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Contact: Patricia Smith MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION TO MEET IN KILL DEVIL HILLS MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION BUSINESS MEETING Executive Order One mandates the Chair inquire as to whether any member knows of any known conflict of interest or appearance of conflict with respect to matters before the commission. If any member knows of a conflict of interest or appearance of conflict, please so state at this time in accordance with N.C.G.S. 138A-15(e). Nov. 5 Nov. 6 -Adopt Federal TED Rules Nov. 7 * Times indicated are merely for guidance. The Commission will proceed through the agenda until completed. NOTE: Below is a news release from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission announcing the ASMFC approval of a regional management approach for spiny dogfish. A separate Division of Marine Fisheries news release will be issued later regarding a North Carolina season for spiny dogfish. Fishermen should be aware that the National Marine Fisheries Service will close the spiny dogfish season for federal permit holders on November 1. Therefore, fishermen who desire to participate in the state waters spiny dogfish fishery are required to surrender their federal spiny dogfish permits. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, OCTOBER 22, 2008 PRESS CONTACT, TINA BERGER 202/289-6400 ASMFC Spiny Dogfish Board Approves Addendum II Rehoboth Beach, DE - The Spiny Dogfish & Coastal Sharks Management Board approved Addendum II to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Spiny Dogfish. The Addendum includes measures from both Draft Addenda II and III that were released for public comment throughout September and early October. Addendum II uses the regional management approach from Draft Addendum II and includes an allocation for North Carolina similar to options contained in Draft Addendum III. Under Addendum II, the annual quota will be divided regionally with 58 percent allocated to the states of Maine to Connecticut, 26 percent allocated to the states of New York to Virginia, and the remaining 16 percent allocated to North Carolina. The Board allocated a specific percentage to North Carolina because spiny dogfish are not available to their fishermen until late into the fishing season when most of the quota has already been harvested. The North Carolina allocation will allow fishermen and processors to plan fishing operations based on a specific amount of dogfish. Regional overage paybacks were also included in the addendum to maintain the conservation goals of the plan. Any overage of a region and/or state quota will be subtracted from that region/state the subsequent fishing year. Addendum II will be applied retroactively to the 2008/2009 fishing season which has an annual quota of 7,940,776 pounds after adjustments for overages. Under Addendum II, states from Maine to Connecticut may harvest 4,605,650 pounds, states from New York to Virginia may harvest 2,064,602 lbs, and North Carolina may harvest 1,270,524 pounds. The northern states (ME to CT) have already harvested their entire allocation and their fishery will remain closed until the beginning of the 2009/2010 fishing season. The final Addendum will be available in early November and can be obtained by contacting the Commission at (202) 289-6400 or via the Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News. For more information, please contact Christopher Vonderweidt, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at (202) 289-6400 or cvonderweidt@asmfc.org. ************************* Tina Berger Public Affairs Specialist Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission 1444 I Street. NW, Sixth Floor Washington, DC 20005 Phone: (202)289-6400 FAX: (202)289-6051 Email: tberger@asmfc.org www.asmfc.org ASMFC Vision: Healthy, self-sustaining populations of all Atlantic coast fish species or successful restoration well in progress by the year 2015. Contact: Patricia Smith COMMERCIAL RED DRUM HARVEST LIMIT REDUCED MOREHEAD CITY – N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Director Louis Daniel has reduced the commercial red drum harvest limit by more than half this year to pay back overages from last year. The commercial red drum harvest limit for the fishing period Sept. 1, 2008, through April 30, 2009, is set at 60,000 pounds, which is 90,000 pounds less than the 150,000-pound seasonal allowance for North Carolina’s commercial fall fishery under the state’s Red Drum Fishery Management Plan. Additionally, Daniel plans to close the commercial red drum fishing season Dec. 1, if the harvest limit is not caught before then. North Carolina waters closed to commercial red drum fishing April 3 this year because the harvest was approaching a 250,000-pound annual commercial cap. The season normally runs Sept. 1 through Aug. 31. Traditionally, the highest incidental catches occur in the fall gill net fisheries. But this year, landings in the winter were just as high, indicating some commercial fishermen may have been targeting red drum. Red drum is a commercial bycatch fishery; it is illegal for commercial fishermen to target red drum. However, the closure caused concern that fishermen would be forced to throw back dead or dying fish caught as bycatch while targeting other fish. Also, because the discarded fish would not be landed, they would not be counted against the overall commercial harvest limit. To reduce these regulatory discards of dead fish, Daniel reopened the commercial red drum harvest season April 28 with a four-fish limit (three fish fewer than the usual bycatch limit) with a provision that the red drum catch must not weigh more than the combined catch of flounder and/or striped mullet. The trip limit for this fall remains at 4 fish per day, and the red drum catch must not weigh more than the combined catch of flounder, spotted seatrout and striped mullet. October 9, 2008 Advisory panel members are appointed by the Council and serve for a three-year period, based on the frequency of meetings. As those appointments expire, members currently serving on the AP can reapply for their positions. These seats also become open to new applicants. AP members generally meet no more than once or twice each year and are compensated for travel and per diem expenses for all meetings. Applications are now being solicited for the following positions: Coral Advisory Panel Habitat Advisory Panel Deepwater Shrimp Advisory Panel King & Spanish Mackerel Advisory Panel Shrimp Advisory Panel If you are interested in serving as a member on the Council's advisory panels, please submit an application to the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, 4055 Faber Place Drive, Suite 201, North Charleston, SC 29405. Applications can be obtained by contacting the Council office at 843/571-4366 or toll free 866/SAFMC-10. Application forms are available online at www.safmc.net. Advisory panel members will be selected during the next meeting of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, scheduled for November 30 – December 5, 2008 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Applications must be received by November 10, 2008. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, one of eight regional councils, conserves and manages fish stocks from three to 200 miles offshore of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and east Florida. Kim Iverson OCTOBER 2, 2008 Please note that this press release revises and replaces the September 26th press release by adding the details of the VMRC hearing and an additional NYSDEC hearing on December 2, as well as modifying RIDFW's hearing date from November 6th to the 18th ; all other information remains the same. States Schedule Hearings on Draft River Herring Amendment Public Comment Accepted Until January 1, 2009 Atlantic coastal states have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on Draft Amendment 2 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for River Herring. The dates, times, and locations of the scheduled meetings follow: Maine Department of Marine Resources December 8, 2008, 6PM December 11, 2008, 6PM New Hampshire Fish and Game Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation December 8, 2008, 7PM New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources Virginia Marine Resources Commission North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries South Carolina Dept. of Natural Resources Draft Amendment 2 seeks input on proposed requirements for river herring population and bycatch monitoring, as well as commercial and recreational management measures. It is anticipated that the majority of coastal states will be conducting public meetings on the Draft Amendment; information on those meetings will be released once they become finalized. The Draft Amendment has been developed in response to widespread concern regarding the decline of river herring stocks. While many populations of blueback herring and alewife, collectively known as river herring, are in decline or remain depressed at stable levels, lack of fishery-dependent and independent data makes it difficult to ascertain the status of river herring stocks coastwide. Between 1985 and 2004, commercial landings of river herring dropped by 90 percent from 13.6 to 1.33 million pounds. In 2007, Commission member states reported river herring landings of approximately 1.1 million pounds. In response to declining stocks within their own waters, four states—Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and North Carolina—have closed their river herring fisheries. River herring stocks are a multi-jurisdictional resource occurring in rivers and coastal waters. River herring bycatch continues to be a significant concern. Preliminary analyses indicate that, in some years, the total bycatch of river herring species by the Atlantic herring fleet alone could be equal to the total landings from the entire in-river directed fishery on the East Coast. The Draft Amendment proposes a suite of management measures to address these concerns and ensure the survival and enhancement of depressed stocks or the maintenance of presently stable stocks. The Draft Amendment proposes mandatory data and bycatch monitoring provisions, as well as options to close fisheries by river system or establish a coastwide moratorium on the river herring fishery. Specific commercial measures include area closures, escapement provisions, and landings reductions by river systems, as well as limited access. Recreational measures include recreational license/permit, limiting recreational harvest by the days of the week, coastwide creel limit, gear restrictions, and area or seasonal closures by river system. Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on Draft Amendment 2, either through attending public hearings or providing written comments. Copies can be obtained by contacting the Commission at (202) 289-6400 or via the Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org <http://www.asmfc.org> under Breaking News. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM on January 1, 2009 and should be forwarded to Kate Taylor, FMP Coordinator, 1444 'Eye' Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at comments@asmfc.org <mailto:comments@asmfc.org> (Subject line: River Herring). For more information, please contact Kate Taylor at (202) 289-6400. ************************* Contact: Patricia Smith COMMENTS SOUGHT ON ARTIFICIAL REEF PLAN |