I saw this on another board I read:
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is looking to ease restrictions
on striper fishing in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which is 3 to
200 miles offshore, and has asked the fishing public to comment by
May 24.
They're considering these four options. They prefer the first option:
(1) Open the entire EEZ, implement a 28-inch (71.1-cm) minimum size
limit, and allow states to adopt more restrictive regulations for
fishermen and vessels licensed in their state (ASMFC recommendation);
(2) open the entire EEZ, implement a 28-inch (71.1-cm) minimum size
limit, allow states to adopt more restrictive regulations for fishermen
and vessels licensed in their state, implement a recreational bag limit
of 2 fish per day, require circle hooks for all commercial and
recreational hook and line fishing using bait, and commercial trip limits
and bycatch trip limit options;
(3) open the entire EEZ, implement a 28-inch (71.1-cm) minimum
size limit, allow states to adopt more restrictive regulations for
fishermen and vessels licensed in their state, allow hook and line gear
only, implement a recreational bag limit of 2 fish per day, require circle
hooks for all commercial and recreational hook and line fishing using
bait, and implement a commercial trip limit of 30 fish per trip or day
whichever is greater; and
(4) status quo - maintain moratorium in EEZ.
Send them your comments in support of your preference at Striped-
Bass.Comments@noaa.gov.
Here's the full text of the announcement:
[Federal Register: April 24, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 78)]
[Notices]
[Page 20984-20986]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24ap06-43]
------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 041806D]
Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act; Atlantic Striped Bass
Fishery
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic
and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of scoping process; request for comments.
------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
SUMMARY: Based on recommendations contained in Amendment 6 to
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (ASMFC) Interstate
Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass (Amendment 6) and
comments received from an advance notice of proposed rulemaking
(ANPR), NMFS previously announced its intent to begin a scoping
process to gather information for the preparation of an environmental
impact statement (EIS). Initial scoping occurred during nine public
hearings in November-December 2003. Due to the significant time that
had passed since these initial scoping hearings, NMFS is seeking
additional scoping on its preliminary draft analyses of Federal
management options to open the EEZ to the harvest of Atlantic Striped
Bass. The purpose of this notice is to alert the interested public of this
further scoping process and to provide for public participation in
compliance with environmental documentation requirements.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be received (see ADDRESSES) no
later than 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on or before May 24, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and requests for copies of the draft
document should be sent to: Tom Meyer, State-Federal Fisheries
Division, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, NMFS, 1315 East West
Highway, Room 13248, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Mark the outside of
the envelope ''Striped Bass Scoping.'' An electronic copy of the draft
document and supporting documents (ANPR and a Notice of Intent to
Prepare an EIS (NOI)) may also be obtained on the State-Federal
Fisheries Division's website under Regulatory
Activities at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/state_federal/
state_federal.htm.
Comments may also be sent via fax to (301) 713-0596, or via e-mail
to: Striped-Bass.Comments@noaa.gov. Include in the subject
e in the subject line of the fax or e-mail the following document
identifier: Striped Bass Scoping.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Meyer, telephone
(301) 713-2334,
x173.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
An ANPR was published in the Federal Register on July 21, 2003 (68
FR 43074), with the comment period closing on August 20, 2003. The
comment period was subsequently reopened on August 26, 2003 (68
FR 51232) for an additional 30-days. NMFS announced that it was
considering proposed rulemaking to revise Federal Atlantic striped
bass regulations to be compatible with the Atlantic States Marine
Fisheries Commission's (ASMFC) Amendment 6 to the Interstate Fishery
Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass (Amendment 6), and was
seeking comments on the implementation of ASMFC's
recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) to open the
EEZ to the harvest of Atlantic striped bass. NMFS also solicited
comments on possible alternative management
measures and issues that NMFS should consider relative to these
recommendations. After review of comments received from the public
during the ANPR comment period, NMFS determined there were
sufficient issues raised, both in support of and in opposition to the
ASMFC recommendation, to warrant further evaluation of the potential
impacts of opening the EEZ to striped bass fishing. That determination
resulted in the initiation of a decision-making process required under
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). A ''Notice of intent to
prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and notice of scoping
process'' (NOI) was published in the Federal Register on October 20,
2003 (68 FR 59906). The notice presented a summary of the ANPR
comments, and requested further public input on a list of potential
alternatives and other management measures. Public meetings were
held in nine Atlantic coast states between November 5 - December 10,
2003, and public comment period closed on December 22, 2003. See
ADDRESSES for information on how to obtain a copy of the ANPR or the
NOI. Atlantic striped bass management is based on ASMFC's Atlantic
Striped Bass Interstate Fishery Management Plan (ISFMP), first adopted
in 1981. From 1981 - 1994, four ISFMP Amendments were developed
that provided a series of management measures that led to the
rebuilding of the stocks. In 1995, ASMFC declared the Atlantic striped
bass population fully restored and implemented Amendment 5 to the
ISFMP to perpetuate the stock so as to allow a commercial and
recreational harvest consistent with the long-term maintenance of the
striped bass stock. Since then the population has expanded to record
levels of abundance. To maintain this recovered population, ASMFC
approved Amendment 6 in February 2003 (copies of Amendment 6 are
available via ASMFC's website under Interstate Fisheries Management-
striped bass at http://www.asmfc.org). ASMFC believes that the
measures contained in Amendment 6 are necessary to prevent the
overfishing of the Atlantic striped bass resource while allowing growth
in both the commercial and recreational fishery. Development of
Amendment 6 took almost 4 years and involved extensive input from
technical and industry advisors, and provided numerous opportunities
for the public to comment on the future management of the species.
Amendment 6 incorporates results of the 2001 Atlantic striped bass
stock assessment, developed by the Atlantic Coast States, ASMFC,
NMFS, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (see section 1.2.2 of
Amendment 6 for summary). Amendment 6 also included
recommendations to the Secretary on the development of
complementary measures in the EEZ.
Management of Atlantic striped bass in the EEZ was one of the issues
that was considered throughout development of Amendment 6.
Recommendation to the Secretary
In addition to the recommendations to the Secretary in Amendment 6,
the Secretary also received a letter on April 24, 2003, from ASMFC with
the following three recommendations for implementation of
regulations
in the EEZ: (1) Remove the moratorium on the harvest of Atlantic
striped bass in the EEZ; (2) implement a 28-inch (71.1-cm) minimum
size
limit for recreational and commercial Atlantic striped bass fisheries
in the EEZ; and (3) allow states the ability to adopt more restrictive
rules for fishermen and vessels licensed in their jurisdictions.
In support of its request, ASMFC cited a number of reasons,
including: ASMFC declared the triped bass stock restored in 1995;
commercial harvest is controlled by individual state quotas; with the
EEZ closed striped bass caught there are required to be discarded, and
are often dead when thrown back - Opening the EEZ will convert some
of
the discarded bycatch of striped bass to landings; and Amendment 6
incorporates measures that would address future concerns about the
stock status. See ADDRESSES for information on how to obtain a copy
of
the NOI, which has a complete list of ASMFC's cited reasons.
ASMFC also stated that its Atlantic Striped Bass Technical
Committee would monitor annually the Atlantic striped bass
population,
and, if at some point in the future ASMFC determines that the Atlantic
striped bass population is overfished or that overfishing is occurring,
it may recommend further management measures for the EEZ.
Delay in the Development of an EIS
In September 2004, ASMFC's Striped Bass Technical Committee
prepared its 2004 Stock Assessment Report for use by the Striped Bass
Management Board (Board), which included data through 2003. That
assessment contradicted previous assessments, which had indicated
that
the striped bass population was not overfished and continued to grow
in
abundance. Instead, the results of the modeling portion of the 2004
assessment indicated that the stock was overfished and that spawning
stock biomass had been reduced to below target levels. However, the
members of the Technical Committee did not feel the assessment
provided
an accurate representation of stock status, especially given that
results of tagging study analyses did not show a similar increase in
fishing mortality. The Technical Committee was concerned with any
conclusions that might be derived from these estimated and
recommended
the 2004 assessment results not be used for management decisions
until
both the modeling software and the input data sets were reevaluated
during the 2005 assessment process. The results from the 2004 stock
assessment have not been used by ASMFC for management decisions.
With the great uncertainty in estimates of spawning stock biomass,
[[Page 20986]]
and fishing mortality rates during 2003, as presented in the 2004
stock
assessment, NMFS decided to delay the completion of the EIS to be
able
to incorporate the 2005 stock assessment in the EIS.
During 2005, the Technical Committee and Stock Assessment
Subcommittee reviewed model inputs and the model itself to determine
if
the results from the 2004 assessment truly reflected status of the
population or were an artifact of data or model errors. They concluded
that a number of the indices used in the 2004 effort were not
consistent with what was observed in the population as a whole, or
were
contradictory to the majority of other reliable time series. Those
indices were removed from subsequent model runs. The Technical
Committee believes the current assessment reflects the true status of
the population (within reasonable ranges of certainty). Both the 2004
and 2005 Striped Bass Stock Assessments are available on ASMFC's
website under Interstate Fisheries Management-striped bass at http://
www.asmfc.org
.
Addendum I to Amendment 6
During the development of Amendment 6, there were concerns over
the
impacts of bycatch mortality on the overall population. To address
these concerns, ASMFC is currently developing Addendum 1 to
Amendment 6
to increase the accuracy of data on striped bass bycatch in all sectors
of the striped bass fishery. Addendum I will outline mandatory data
collection and bycatch mortality studies for the commercial,
recreational, and for-hire fisheries for striped bass.
Further Public Participation
Due to the significant time that has passed since the nine initial
scoping hearings were held in November-December 2003, NMFS is
seeking
additional scoping on its preliminary draft analyses of Federal
management options to open the EEZ to the harvest of Atlantic Striped
Bass. See ADDRESSES for information on how to obtain a copy of the
draft document and where to send comments.
At this time, a preferred option has not been identified. Options
being considered in this draft document include: (1) Open the entire
EEZ, implement a 28-inch (71.1-cm) minimum size limit, and allow
states
to adopt more restrictive regulations for fishermen and vessels
licensed in their state (ASMFC recommendation); (2) open the entire
EEZ, implement a 28-inch (71.1-cm) minimum size limit, allow states
to
adopt more restrictive regulations for fishermen and vessels licensed
in their state, implement a recreational bag limit of 2 fish per day,
require circle hooks for all commercial and recreational hook and line
fishing using bait, and commercial trip limits and bycatch trip limit
options; (3) open the entire EEZ, implement a 28-inch (71.1-cm)
minimum
size limit, allow states to adopt more restrictive regulations for
fishermen and vessels licensed in their state, allow hook and line gear
only, implement a recreational bag limit of 2 fish per day, require
circle hooks for all commercial and recreational hook and line fishing
using bait, and implement a commercial trip limit of 30 fish per trip
or day whichever is greater; and (4) status quo - maintain moratorium
in EEZ.
|
|