The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) is meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 8 and February 9 where they will take up any final management action on the coastwide summer flounder, black sea bass and scup harvest for 2022. Due to concerns about the continued spread of COVID, this meeting will be conducted entirely by webinar. A portion of the meeting will be conducted jointly with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Interstate Fisheries Management Program Policy Board.
On Tuesday from 1 p.m. until 1:45 the MAFMC and ASMFC will finalize harvest reduction targets for the 2022 recreational black sea bass fishery. Originally thought to be a 28% overall reduction, the briefing materials for this week’s agenda show a substitute motion made via email that would “specify a 20.7% reduction in harvest compared to the 2018-2021 average,” which incorporates the Technical Committee’s analyses of the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) data detailing recreational landings in order to come up with a coastwide recreational harvest limit for 2022.
The final 2022 recreational management measures for summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass are expected to be voted upon between 1:45 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. According to those briefing materials contained within the meeting agenda the two management bodies agreed in December to increase the scup recreational minimum size limit by 1 inch in state and federal waters in 2022. In federal waters, this would result in a 10-inch minimum size. In state waters, this 1-inch increase would be applied to each state’s measures, which vary by state and mode. Collectively, this change in state and federal waters was expected to achieve an approximate 33% reduction in harvest compared to the 2019-2021 average.
On the summer flounder front, back in December the ASMFC and MAFMC recommended allowing for up to a 16.5% liberalization of state or regional measures. With conservation equivalency measures on a state-by-state basis, each coastal state will ultimately be required to devise 2022 regulations on fluke – as approved by NOAA Fisheries – that allow some flexibility on season, size and bag limits to accommodate the 16.5% increase in landings.
From 2:30 p.m. until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, February 8, the management bodies will review the recreational harvest control rule framework for fluke, porgies, sea bass and bluefish which is expected to be finalized in time for the 2023 fishing season. Public hearings on this so-called recreational reform initiative are tentatively slated for this spring. As noted in the November, 2021 edition of The Fisherman Magazine (New Jersey, Delaware Bay) this new joint initiative started between ASMFC and MAFMC would consider improvements to management of these four, key recreational species, potentially revamping recreational specification settings and how they are impacted by recreational harvest data
To log in to Tuesday’s MAFMC session go to www.mafmc.org/council-events/2022/february-2022-council-meeting. Public comments will be accepted during the meeting. For those who will not be joining the webinar but would like to listen in to the audio portion only, dial 415-655-0001 and enter access code: 2339 572 6933#). When asked for your attendee ID, enter #. Participants connected by phone only will need to enter *6 on their keypad to unmute/mute themselves and *3 to raise/lower their hands.
For more infomation contact Mary Sabo at msabo@mafmc.org or 302-526-5261.
