NOAA Fisheries Announces Increase to the Illex Squid Annual Quota

August 3, 2020 - The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces an increase to the 2020 acceptable biological catch (ABC) for the Illex squid fishery from 26,000 mt to 30,000 mt. This quota increase was recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council based on preliminary work by its Illex Squid Working Group, which concluded that the species continues to be lightly exploited and the fishery footprint is small. The Illex squid fishery has closed each summer in 2017, 2018, and 2019. This increase will enable full utilization of the available resource.  This rule is effective on August 4, 2020.

For more details, please read the rule as filed in the Federal Register, and our permit holder bulletin.

NOAA Fisheries to Begin Redeployment of Observers and At-Sea Monitors in Northeast on August 14

On July 30, NOAA Fisheries announced that deployment of observers and at-sea monitors in the Northeast partial-coverage fisheries will resume on August 14. To improve transparency in its approach to observer deployment, NOAA Fisheries has established national-level criteria for vessels to be waived (released) from observer or at-sea monitor coverage. Going forward, observer or monitor coverage may be waived, for both full and partial-coverage fisheries, on a trip-specific basis if one of the following two criteria are met:

  1. Observers or at-sea monitors are not available for deployment; or

  2. The observer providers cannot meet the safety protocols imposed by a state on commercial fishing crew or by the vessel or vessel company on its crew. 

For additional details, read the full announcement here.

Upcoming Council Meetings: August 6, 2020 and August 10-13, 2020

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC or Council) has two upcoming meetings in August. Both meetings will be conducted by webinar.

August 6, 2020 – ASMFC Summer 2020 Meeting

On Thursday, August 6, the Council will meet jointly with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board and Bluefish Management Board. This joint meeting will be held on the last day of the ASMFC’s Summer 2020 Meeting. Topics to be addressed include the Bluefish Allocation and Rebuilding Amendment, Black Sea Bass Commercial State Allocation Amendment, Recreational Reform Initiative, and Massachusetts 2020 Black Sea Bass Recreational Proposal. An agenda and other details related to the joint portion of the meeting are available at the link below. Additional details may be found on the ASMFC Summer 2020 Meeting page.

August 10-13, 2020 – MAFMC August 2020 Meeting

The Council will meet again via webinar on August 10-13, 2020. A portion of the meeting will be conducted jointly with the ASMFC’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board and Bluefish Management Board. During this meeting, the Council (and Board, as applicable) will develop or review specifications for butterfish, longfin squid, Atlantic mackerel, bluefish, summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, surfclams, and ocean quahogs. Other agenda items include development of a river herring and shad cap for the Atlantic mackerel fishery, review of commercial scup discards, review of the range of alternatives for the Summer Flounder/Scup/Black Sea Bass Commercial/Recreational Allocation Amendment, swearing in of new and reappointed Council members, and election of officers. An agenda is available at the link below. Briefing materials and webinar connection details will be posted as they become available.

Council Approves Changes to Management of Illex Fishery

Last week the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council approved an amendment that proposes modifications to the permitting and management of the Illex squid fishery. These changes are intended to both reduce excess capacity in the fishery and mitigate the rapid use of the quota seen in recent years. The amendment also revises the goals and objectives of the Mackerel, Squid, Butterfish (MSB) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). After considerable discussion and consideration of public comments, the Council selected preferred alternatives and adopted the amendment for Secretarial review and implementation. Below are summaries of the issues and the Council’s preferred alternatives.

Illex Permitting

In June 2017, the Council considered, but did not adopt, revisions to Illex squid permits as part of Amendment 20 to the MSB FMP. Since then, effort and landings have substantially increased, and the fishery closed early in 2017-2019 after harvesting the Illex squid quota. Given recent fishery performance, the Council initiated this amendment to evaluate whether permitted access to the Illex fishery should be modified based on present and historical participation, and/or other considerations. The amendment considered a range of permitting alternatives, including various time periods and thresholds for permit re-qualification and options for a tiered permitting system.

During last week’s meeting, the Council reviewed analyses and public comments and heard additional public testimony from fishery participants both in favor of, and opposed to, potential changes to Illex permitting. The Council ultimately voted to implement a tiered permitting system. The proposed tiers, qualification criteria, and trip limits are described in the table below.

 

Qualification Criteria

Trip Limit

Tier 1

Either:

  • Landed at least 500,000 pounds in one year between 1997 and 2013
    • OR
  • Purchased and installed a refrigerated seawater system, plate freezing system, or blast freezer between January 1, 2012 and August 2, 2013 and landed a minimum of 200,000 pounds of Illex in the 2013 fishing year

None

Tier 2

Landed at least 100,000 pounds in one year between 1997 and 2018

62,000 pounds

Tier 3

Landed at least 50,000 pounds in one year between 1997 and 2018

20,000 pounds

Under this tiered permitting system, of the 75 current limited access moratorium permits, it is estimated that 35 would qualify for Tier 1, 13 would qualify for Tier 2, 2 would qualify for Tier 3, and 25 would not qualify for any Tier. The Council acknowledged that this action would have positive and negative economic consequences for some fishery participants but ultimately concluded that the selected alternative best balanced the needs of historic participants, present participants, and dependent fishing communities.

Other Illex Management Measures

The Council also voted to require that Tier 1 permit holders obtain a baseline measurement of their vessel fish hold volume. These permit holders would then be subject to a 10% upgrade restriction. This measure is intended to help freeze the footprint of the fishery and avoid additional over-capitalization. The amendment would also clarify that daily catch reporting of Illex is required via Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) for vessels with limited access Illex permits.

Next Steps and Additional Information

The Council will submit this amendment to the Secretary of Commerce for approval and implementation. Updates will be posted on the Council’s website at http://www.mafmc.org/actions/illex-permitting-msb-goals-amendment. For additional information about this action, contact Jason Didden at jdidden@mafmc.org or (302) 526-5254.

View PDF version of this press release

NOAA Fisheries Announces Revised 2020-2021 Bluefish Specifications and Recreational Management Measures

NOAA Fisheries is implementing the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s recommended revised bluefish specifications and recreational management measures for 2020 and 2021. These catch limits are reduced to account for the results of the recent operational assessment and prevent overfishing on the now overfished bluefish stock.

The commercial total allowable landings are reduced by 25 percent, from 3.71 to 2.77 million pounds, and the recreational total allowable landings are reduced by 39 percent, from 15.62 to 9.48 million pounds. There is no sector transfer this year because the recreational fishery is expected to fully attain its harvest limit.

See the bulletin on the NOAA Fisheries website for the commercial fishery state allocations for 2020 based on the final coast-wide commercial quota, and the allocated percentages defined in the Bluefish Fishery Management Plan. No states exceeded their state allocated quota in 2019; therefore, no accountability measures are necessary for the 2020 commercial fishery.

This action also permanently implements the reduced federal bluefish recreational fishery daily bag limit from 15 to 3 fish per person for private anglers and to 5 fish per person for for-hire (charter/party) vessels as established through recent interim measures. All other recreational management measures and commercial management measures remain unchanged.

For more details, please read the rule as filed in the Federal Register, or the bulletin posted on the NOAA Fisheries website.

June 2020 Council Meeting Report

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council met via webinar June 16-18, 2020. Presentations, briefing materials, and webinar recordings are available on the meeting page.

Summary of Actions Taken and Issues Considered

During this meeting, the Council:

  • Reviewed scoping comments and provided input on draft alternatives for the Black Sea Bass Commercial State Allocation Amendment*

  • Received preliminary results of an updated summer flounder commercial/recreational allocation model*

  • Provided input on the range of alternatives to be considered in the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Commercial/Recreational Allocation Amendment*

  • Reviewed a draft outline of topics under consideration through the Recreational Reform Initiative and directed staff to determine which items could be addressed through a framework/addendum and which would require an amendment*

  • Revised the range of alternatives to be considered in the Bluefish Allocation and Rebuilding Amendment and directed the Fishery Management Action Team to incorporate alternatives that would allow states to have a minimum default allocation*

  • Adopted Illex squid specifications for 2021, including an Acceptable Biological Catch of 30,000 metric tons and a quota of 28,644 metric tons, and recommended additional measures to help avoid overages

  • Received four presentations on habitat-related updates and activities within the region

  • Reviewed a report on commercial landings of unmanaged species from Maine through North Carolina and commercial landings of the species managed through the Council’s Unmanaged Forage Omnibus Amendment

  • Approved changes to the Overfishing Limit Coefficient of Variation guidance document as recommended by the Scientific and Statistical Committee

  • Received an update on planning for a Research Set-Aside Workshop and discussed the feasibility of holding an in-person workshop in the fall

  • Directed staff to draft a letter expressing concern about the redeployment of observers and at-sea monitors on fishing vessels beginning July 1 during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

  • Reviewed several hybrid meeting options and agreed to continue meeting via webinar for the near term to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19

  • Reviewed Executive Order 13921 on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth and briefly discussed next steps for developing a response

* Items denoted with an asterisk (*) were undertaken during joint meetings with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board and Bluefish Management Board.


New Jersey Department of Fish and Wildlife Launches Web Application to Promote Local Seafood

The following was released by the New Jersey Department of Fish and Wildlife:

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impacts on New Jersey's local seafood industry, the Department of Environmental Protection has developed the Support NJ Seafood Web Map Application. The application provides locations of seafood markets that sell seafood products that have been landed, grown or harvested in New Jersey and are open to the public.

The current BETA version of the Support NJ Seafood web map can be launched here: www.nj.gov/dep/njseafood.

This is a prototype for what DEP and the NJ Department of Agriculture (NJDA) are working on for all of New Jersey's seafood industry. We look forward to adding more seafood businesses, retailers, and markets in the final version. Together NJDEP, NJDA and Rutgers Cooperative Extension will be using feedback we receive from this soft launch, as well as industry surveys, and responses through our contact lists to build a story map that will help connect many more businesses and seafood lovers in the very near future.

If you would like your business to be added to the story map please complete and submit the application:

Support NJ Seafood Application Form (pdf, 210kb)

For questions or assistance e-mail supportnjseafood@dep.nj.gov.