolina was not about personal interest but political principals.

The NC Marine Fisheries Committee (MFC) has voted to go out of compliance with federal rules designed to protect dwindling weakfish stocks. Some recreational fishing advocates have claimed that Styron, who owns Quality Seafood in Cedar Island, was among several MFC members who voted to disobey the feds due to personal financial gain.

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Rec fishermen say MFC members voted to ignore federal weakfish rules out of financial interests

Recreational fishing advocates are charging that two members of the state NC Marine Fisheries Committee (MFC) voted to go out of compliance with federal rules designed to save weakfish stocks due to personal financial interest in catching weakfish.

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