Releases – November 17, 2011
New regulations will go into effect Nov. 14 for those who fish for spotted seatrout in coastal waters of the state. The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission adopted these measures at its meeting last week as short-term measures to address overfishing in the spotted seatrout fishery.
The regulations will: (1) Reduce the daily recreational bag limit from 6 fish per person to 4 fish per person; (2) Implement a daily commercial trip limit of 75 fish per operation; (3) Prohibit the use of gill nets on the weekend in all joint fishing waters of the state, exceptAlbemarle Sound.
Joint fishing waters are the brackish upper creeks that are managed jointly by the Marine Fisheries Commission and the Wildlife Resources Commission. Maps showing boundary lines can be found on the Division of Marine Fisheries website at www.ncfisheries.net/maps.
The prohibition of gill nets applies to both commercial and recreational nets, large mesh and small mesh nets, set and runaround nets. The action eliminates a commercial weekend closure on possession of spotted seatrout outside of joint fishing waters. It also eliminates a recreational provision that no more than two of the fish may be greater than 24 inches. The current 14-inch size limit remains in place.
The commission also tentatively approved long-term management strategies for a draft Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan. These regulations will go into place in February 2014 unless additional data becomes available before then that indicates reductions are not necessary. State law requires the commission to end overfishing within two years of final adoption of a fishery management plan.
The long-term measures will: (1) Reduce the daily recreational bag limit to three fish per person; (2) Implement a Dec. 15 through Jan. 31 recreational closure; (3) Reduce the commercial trip limit to 25 fish; (4) Eliminate commercial closures.
The long-term measures are needed because the new short-term regulations represent a 40 percent reduction in spotted seatrout fishing mortality. According to a 2010 stock assessment, a 57.1 percent reduction in fishing mortality is needed to end overfishing of spotted seatrout within two years of final adoption of the plan.
The draft long-term management measures now go to the secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resource and the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations for review.
In other actions, the commission:
(1) Postponed discussion on establishing a limited entry system for the commercial ocean striped bass fishery until its August meeting. The commission asked Louis Daniel, director of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, to pursue statutory changes to give the commission more flexibility in the state law that authorizes it to establish a limited entry system for fisheries subject to a federal fishery management plan that imposes quotas. The commission would like to change the current requirement that participation in a limited entry fishery be limited to those who landed a minimum number of pounds of fish in two of three license years.
(2) Selected preferred management options for an amendment to the Estuarine Striped Bass Fishery Management Plan. The plan now goes to the secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resource and the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations for review.
(3) Approved taking a draft amendment to the Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan out for public comment.
For the first time in history, there will be reductions in the harvest of Atlantic menhaden after a recent vote by the Menhaden Management Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). Menhaden, which serve as the primary forage base for most predatory fish, have declined to the lowest level ever recorded, sparking alarm in the recreational angling community which has long expressed concern over the impact of industrial menhaden harvest on sportfish stocks.
“This is a long-anticipated decision and it is a great relief for anglers to know that managers have finally begun the process of rebuilding this critical species,” said Charles A. Witek III, chairman of the Atlantic Fisheries Committee for Coastal Conservation Association. “The turning point was finally having science in hand that showed what many of us have been saying for a long time. We still have work to do to ensure that menhaden are properly managed to fulfill its role as a forage base, but we are finally out of the starting blocks.”
Anglers and conservationists have chafed for years under management standards that indicated the spawning stock of menhaden was perfectly healthy and the fishing mortality rate was fine or only “slightly” over the overfishing threshold. As menhaden began to disappear from parts of the coast, it became clear that something was wrong with the way menhaden were being evaluated.
Ultimately, outside scientists recommended changing reference points to better reflect the status of the stock, and in a landmark decision, the Board agreed. With this recent vote, the reference points change from the current 8 percent Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP), which means 8 percent of an unfished stock, to 15 percent MSP as the overfishing threshold.
They then adopted a target, the point for which management measures are intended, of 30 percent MSP, which will require a 37 percent reduction in harvest when implemented.
“The most critical thing that happened today is that the debate over whether or not to manage menhaden at all, is over,” said Richen Brame, CCA Atlantic Fisheries director. “Clearly these fish do indeed need to be managed, and managed conservatively. The debate now becomes about how conservatively should they be managed, and that is a much better scenario for menhaden, for sportfish, and for anglers. It took a very long time and a lot of work by many, many groups, but the ASMFC did the right thing today.”
During the public comment period leading up to this vote, the ASMFC received almost 92,000 comments, the overwhelming majority of which were in favor of reductions in menhaden harvest by the greatest amount available. With today’s decision, the focus will now turn to the next management action that will determine exactly how to implement those reductions.
