Deadline: Friday October 2, 2015, 11:59 p.m. EST
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is soliciting scoping comments for an action that will address unmanaged forage species in the Mid-Atlantic. For details and supporting documents related to this action, please review the scoping document or visit the Unmanaged Forage Action page.
Please use the form below to comment on any of the following questions/topics or other relevant issues that you believe the Council should consider as part of this proposed action.
- What type of management action is most appropriate? (For example, development of a new FMP, and amendment to an existing FMP, or another action.)
- What type of management provisions would be most effective? (For example, designating unmanaged forage species as stocks “in the fishery”, as ecosystem component species, or as components of Essential Fish Habitat, or another provision.)
- Which currently unmanaged forage species should the Council include in the action?
- What type of fishing should the action regulate? (For example, all directed fishing, commercial fishing only, or commercial and recreational catches above a certain level.)
- Over what geographic area should the action apply?
- How should the Council prohibit the expansion of existing fisheries?
- How should the Council allow new fisheries for forage species to develop?
- What scientific data and models are available to inform the action?