Monitoring and minimizing river herring and shad (RH/S) bycatch continues to be a high priority management issue for both the Mid-Atlantic and New England Councils. The Councils’ RH/S bycatch caps limit RH/S catch but can result in substantial closures of the commercial Atlantic mackerel and herring fisheries. Environmental drivers of abundance and distribution of both RH/S and the target species are likely to complicate bycatch mitigation efforts. This project will develop short-term forecast maps identifying areas of high river herring bycatch risk that will be provided to industry as a voluntary bycatch avoidance tool to minimize impacts to both RH/S and directed fishing operations.

• Project Brief

• Anticipated Timeline: July 2024 – January 2027

• Contractor: Dr. Janet Nye, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Scup Gear Restricted Areas (GRAs) were implemented by the Mid-Atlantic Council to reduce juvenile scup discards in small mesh fisheries at certain times of year. The GRAs have been in place for nearly 25 years and were developed at a time when scup were overexploited and under a rebuilding plan. Since then, the scup population has reached all-time highs while changing ocean conditions are altering the spatial and temporal distribution of scup. These biological and environmental changes may be impacting the overall effectiveness of the GRAs to minimize discards. This project will investigate potential modifications to the current scup GRAs using fisheries and environmental data along with fishing industry input. Additional details can be found on the Project Webpage.

• Project Brief

• Anticipated Timeline: July 2024 – January 2026

• Contractors: Scott Curatolo-Wagemann and Emerson Hasbrouck, Cornell Cooperative Extension and Dr. Patrick Sullivan, Cornell University

This project will be split into two parts, aiming to address several recommendations from the recent Mid-Atlantic Council program review and the East Coast Scenario Planning Initiative.  The first project component will address Council governance structures and processes (see a. below), and the second will address other aspects of the program review (see b. below).

a. Improving Mid-Atlantic Council Governance Structures and Processes

Changing species distributions increasingly pose challenges for East Coast marine fisheries governance and management structures, which were established under the assumption that stock distributions would remain relatively stable over time. The inherent complexity of these management systems also poses challenges for nimbleness and adaptation to changing conditions. As stock distributions and dynamics change, it is increasingly critical to ensure that representation on various management bodies remains fair and effective. This project will work with regional management partners and stakeholders to identify ways to increase efficiency, transparency, responsiveness, and effective representation in Mid-Atlantic Council decision-making and management structures.

• Project Brief

• Anticipated Timeline: October 2025 - June 2027

• Contractor: Kimberly Gordon (Resource Logic), Deirdre Boelke and Dr. Sean Lucey (Fisheries Insight Network)

b. Addressing Outcomes of the MAFMC/GARFO Program Review

This part of the project will address additional program review recommendations and process improvements to increase adaptability and nimbleness of our management systems in the face of climate change and to identify efficiency and communication improvements that could be made in overall mission delivery, internal processes, and stakeholder engagement.

Additional project details will be coming soon.

EFH source documents were published by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center to support the Mid-Atlantic and New England Councils’ work on fish habitat in the early 2000s. These were comprehensive documents that described what was known about fish species and their habitat requirements and provide support for EFH designations. These documents also supported other needs within the region such as stock assessments and fishery management actions. However, they have not been updated in nearly 20 years and are not available for newly added managed species (e.g., blueline tilefish). This project will update or create EFH source documents for all fishery council managed species in the Northeast to include new information on life history and ecology, distribution, habitat requirements, and climate impacts. 

• Project Brief

• Anticipated Timeline: March 2025 – February 2027

• Contractor: Dr. Gavin Fay, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's School of Marine Science and Technology

Ecosystem indicators are measurements or observations that can help track ecological, environmental, socioeconomic, and management trends. As part of the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management(EAFM) process, the Mid-Atlantic Council has regularly received ecosystem and habitat indicator information through State of the Ecosystem reports, the EAFM risk assessment, and Ecosystem and Socioeconomic Profilesdeveloped during stock assessments. While significant advancements have been made in providing ecosystem indicators to managers, incorporating this information into fisheries management remains a challenge. This project seeks to develop and test indicators in order to improve the integration of ecosystem and habitat indicators into Mid-Atlantic Council management processes and tactical decision making.

• Project Brief

• Anticipated Timeline: July 2025 – June 2027

• Contractor: Dr. Sarah Gaichas (Hydra Scientific) and Dr. Gavin Fay (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth)

Species are undergoing changes in their distribution, abundance, and productivity, and historical data may no longer accurately predict future conditions. In addition, many of our most important, longest running federal data collection programs face a significant number of challenges resulting in fewer samples and increased uncertainty. This project seeks to evaluate the levels of data collection needed under different climate scenarios to support robust stock assessments, and identify management tools and risk policies that can minimize both the risk of overfishing and the loss of fishing opportunities under those scenarios. 

• Project Brief

• Anticipated Timeline: October 2024 – February 2027

• Contractor: Dr. Lisa Kerr and Dr. Roger Brothers, University of Maine

Climate-driven changes in species distribution can create a variety of management challenges and uncertainties, particularly as species move across jurisdictional boundaries. These distribution changes can also have important effects on fishery behavior, fishing locations, and market/shoreside trends. As conditions continue to change, understanding these dynamics and their impacts will be critical for reducing uncertainties in the management process. This project seeks to evaluate changes in species and fishery distributions for all Mid-Atlantic Council managed stocks and develop a framework for using this information to support climate-ready fisheries management.

• Project Brief

• Anticipated Timeline: December 2024 – March 2027

• Contractor: Dr. Kathy Mills, Dr. Andrew Allyn, and Jonathan Labaree, Gulf of Maine Research Institute

Scenario planning is a tool that helps people and organizations prepare for uncertain futures. From 2021 to 2023, the East Coast fishery management and science organizations conducted a scenario planning exercise to explore jurisdictional and management issues related to climate change and shifting fishery stocks. One of the products of the scenario planning effort was the development of an Action Menu that includes a collection of potential actions and strategies designed to improve East Coast fisheries management in an era of climate change. This project will review the progress made on action items developed during the scenario planning process, and will seek to develop more detailed strategies for addressing particularly complex and challenging action items. 

• Project Brief

• Anticipated Timeline: Spring 2026 – Summer 2027

• Contractor: TBD