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+--- Thread: Menhadden rules Plan (/showthread.php?tid=217154)
Menhadden rules Plan - Hutch00 - 08-27-2005
The following is a press release from the Atlantic States Marine
Fisheries Commission regarding the management plan for Atlantic
Menhaden.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, AUGUST 17, 2005
PRESS CONTACT, TINA BERGER (202) 289-6400
ASMFC Board Approves Addendum II to the Atlantic Menhaden FMP
Addendum Caps Chesapeake Bay Reduction Fishery at 5-Year Average
& Initiates Research Program to Assess the Status of Menhaden in the
Bay
The Commission's Atlantic Menhaden Management Board approved Addendum
II
to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic
Menhaden. The Addendum establishes a five-year annual cap on reduction
fishery landings in Chesapeake Bay based on the mean landings over the
last five years. The cap would be implemented beginning in 2006.
Over-harvest in any given year would be deducted from the next year's
quota. Any amount of under-harvest would not be transferred to the next
year.
This action was taken in response to concern regarding the possibility
of
localized depletion of menhaden in the Bay. The 2003 peer-reviewed
stock
assessment indicates that menhaden are not overfished and overfishing
is
not occurring on a coastwide basis, however, its bay-wide status is
unknown. Due to this uncertainty, the Management Board has implemented
a
precautionary cap to limit the expansion of menhaden reduction landings
from Chesapeake Bay.
At the same time, the Addendum initiates a research program to
determine
the status of menhaden in the Bay and assess whether localized
depletion
is occurring. It identifies the following research priorities: (1)
determine menhaden abundance in the Chesapeake Bay; (2) determine
estimates of menhaden removal by predators; (3) evaluate the rate of
exchange of menhaden between the Bay and coastal systems; and (4)
conduct
larval studies to determine recruitment to the Bay. In support of these
activities, the Commission and the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office have
begun
to move forward on a cooperative research program for Atlantic
menhaden.
The Commission conducted 12 public hearings and provided more than 60
days
for public comment on the Addendum. Copies of Addendum II will be
available in September and can be obtained via the Commission's website
at
www.asmfc.org under Breaking News or by contacting the Commission at
(202)
289-6400. For more information, please contact Nancy Wallace, Atlantic
Menhaden Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at (202) 289-6400 or
nwallace@asmfc.org.
###
ASMFC Vision: Healthy, self-sustaining populations of all Atlantic
coast
fish species or successful restoration well in progress by the year
2015.
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