MAFMC webinar 27-Feb: Fluke/SeaBass assessments + 2019 recreational recommendations

[hartattack]

Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Monitoring Committee Meeting

The Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Monitoring Committee will meet on Wednesday, February 27, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The meeting will take place over webinar with a telephone-only connection option. Webinar Link: http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/mc-feb2019/ Audio : 800-832-

www.mafmc.org

The Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Monitoring Committee will meet on Wednesday, February 27, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The meeting will take place over webinar with a telephone-only connection option.
• Webinar Link: Adobe Connect Login
• Audio: 800-832-0736; room number 4472108
The purpose of this meeting is to review updated summer flounder stock assessment information and recommend revised 2019 and new 2020-2021 commercial and recreational Annual Catch Limits (ACLs), Annual Catch Targets (ACTs), commercial quotas, and recreational harvest limits for summer flounder. The Committee will also recommend recreational management measures for summer flounder in 2019, including either the use of conservation equivalency or coastwide recreational management measures to achieve but not exceed the revised 2019 recreational harvest limit.
Meeting Materials
• Draft Agenda https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...50067947220/FSB_MC_27FEB2019_draft_AGENDA.pdf
• 66th SAW Assessment Summary Report
o Updated 2019-2021 OFL and ABC projections (as of 1/31/19)
• Staff Memo: 2019-2021 Summer Flounder Specifications
• Staff Memo: 2019 Summer Flounder Recreational Measures
• Staff Memo: 2020 Interim Specifications for Scup, Black Sea Bass, and Bluefish
• February 21 SSC Report
• Revised catch and landings limit tables based on SSC recommendations

AGENDA Please note: times are approximate and may change based on pace of discussion. Public comment will be allowed during the meeting at designated times, at the discretion of staff.
10:00 a.m. Summer Flounder 2019-2021 ACLs and ACTs
• Review stock status, staff recommendations, and SSC recommendations based on the recent benchmark stock assessment. Recommend annual ACLs, ACTs, and resulting commercial quotas and recreational harvest limits for 2019 (revised) and 2020-2021.
12:00 p.m. Break for lunch
1:00 p.m. Summer Flounder 2019 Recreational Measures
• Review recent recreational data for summer flounder, and recommend the use of either conservation equivalency or coastwide measures for 2019. If conservation equivalency is recommended, non-preferred coastwide and precautionary default measures must be identified; if coastwide measures are recommended, the Committee should identify coastwide measures that would constrain harvest to the Monitoring Committee-recommended recreational harvest limit (RHL).
• Progress update on summer flounder recreational Management Strategy Evaluation contract (J. McNamee)
2:40 p.m. Update on Scup and Black Sea Bass 2020 Specifications Timeline
3:00 p.m. Adjourn

 

[hartattack]

Today's meeting outcome can be simply summed up in one word - STATUS QUO. Yeah I know that's two words but just like MAFMC I can't do math.

New MRIP numbers, old MRIP number - don't matter ! NOAA, in January, eluded to a 16% windfall fro Fluke - nope.

At least the Public got a chance to get their 2cents in - we asked if the biomass is perhaps at risk because regulations dictate that Recreationals only can keep large females (more fecund than smaller females) . When asked if a commercial Fluke ban can be considered during their spawning season, their ignorance was only exceeded by their spin. NJ got punished for not accepting their rhetoric in the past, now Status Quo prolongs everyone's fate. The detailed scientific Fluke Gender study by Rutgers is not going to be considered due to some Technicality. That it was funded by SSFFF makes me even more upset because SSFFF is where many fellow Flukers donate their $$ specifically to question the Regulations.

FYI - even though I live in NJ, I fish both NY & NJ waters. Any many Staten/Long Islanders do the same. I was chopped down by the NY representative today but did not take his bait. We're all doomed when mindsets are made up before facts are presented - that's politics

 

[Roccus7]

Thanks for the update, albeit a dismal one.

 

[hartattack]

Webinar this Thursday & Friday to determine our 2019 fate: The Public gets a chance here to opine.

Calendar - Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission

www.asmfc.org

Some points raised last week at the ASFMC/MAFMC recommendation meetings:
* One public speaker felt that despite regulations that now set harvest levels at a lower percentage of SSB than seen in the past, biomass is still declining and recruitment is still low. He went on to offer his feeling that the increased size limits and the corresponding increased harvest of larger females has harmed recruitment, and needs to be addressed.
• A question was asked regarding whether studies have been done on the impact of commercial fishing on spawning fish aggregations especially given that they appear to be increasingly concentrated in the northern region. The speaker felt that measures to protect fall/winter spawning aggregations of summer flounder should be considered.
• One individual asked what happened to the liberalization in the recreational fishery that was expected as the result of the interim 2019 RHLs increasing over the 2018 RHL. Staff noted that while the 2019 RHL is proposed to increase, revisions to the MRIP data increased the recreational catch estimates in a way that used up all of the increase in the RHL, which is why the MC is recommending status quo measures for 2019.
• One member of the public commented on the trends over time in the stock assessment for recruitment and spawning stock biomass, specifically trends in recruitment (R) relative to Spawning Stock Biomass (SSB). He noted that he would assume that when spawning stock biomass increases, relative R should increase with it. From 1982 through the early 2000s, R was reasonably high compared to SSB. Since 2003 when SSB started decline, R as a percentage of SSB has declined at a greater rate. He believes this is the biggest issue underlying this fishery. In addition, he commented that size regulations appeared to work up through 2003 until reaching a point where the larger size limits and started taking more larger females out of the population. SSB appeared to have drastically increased during a period of time when catch levels relative to SSB were higher and when more of the fish harvested were immature. Now, the fisheries are taking larger females with larger egg capacity and recruitment relative to SSB has been sliding. Managers need to adjust size limits and get back to regulations that were in place between 1989 and 2003. Size limits play a major role in the fishery's current recruitment problem.
• Another member of the public expressed concern about the high recreational discard rates and questioned what he is supposed to tell the children on his boats when they have to throw back most summer flounder they catch.

Here's your chance to directly speak with our regulators - please dial in if you can . . . Thanks