Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council

logo

BLUEFISH FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLAN
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - AMENDMENT 1

Amendment 1 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Bluefish Fishery (FMP), prepared by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission), is intended to manage the bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) fishery pursuant under both the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSFCMA) of 1976, as amended by the Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA), and the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act (ACFCMA). The management unit is bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) in U.S. waters in the western Atlantic Ocean. The goal of the management plan is to conserve the bluefish resource along the Atlantic coast. The Council and Commission have adopted five major objectives to achieve this goal:

1. Increase understanding of the stock and of the fishery.

2. Provide the highest availability of bluefish to U.S. fishermen while maintaining, within limits, traditional uses of bluefish.

3. Provide for cooperation among the coastal states, the various regional marine fishery management councils, and federal agencies involved along the coast to enhance the management of bluefish throughout its range.

4. Prevent recruitment overfishing.

5. Reduce the waste in both the commercial and recreational fisheries.

Overfishing Definition

The SFA requires that FMP's contain a definition of overfishing which contain status determination criteria comprised of two components: 1) a maximum fishing mortality threshold and 2) a minimum stock size threshold. For bluefish, the maximum F threshold is specified as F_MSY, or the fishing mortality rate which produces maximum sustainable yield (MSY). The minimum biomass threshold is specified as ½ the biomass level associated with maximum sustainable yield (B_MSY).
Management Strategy

The Council and Commission propose to rebuild the bluefish stock to the B_MSYlevel over a nine year rebuilding period through the implementation of this amendment. The preferred alternative will eliminate overfishing and rebuild the bluefish stock through a graduated reduction in the fishing mortality rate. For the first two years of the rebuilding plan (1999-2000), F will remain at the current level (F=0.51) and then will be reduced to F=0.41 in years 3-5 (2001-2003) and finally to F=0.31 in years 6-9 (2004-2007). During the rebuilding period, the target F for the next fishing year would be set at the level specified in the rate reduction schedule or the level estimated for the most recent year, whichever is less. This schedule would allow for stock rebuilding to the level which would support harvests at or near MSY by the year 2007 or earlier.
Specification of Adopted Management Measures

The following is a summary of the management measures adopted by the Council and Commission to implement this Amendment (a complete description of the proposed management measures is given in section 3.1).
Permits and Fees

The following permits will be required:

1. Operator permits for commercial and party and charter boats.

2. Vessel permits for party and charter boats.

3. Vessel permits for commercial vessels (permit to sell).

4. Dealer permits (permits to purchase).

5. Permitted vessels may only sell to permitted dealers and permitted dealers may only buy from permitted vessels.

6. Party and charter boat, commercial vessel, and dealer reports.

In cases where states already have permit systems in place as called for in this amendment, then the amendment will allow implementation of mechanism consistent with the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program to eliminate duplicate state/federal permits.
Bluefish FMP Monitoring Committee

The Bluefish Monitoring Committee is a joint committee of the Council and Commission that will be made up of staff representatives of the Mid-Atlantic, New England, and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, the Northeast Regional Office, the Northeast Fisheries Center, and Commission representatives. The Bluefish Monitoring Committee will annually review the best available data and recommend to the Council Committee and Commission Bluefish Management Board, commercial (annual quota, minimum fish size, and minimum mesh size) and recreational (possession and size limits and seasonal closures) measures designed to assure that the target mortality level for bluefish is not exceeded.

Framework Adjustment Process

In addition to the annual review and modifications to management measures associated with the monitoring committee process, the Council could add or modify management measures through a framework adjustment procedure. This adjustment procedure allows the Council to add or modify management measures through a streamlined public review process. As such, management measures that have been identified in the plan could be implemented or adjusted at any time during the year. The Commission could implement these same modifications through their adaptive management process.
Commercial Management Measures

Commercial fish size limitations and minimum mesh requirement

The minimum fish size and minimum mesh restrictions for otter trawls and gill nets may be implemented according to the Bluefish FMP Monitoring Committee process or the framework adjustment process.

Commercial quota

A quota would be allocated to the commercial fishery to control fishing mortality. The quota would be based on the most recent estimates of stock size coupled with the target fishing mortality rate (which would allow for a calculation of total allowable landings). Based on the historic proportion of commercial and recreational landings for the period 1981-1989, 17% of the total allowable landings (TAL) would be allocated to the commercial fishery. If the commercial quota was less than 10.5 million lbs, the quota could be increased up to 10.5 million lbs if the recreational fishery was not anticipated to land their entire allocation for the upcoming year. A state-by-state system to distribute and manage the annual commercial quota would be implemented by the Council and Commission. Quotas would be distributed to the states based on their percentage share of commercial landings for the period 1981-1989.

De minimus specifications

Any state that has commercial landings less than 0.1% of the total coastwide commercial landings in the last preceding year for which data are available would be eligible for de minimus. The de minimus specifications only apply to the commercial fishery. Any state granted de minimus status would be allocated 0.1% of the coastwide commercial quota. The sum of the allocations to de minimus states would be deducted from the coastwide commercial quota before the remainder is allocated to the other states.
Recreational Management Measures

Recreational size, possession and seasonal limits

The recreational fishery throughout the management unit would be managed through an annual evaluation of a framework system of possession limits, size limits, and seasonal closures. The annual recreational possession limit, size limit, and season would be set at a range of between 0 and the maximum allowed by the recreational share of the adopted fishing mortality rate reduction strategy. The current 10 fish possession limit would remain in effect. States could develop and implement alternative recreational management measures that were equivalent to the coastwide measures.
Recreational Harvest Limit

A recreational harvest limit would be allocated to the recreational fishery to reduce exploitation rates on the fully recruited age groups. The harvest limit would be based on the most recent estimates of stock size coupled with the target fishing mortality rate (which would allow for a calculation of total allowable landings). Based on the historic proportion of commercial and recreational landings from 1981-1989, 83% of the total allowable landings would be allocated to the recreational fishery.