RJ
10-06-2006, 05:54 PM
The public is invited to attend the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's October 2005 meeting to be held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kitty Hawk, NC. The previously announced meeting has been expanded to accommodate a presentation by National Marine Fisheries Service scientists regarding the agency's recent updating of biological reference points for summer flounder. This presentation regarding this update is scheduled to occur at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 11 for approximately one hour.
In September 2006, the National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Science & Technology convened an additional review of biological reference points for summer flounder to ensure that the 2007 quota for the fishery is based on the best possible information. Reviewers met in mid-September, and reported their findings at the end of that month.
The review made no change in the current status of the summer flounder stock. It is not overfished, but the stock is only about half-way to target rebuilt size. The review confirmed that fishing rates must be substantially lowered in the next few years to provide at least a 50% chance of rebuilding the stock by 2010.
The reviewers recommended several adjustments in the assessment. The most important of these are that the stock condition be assessed using spawning stock biomass, rather than total stock biomass as in the past; and several changes in how the weight of fish not yet Age 1 are measured and incorporated into the population.
These revisions result in a fishing rate that is higher (F=0.15) than the one calculated in the 2006 assessment (F=0.099), yet still ends overfishing and rebuilds the stock by 2010.
The review also acknowledges retrospective patterns in the assessment. For the most recent year(s), the assessment consistently underestimates F by 34% (thus overfishing appears to have continued), and overestimates the biomass (by 12%) and recruitment (by 4%). The reviewers made no recommendation on how to adjust the analysis for this pattern, but note that it should be taken into account when setting management targets.
Using the revised fishing rate (F=0.15) that will provide an adequate rate of rebuilding by 2010, a 2007 quota of 12.983 million pounds has a 75% probability of achieving that rate, and a quota of 14.156 million pounds, a 50% probability of doing so.
For additional detail visit: http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/ and click on the "What's New" link.
In September 2006, the National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Science & Technology convened an additional review of biological reference points for summer flounder to ensure that the 2007 quota for the fishery is based on the best possible information. Reviewers met in mid-September, and reported their findings at the end of that month.
The review made no change in the current status of the summer flounder stock. It is not overfished, but the stock is only about half-way to target rebuilt size. The review confirmed that fishing rates must be substantially lowered in the next few years to provide at least a 50% chance of rebuilding the stock by 2010.
The reviewers recommended several adjustments in the assessment. The most important of these are that the stock condition be assessed using spawning stock biomass, rather than total stock biomass as in the past; and several changes in how the weight of fish not yet Age 1 are measured and incorporated into the population.
These revisions result in a fishing rate that is higher (F=0.15) than the one calculated in the 2006 assessment (F=0.099), yet still ends overfishing and rebuilds the stock by 2010.
The review also acknowledges retrospective patterns in the assessment. For the most recent year(s), the assessment consistently underestimates F by 34% (thus overfishing appears to have continued), and overestimates the biomass (by 12%) and recruitment (by 4%). The reviewers made no recommendation on how to adjust the analysis for this pattern, but note that it should be taken into account when setting management targets.
Using the revised fishing rate (F=0.15) that will provide an adequate rate of rebuilding by 2010, a 2007 quota of 12.983 million pounds has a 75% probability of achieving that rate, and a quota of 14.156 million pounds, a 50% probability of doing so.
For additional detail visit: http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/ and click on the "What's New" link.