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Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries 251 Causeway Street, Suite 400 Boston, MA 02114 (617) 626.1520 Fax (617) 626.1509 |
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September 13, 2006
MarineFisheries Advisory
The Commonwealth will host a second ASMFC hearing on Draft Addendum I to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Striped Bass at 6PM on Thursday, September 21st at the Plymouth Radisson (180 Water St.) This hearing is in addition to a September 25th hearing in Gloucester (see September 5 MarineFisheries Advisory at www.mass.gov/marinefisheries). Please see the ASMFC press release below and visit www.asmfc.org for further information.
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | PRESS CONTACT |
| SEPTEMBER 5, 2006 | TINA BERGER 202/289-6400 |
States Schedule Hearings on Striped Bass Draft Addendum I
States from New Hampshire through Maryland have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on Draft Addendum I to Amendment 6 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass. The dates, times and locations of the scheduled meetings follow:
New Hampshire Fish & Game |
New York Department of Environmental Conservation September 19, 2006; 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM 205 North Belle Mead Road, Suite 1 East Setauket, New York Contact: Gordon Colvin at (631)444-0433 |
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries September 25, 2006; 5:30 PM - 6:00 PM |
New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife September 11, 2006; 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Ocean County Public Administration Building Public Hearing Room #119 101 Hooper Avenue Toms River, New Jersey Contact: Peter Himchak at (609)748-2020 |
| Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife September 19, 2006; 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM URI Narragansett Bay Campus Corless Auditorium South Ferry Road Narragansett, Rhode Island Contact: Najih Lazar at (401)423-1926 |
Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources September 12, 2006; 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Tawes State Office Building C-1 Conference Room 580 Taylor Avenue Annapolis, Maryland Contact: Howard King, III at (410)260-8281 |
The Draft Addendum proposes the establishment of a data collection program to assess the accuracy of current fishery discard estimates and their overall impact on the striped bass population. The proposed bycatch data collection program contains recommended data collection methods and elements, discard mortality studies, and Technical Committee analyses for the states' commercial, recreational, and for-hire fisheries. Under the proposed program, states would be required to report any bycatch and/or data monitoring within their annual compliance reports to the Commission.
Striped bass discard mortality was estimated to account for more than 36% of the overall fishing-related removals in 2004. During
the development of Amendment 6, the Striped Bass Management Board raised concerns over the impacts of discard mortality on
the overall population. At that time, the Board agreed to develop a data collection program to collect the information necessary to
evaluate the accuracy of the current discard estimates. Based on the guidance in Amendment 6, the Board is developing this
Addendum to establish the data collection program. Under the proposed Addendum, the collected data would be analyzed to
determine if any fisheries result in striped bass bycatch levels that have a significant impact on the overall population or a sub-set
of the population. If any fisheries were determined to have a significant impact, a subsequent addendum would be developed to
address the problem.
Copies of the Draft Addendum can be obtained by contacting the Commission at (202) 289-6400 or via the Commission's website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM on September 27, 2006 and should be forwarded to Nichola Meserve, Fisheries Management Plan Coordinator, 1444 'Eye' Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Striped Bass Draft Addendum I). For more information, please contact Nichola Meserve at (202) 289-6400 or nmeserve@asmfc.org.
