NMFS Adjusts Recreational Bluefin Tuna Retention Limits (PDF)

Contact: Susan Buchanan MEDIA ADVISORY

301-713-2370 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Feb. 28, 2007

NOAA REQUESTS PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN PLANS TO END OVERFISHING

Suggestions Will Be Taken at Meeting on Jekyll Island, Ga.

The U.S. Congress and President Bush recently directed the nation’s fishery managers to end overfishing by 2010. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will host an open meeting in Georgia to give citizens in the southeastern United States an opportunity to comment on how this marine stewardship responsibility may be accomplished.

WHAT: Public Scoping Meeting to Receive Input on:

§ Developing an environmental impact statement for this action

§ Establishing annual catch limits in U.S. fisheries to end overfishing

§ Establishing accountability measures associated with catch limits

§ The role of science (the councils’ Scientific and Statistical Committees) in establishing annual catch limits

WHEN: March 6, 2007, 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Jekyll Island Club Hotel, Jekyll Island, Georgia 31527
WHO: Interested members of the public and news media

BACKGROUND

The United States is overfishing 48 species or species complexes, including 11 in the South Atlantic and nine coast-wide highly migratory stocks. Continued overfishing has slowed the rebuilding of overfished stocks.

The newly reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Act requires annual catch limits by 2010, which will end overfishing. Annual catch limits must be coupled with accountability measures to ensure that catches do not exceed the limit or potentially mitigate the effect of exceeding the limits, and the law elevates the importance of following scientific advice in fishery management decisions.

With assistance from the public, NOAA will develop guidelines to help the eight regional fishery management councils and NOAA Fisheries Service modify fishery management plans to meet these requirements.

The guidelines should be finalized by the end of 2007. Written comments may be emailed to: annual.catch.limitDEIS@noaa.gov; faxed to: 301-713-1193; or mailed to: Mark Millikin, NOAA/NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway; Silver Spring, MD 20910. The deadline for comments is April 17, 2007.

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Public meetings have been scheduled in other regions of the country. To see the entire list of dates and locations, go to: Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorized Act of 2006: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/msa2007

Kim Iverson
Public Information Officer
South Atlantic Fishery Management Council
4055 Faber Place Drive, Suite 201
North Charleston, SC 29405
843/571-4366 or toll free 866/SAFMC-10
Fax 843/769-4520
kim.iverson@safmc.net
www.safmc.net

Agencies Clarify Rule for Bait Herring

RALEIGH, N.C. (March 1) - The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and the Division of Marine Fisheries want anglers to know they can still use river herring (alewife and blueback herring) as bait as long as those herring are not taken from coastal rivers and sounds.

Anglers fishing for striped bass in the Albemarle Sound, Roanoke River, their tributaries and other coastal rivers traditionally use cut herring as bait. Many anglers question if this practice will continue in light of the recent restrictions on the harvest of river herring enacted by the two agencies to protect dwindling fish stocks.

In order to use herring as bait, recreational fishermen must have in their possession a dated receipt, including the name of the retail store. The receipt allows enforcement officers to verify the herring came from a legal source.

The Division of Marine Fisheries recently enacted a moratorium on the harvest and sale of river herring taken from joint and coastal fishing waters while Wildlife Resources Commission regulations prohibit the take or possession of river herring greater than 6 inches in length from the inland fishing waters of coastal rivers and their tributaries up to the first impoundment dam of the main course on the rivers.

First impoundment dams are Roanoke Rapids Dam on the Roanoke River, Rocky Mount Mill Dam on the Tar River, Milburnie Dam on the Neuse River, Buckhorn Dam on the Cape Fear River, Lake Waccamaw Dam on the Waccamaw River and Blewett Falls Dam on the Pee Dee River.

Allowing anglers to use herring less than 6 inches in length for bait in inland waters lets anglers continue to fish with herring taken from inland reservoirs. On the Roanoke River, inland waters begin at the US 258 bridge near Scotland Neck. Stunted herring populations in reservoirs are not considered to make significant contributions to coastal migratory stocks.

Fisheries managers expect these harvest restrictions will protect the remaining river herring stocks and allow the populations to rebuild.

For more information, please contact the Wildlife Resources Commission, Division of Inland Fisheries, at (919)707-0220 and the Division of Marine Fisheries at (252) 726-7021 or (800) 682-2632.