Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Meeting – Stripers and Menhaden

Last week, I attended the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 80^th Annual Meeting in Long Branch, New Jersey.  Every year, ASMFC’s annual meeting is hosted by one of the 15 member states in a rotation. The beachside city of Long Branch was a perfect setting for lively fishery management discussions backdropped by a sensational fall striper fishery along the beaches of Sandy Hook and within Raritan Bay.  To add to the excitement, the 29^th annual Laura Leach Fishing Tournament, that runs concurrently with the annual meeting, fueled a friendly fishing competition.  Below is a quick recap of top priority issues from the meeting and a few fish stories.

Atlantic Striped Bass

I recently covered the positive outcome of the 2022 Stock Assessment Update, but briefly, the striper population is no longer experiencing overfishing and has a high probability of rebuilding by 2029 if managers can keep fishing mortality at current levels.  In other words, the recreational slot limit is working.  ASMFC’s Striped Bass Board Chair Marty Gary had this to say, “This 2022 assessment was the first check-in point for progress toward stock rebuilding by 2029. He added, “It is extremely important that we continue to monitor fishery removals and conduct regular stock assessments to keep evaluating rebuilding progress and stay on track.” The next stock assessment update is scheduled for 2024, and the Board will review the 2022 removals as soon as the data are available to evaluate whether catch remains at sustainable levels.

We still have a long way to rebuild the striped bass fishery, but with news that we’re heading in the right direction, I was optimistically ready for the NJ striper fishing experience.

I met up with Jim Hutchinson at The Fisherman Magazine and John DePersenaire from Viking Yachts for a trip with Captain Brian Rice with Jersey Devil Sportfishing to target some large fish for Grey Fish Tagging Research.  Bump trolling live eels was a new technique for me, but it was a very effective method for catching big striped bass.  The Grey Fish tagging program demonstrates the benefits of connecting angling enthusiasts with the scientific community. Best of all, I got to name this one (see photo at right) after my daughter, Amelia Kate.

Also, Nick Honachefsky, from Saltwater Underground, had me dialed in on the evening surf bite along the sandy hook beaches.  Thanks to team Daiwa for setting me up with the perfect rod reel combo for this surf fishing action!

Atlantic Menhaden

The other major discussion issue at the ASMFC meeting was setting the 2023 menhaden fishing quota and a debate on menhaden allocation.

The Atlantic Menhaden Management Board increased the 2023 quota to 233,550 metric tons which is an approximate 20% increase from 2022.  The increase was supported by the 2022 Stock Assessment Update that found Atlantic menhaden in a healthy stock status relative to ecosystem needs.  ASA and its coalition partners were supporting a lower quota because both the striped bass and bluefish fisheries are currently in rebuilding, and we want to maximize the availability of menhaden as prey.  Despite the quota being higher than what we wanted; the Board was considering a range of quotas from 194,000 to 326,500 so managers chose a quota on the conservative end of the possible quota range.

The Board also approved changes to Atlantic menhaden’s fishery management plan.  First, they allocated more of the quota to the New England states to address higher availability of menhaden in the Northeast along with ongoing bait shortages from Atlantic herring’s poor stock condition.  Second, they closed a loophole for purse seines that were legally harvesting under a small-scale incidental catch provision.  Third, they fixed a quota accounting issue so that all commercial landings now count towards the quota (previously the small-scale incidental catch did not count towards the quota).  We supported all these changes and believe they will improve menhaden conservation and management.