The date, time, and location of the scheduled VMRC meeting follows:

Virginia Marine Resources Commission
February 15, 2011; 6:00 PM
2600 Washington Avenue, 4th Floor
Newport News, Virginia
Contact: Jack Travelstead at (757) 247-2247

The Draft Addendum provides seven alternatives to allocate 42% of the annual quota to states from New York through North Carolina through state-specific shares. Other measures include quota transfer, quota payback, and possession limit options.  The proposed measures do not impact the quota allocation or possession limits for Maine through Connecticut.

Six of the quota allocation measures are based on a combination of historic and current landings and include a baseline allocation for states with insignificant landing history.  The other quota allocation option is based on 1994 – 2000 landings history, which are the years used to calculate North Carolina’s current 16% allocation.  In addition, the Draft Addendum proposes a three-year re-evaluation of final measures.

The Draft Addendum was initiated to provide the southern states greater flexibility in managing their quotas through state-specific quotas.  Some states have expressed interest in lowering daily possession limits when demand and value are low and increasing them when demand and value are greatest.  The current system does not allow an individual state (with the exception of North Carolina) to do so without having less access to the regional quota.

Under the current system if a state chose to lower its possession limit, other states could continue to harvest the regional quota under the 3,000 pound daily possession limit.  Individual state quotas could allow a state to set possession limits that maximize the return to its fishermen.

Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum, either by attending public hearings or providing written comments. The Draft Addendum can be obtained via the Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News or by contacting the Commission at (703) 842-0740.

Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on March 4, 2011 and should be forwarded to Chris Vonderweidt, FMP Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; (703) 842-0741 (FAX) or at cvonderweidt@asmfc.org (Subject line: Spiny Dogfish Addendum III). For more information, please contact Chris Vonderweidt at (703) 842-0740 or cvonderweidt@asmfc.org.

source: ASFMC

                          

The options to be considered are:

A)  18-inch minimum size limit; 4 fish possession limit; and, no closed season

B)  17 1/2-inch minimum size limit; 4 fish possession limit; and, no closed
season

C)  17 1/2-inch minimum size limit; 3 fish possession limit; and, no closed
season

                          

The Virginia Fisherman Identification Program (FIP) will require unlicensed saltwater anglers age 16 and older to register for free with the VMRC and receive an identification number annually. If someone plans to saltwater fish without needing to buy a license, they’ll need to register with VMRC.

Adult anglers who fish for anadromous or marine species in Virginia’s freshwaters will need to register as well.  Anglers that only fish on licensed charter boats you do not have to register.

Anglers can register online at www.mrc.virginia.gov/FIP or call toll-free 800-723-2728. Phone operators can only take registrations and cannot look up FIP information or answer program questions.

For more information on the FIP, visit www.mrc.virginia.gov or call the VMRC at 757-247-2200.

                          

The licenses will be retired permanently. The removal of 75,441 licensed crab pots represents an almost 20 percent reduction in the number of pots permitted for use in Virginia waters.

“This far surpassed our expectations,’’ said VMRC Commissioner Steven G. Bowman. “This is a great long-term benefit for this environmentally and economically important species.”

The license buyback program closed on Nov. 1. A total of 664 bids were received, in the first ever so-called reverse auction in which crabbers submitted non-negotiable bids and gave the lowest offer they would accept for the purchase of their licenses.

The bids were analyzed and matched to the harvest histories of each bidder. Purchase priority was given for the licenses used most often, and number of pots permitted for each license, in order to reduce the fishing effort in the most cost-efficient manner.

Acceptance letters to the holders of the 359 licenses accepted for the buyback were mailed on Nov. 20. Checks will be written within the next few weeks.

Payments will be made from a pool of $6.7 million appropriated by the federal government as part of a blue crab disaster designation by the National Marine Fisheries Service last year. The VMRC’s license buyback program was enthusiastically approved by NMFS.

License buyback offers were accepted from 59 full-time commercial crabbers, 131 part-time crabbers and 169 crabbers who had not used their licenses since 2004 and were put on a waiting list until the crab population rebounds and stabilizes at high levels for three consecutive years.

Those full-time crabbers held licenses that permitted the use of 14,299 crab pots; 27,733 pots for part-timers; and 33,409 for those on the waiting list.

“It is especially important to ensure the long-term viability of our rebuilding efforts to retire licenses held by those on the waiting list. When the overall crab population returns to abundance, those licenses could significantly undermine the stability of the stock if they were put back in use,’’ said VMRC Fisheries Chief Jack Travelstead. “This is money well spent for the future of this fishery.”

Removing 75,441 crab pots from circulation is a reduction of 18 percent of the 423,000 crab pots that had been licensed for use in Virginia waters.

Retiring 359 crab licenses from the books will leave 1,649 licenses in circulation, including 314 licenses that cannot currently be used because they are on a waiting list. The number of crab licenses issued was capped in 1998.

The bids received varied widely. Full-time crabber bids ranged from $5,000 to $600,000; part-timer bids ranged from $500 to $634,000; and bids from those on the waiting list ranged from $500 to $300,000.

The accepted bids ranged from $500 to $175,000.

Last year, the VMRC and Maryland officials confronted a dangerously low crab population and enacted a bay-wide 34 percent harvest reduction strategy in an effort to rebuild a stock in danger of crashing in the event of a single poor year of reproduction.

At that point, the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab population had plummeted 70 percent since 1993.

The VMRC banned the winter dredging of crabs last year and this year, shortened the season for harvest of female crabs, required larger escape rings on crab pots, and enacted a waiting list for inactive licenses.

Within a year, the bay-wide adult crab population doubled, according to a scientific crab population survey that has proven over decades to be highly accurate. Results of this winter’s survey will guide the VMRC in future crab management decisions.

“We are stewards of our marine resources and we take our jobs seriously,” said Bowman. “We will do what is necessary.”

                          

Individual sections of the guide include:

Virginia’s Marine Waters and Fisheries

A Guide to Virginia’s Saltwater Fish
How, When and Where to Catch

Virginia’s Public Boat Launching Facilities

The Modern Angler – Angling Ethics

Virginia’s Artificial Reef Program

Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament

Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program

Fisheries Management

Enforcement and the Virginia Marine Police

Virginia’s Saltwater Recreational Fishing License

Saltwater Fishing – Where to Begin

Fish Identification Guide

for more information or to download documents, see: http://www.mrc.virginia.gov/vswft/Angler_Guide/index.shtm

                          

Maine Department of Marine Resources
October 5, 2009; 6 PM
Freeport Community Library
10 Library Drive
Freeport, Maine
Contact: Terry Stockwell at (207) 624-6553
* Public comment will also be gathered on Shad Draft Amendment 3 and Striped Bass Draft Addendum II

Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources
October 6, 2009; 5:30 – 9:00 PM
Tawes State Office Building, C1 Conference Room
580 Taylor Avenue
Annapolis, Maryland
Contact: Alexei Sharov 410-260-8288
* Public comment will also be gathered on Shad Draft Amendment 3 and Striped Bass Draft Addendum II

Virginia Marine Resources Commission
September 29, 2009; 6 PM
2600 Washington Avenue, 4th Floor
Newport News, Virginia.
Contact: Jack Travelstead at (757) 247-2247

Draft Addendum IV proposes extending the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery harvest cap, established through Addendum III, for an additional three years (2011 – 2013). Under the proposed Addendum, the Board would annually review measures to determine if they are appropriate given the most recent information available about the stock and fishery.

The Board’s action was requested by the Commonwealth of Virginia in order to accommodate its legislative process as well as ensure that the current management program is extended while menhaden research efforts continue. Virginia’s legislature, which meets January through March each year, is responsible for regulating the menhaden reduction fishery in state waters. With a new Addendum in place this year, Virginia state administrators can work with the legislature in early 2010 to amend Virginia law to extend the harvest cap without the current cap expiring.

Addendum III established the current annual cap of 109,020 metric tons on reduction fishery harvests in Chesapeake Bay as a precautionary measure while research was conducted to address the question of menhaden abundance in the Bay. The cap has been in place since 2006 and will extend through 2010. Harvest for reduction purposes is prohibited in the Chesapeake Bay when 100 percent of the cap is landed. Over-harvest in any given year would be deducted from the next year’s quota. Addendum III also includes a provision allowing under-harvest in one year to be credited only to the following year’s cap, not to exceed 122,740 metric tons. Since Addendum III was implemented, reduction landings of menhaden from Chesapeake Bay has not exceeded the cap.

Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on Draft Addendum IV, by attending public hearings or providing written comments. Copies of Draft Addendum IV 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 EST on October 9, 2009 and should be forwarded to Braddock Spear, Senior FMP Coordinator for Policy, 1444 ‘Eye’ Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at bspear@asmfc.org (Subject line: Draft Addendum IV).

source: ASMFC press release

                          

Comments should arrive by 5pm, Monday, September 21, 2009. Copies of the proposed regulations may be reviewed, at the Commission, Monday through Friday, 8:15am to 5pm, and may be obtained by calling the Commission at (757)
247-2248.