Latest news on black sea bass

[jackdaniels]

Latest news on black sea bass
JOHN OSWALD • STAFF WRITER • February 5, 2010

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) concluded its winter meetings on Thursday with a decision on black sea bass that hinges on a decision by Pat Kurkul, regional administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). As always, when it comes to fisheries management, nothing is simple.




The bottom line is that the ASMFC will agree to the higher quotas recommended by the Science and Statistical Committee (SSC) of Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council(MAFMC) as soon as NOAA does.
Once NOAA agrees to the emergency action to increase the quota, anglers will face a reduction in sea bass quota, but it will be much less of a reduction than was originally set.
"It was a huge success in that, one, were were able to get the council (MAFMC) in December to send black sea bass back to the SSC and two, then get the SSC to recognize all the information for sea bass and give them the justification to raise the quota," said Tony Bogan of the United Boatmen.
"Now with the increase in quota, as long as the NMFS agrees to it, the reduction in quota is less and we're now looking at a black sea bass season from May 22 through Sept. 12. That's a big improvement over a two-month season which was going to be June 1 to June 30 and Sept. 1 to Sept. 30," Bogan said..
" People might have been hoping for the status quo, but there was never any possibility of that. We would have need the recreational land commercial quota combined for that," Bogan added. The next step will be for the MAFMC to take a similar step on changing their recommendation to the NMFS when they meet next week.
One thing that Bogan has hoped for at the ASMFC meeting was that the actual Wave 5 data from September and October would be available, so decisions could be made on actual landing as opposed to projections. That data is due any day and may play a role in the decisions coming out of the MAFMC meetings.
"Real numbers would have shown participation and effort for sea bass plummeted," he said.
Another bit of news Bogan found troubling was that the technical staff did not adjust black sea bass landings or projections to reflect the impact of black sea bass closure. It was deemed the impact of the closure on the landings would be insignificant. He questioned if the result of the action was insignificant, why did NMFS do it in the first place.
http://www.app.com/article/20100205/...black-sea-bass

[Capt.Troy Crane]

Good info,
lets hope for the best.

Thanks for the update.

[jackdaniels]

Complete document at:
http://www.nero.noaa.gov/nero/regs/f...010SpecsFR.pdf

Through this emergency rule NMFS is implementing increases to the 2010 black sea
bass specifications (i.e., commercial fishing quota, recreational harvest limit
(RHL), and research set-aside (RSA)). This action is necessary to mitigate
potential foregone economic yield associated with the current lower
specifications and to ensure the specifications are consistent with the best
available scientific information. This action is also necessary to increase
specifications consistent with the recently revised catch level recommendation
from the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and its scientific
advisors, the Scientific and Statistical Committee