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+--- Thread: Atlantic Croaker rule changes (/showthread.php?tid=217155)
Atlantic Croaker rule changes - Hutch00 - 08-27-2005
The following is a press release from the Atlantic States Marine
Fisheries Commission regarding the management plan for Atlantic
Croaker.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, AUGUST 17, 2005
PRESS CONTACT, TINA BERGER (202) 289-6400
ASMFC Approves Draft Amendment 1 to the Atlantic Croaker Plan for
Public
Comment
The Commission's South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management
Board
approved Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for
Atlantic Croaker for public review and comment. This Amendment
incorporates information from the 2004 peer-reviewed stock assessment
as
well as the required provisions of the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries
Cooperative Management Act.
The 2004 stock assessment found the stock for the Mid-Atlantic region
(North Carolina through New Jersey) not overfished and overfishing not
occurring. The stock status for the South Atlantic region (South
Carolina
through the east coast of Florida) is unknown due to a lack of data.
The
stock assessment shows that both fishing mortality and spawning stock
biomass for the Mid-Atlantic region has exhibited a pronounced cyclical
trend over the time series. Over the last few years, abundance has been
at
an historic high for the species in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Amendment 1 proposes the establishment of biological reference points
(i.e., biomass and fishing mortality targets and thresholds) to manage
the
croaker resource and includes options to control fishing mortality
regionally or on a coastwide basis. It also identifies research
priorities
to bolster future stock assessments and encourages the states and the
federal government to continue ongoing juvenile and adult surveys for
data
collection purposes.
The Commission will be conducting public hearings on the Draft
Amendment
in late September/early October; information on those hearings will be
released once it becomes available. The Board will meet in early
November
to review public comment on the Draft Amendment and consider its final
approval. Copies of the Draft Amendment will be available by early
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. Public comment will be accepted until early October and
should
be forwarded to Nancy Wallace, Atlantic Croaker Fishery Management Plan
Coordinator, at 1444 'Eye' Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC
20005;
(202)289-6051 (fax) or comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Atlantic
croaker). For more information, please contact Nancy Wallace 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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