Mr. Gordon Colvin, Director of Marine Resources for DEC, briefed the Council on the latest information relative to setting the 2007 coastwide fluke quota and what this might mean for New York fishermen.

Following a joint meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) in August, the MAFMC recommended a coastwide fluke quota for 2007 of 19.9 million pounds, based on a 50% probability of hitting the current fishing mortality rate target for this species.  ASMFC deferred action in setting a 2007 quota.  The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) charged its Office of Science & Technology/Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) with undertaking an expedited re-assessment of the biological reference points (e.g. fishing mortality target, stock biomass target, etc.) contained in the fluke interstate fishery management plan.  The draft re-assessment report was submitted to a panel of independent scientific reviewers not associated with the NEFSC, although two of them were NMFS stock assessors from other parts of the country.  The re-assessment report was revised based on the reviewers' comments.  NMFS then presented the revised re-assessment report to a joint meeting of MAFMC and ASMFC, suggesting changes to the reference points for stock rebuilding and the fishing mortality rate target.  In the past, the fluke rebuilding target was based on total stock biomass.  The review panel recommended that spawning stock biomass was a better measure of the species' reproductive potential and, hence, more appropriate to use as a target for rebuilding the fluke stock.  It was also recommended that, because of the statutory obligation to rebuild to the stock rebuilding target by 2010, the fluke annual fishing mortality rate (F) should no longer be annually managed to achieve F_max but F_rebuild.  F_rebuild is a fishing mortality rate target that is lower than the F_max that would be necessary to rebuild the stock faster to achieve the 2010 stock rebuilding target.  Based on a revised target fishing mortality rate of F=0.15 (the F_rebuild), a 2007 coastwide fluke quota of 12.98 million pounds has a 75% probability of achieving this rate and a quota of 14.15 million pounds has a 50% probability of achieving it.  Based on this analysis, NMFS has published a proposed regulation that would establish the 2007 fluke quota at 12.98 million pounds.  ASMFC, which had initially recommended a 2007 fluke quota of 19.9 million pounds, will review this earlier recommendation in light of the re-assessment report's recommendations at its scheduled meeting in December. 

Mr. Colvin commented that he had been told that NMFS will soon send a letter to ASMFC, stating what actions would ensue if ASMFC sticks with its previous recommendation of a 2007 coastwide fluke quota of 19.9 million pounds.  These measures include a closing of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to fluke fishing, disallowance of using state-by-state conservation equivalency to manage fluke recreational fishing and detailed procedures for handling the payback of any future fluke harvest overages.  There has been a lot of discussion about changing the requirement to rebuild the fluke stock by 2010.  Mr. Colvin noted that this requirement stems from the Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA), which resulted from the most recent reauthorization of the federal Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.  The MAFMC, as it was required to do under the SFA, submitted an amendment to the fishery management plan for fluke that included a plan to rebuild the fluke stock in 10 years.  That amendment was accepted and approved.  However, the Magnuson-Stevens Act is up for reauthorization again and some have suggested that, in reauthorizing this legislation, a relaxation of the 10-year stock rebuilding requirement might be possible.  The US Senate has already passed a reauthorization bill, as has the House subcommittee dealing with marine fisheries.  However, the full House has NOT yet passed this bill.  Should the House pass a reauthorization bill, any differences between it and the bill passed by the Senate would be reconciled in a conference.  Mr. Colvin felt that it was unlikely that the reauthorization of Magnuson-Stevens Act will be accomplished in the current session of Congress.  More likely, a two-step process will unfold: 1) do what needs to be done under current law and then, 2) attempt to get relief from the 2010 deadline from Congress.

There has been a letter co-signed by a number of the national marine conservation organizations that have been actively involved in federal fishery issues.  The letter is being regarding by the NMFS as a part of the public comment on the proposed rule to set the 2007 coastwide fluke quota at 12.98 million pounds.  This letter promotes the view that, by law, an annual harvest quota needs to have a 50% or higher probability of achieving the overfishing target (F_max) for a species, but this standard does not necessarily apply to a stock rebuilding target or a F_rebuild associated with a rebuilding target in any one year.  However, these groups believe that the 50% probability standard does apply to these other targets when averaged over a period of several years.

Mr. Colvin noted that the view that suggests that the quota that has been set by the federal government (12.98 million pounds) is irrelevant; most fluke fishing is done in state waters and the states, through ASMFC, should just go ahead and set a higher limit.  Mr. Colvin pointed out that this would result in recreational and commercial fluke fishermen operating under different management measures.  While most of the recreational fluke catch is harvested from state waters, this is not true of the commercial fluke fishery, which takes a lot of fish in the EEZ (federal waters).  If ASMFC does set a substantially higher quota than that proposed by NMFS, and, as a result, NMFS closes the EEZ to fluke fishing, commercial fishermen would bear the brunt of this closure.

Mr. Colvin concluded his remarks by noting that, at a coastwide quota of 12.98 million pounds, New York's 2007 commercial harvest quota for fluke would be 400,000 lbs as opposed to 900,000 lbs in 2006.  Recreationally, the number for next year is still undecided but something to keep in mind is that New York has already gone over with this year's quota.  Stay tuned.

 

Page last modified Friday, December 29, 2006 by George E. Carroll