2600 Washington Avenue, 4th Floor
Contact: Jack Travelstead at (757) 247-2247
North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries
September 24, 2009; 6:00 PM
Clam Digger Inn
511 Salter Path Road
Atlantic Beach, North Carolina
Contact: Michelle Duval at (252) 808-8011
* Public comment will also be gathered on Weakfish Draft Addendum IV
North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries
October 14, 2009; 6:00 PM
Roanoke Island Festival Park
1 Festival Park
Manteo, North Carolina
Contact: Michelle Duval at (252) 808-8011
* Public comment will also be gathered on Weakfish Draft Addendum IV (7:00 PM)
Draft Addendum II proposes to allow unused coastal commercial quota of striped bass to be rolled over from one year to the next. Options include state eligibility and the amount of unused quota that may be carried over. The Draft Addendum also outlines procedures for implementing and monitoring quota roll over.
The existing management program addresses coastal commercial quota overages, requiring payback of an overage in the subsequent year, yet it is silent on coastal commercial quota underages. While avoiding a quota overage signifies managerial success, a quota underage represents lost opportunity to commercial harvesters. Quota underages may result from changes in fish abundance or distribution, environmental factors, fishing effort, and regulatory measures.
The Draft Addendum presents a hypothetical situation to analyze the potential effect of allowing roll over. Had all unused coastal commercial quota in 2003 through 2007 been rolled over and then harvested in 2004 through 2008, the average increase in the total coastal commercial quota would have been less than 15 percent and the average increase in the total coastwide harvest less than two percent. An analysis by the Technical Committee indicated that a 15 percent increase in the coastal commercial quotas would have a limited effect on the fishing mortality rate, and that large fluctuations in recreational harvest, which is not regulated by quota, present a greater level of risk of exceeding the fishing mortality target or threshold. However, the Technical Committee also noted that the potential effect of roll over on the stock increases if quota underages occur due to population decline. Other concerns included the two to three year lag in reporting the fishing mortality rate estimate for any given year and that allowing roll over could provide an incentive to under report harvest.
Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on Draft Addendum II, either by attending public hearings or providing written comments. Copies of Draft Addendum II are available via the Commission's website at
www.asmfc.org under Breaking News. Public comment will be accepted until
5:00 PM (EST) on October 16, 2009 and should be forwarded to Nichola Meserve, FMP Coordinator, 1444 'Eye' Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at
nmeserve@asmfc.org (Subject line: Striped Bass Draft Addendum II).