LINTHICUM, MD – On Nov. 14, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Atlantic Menhaden Management Board approved Amendment 3 to the Atlantic Menhaden Interstate Fishery Management Plan. AMD 3 was initiated in 2016 to address menhaden’s role as forage fish through use of ecological reference points (ERPs). However, until the Biological ERP Workgroup completes …
Category: Habitat
Mayors on both coasts speak out against marine monument designation process
NEW BEDFORD, MA – In letters sent in late August to President Obama and the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell and Monterey, CA Mayor Clyde Roberson each expressed “serious concerns” about the potential economic harm to their ports from the use of executive action by the Obama Administration …
Industry-based Gulf of Maine cod survey now in progress
GLOUCESTER, MA – Using a portion of the federal Groundfish Disaster Relief funds for Massachusetts, the MA Div. of Marine Fisheries (DMF) initiated a three-year Gulf of Maine Atlantic cod industry-based survey (IBS) in April to better inform management decisions and enable minimum estimates of swept area biomass. Last fall, Massachusetts chose to spend $700,000 …
Mid-Atlantic Council requests blueline tilefish emergency ruling
DOVER, DE – On Mar. 10, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council requested emergency rulemaking from the Secretary of Commerce under 305 (c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, to restrict commercial and recreational landings of blueline tilefish in their jurisdiction. The request came after a two-hour emergency webinar public hearing in which over …
NEFMC Special Insert – Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment
Sponsored Supplement to the August 2014 edition of Commercial Fisheries News (Click Page to Download)