Dakota Tom's comments last week to MAFMC are now part of the documentation if you follow the link that Dales provided above:
" . . Some of the public expressed concern regarding the recent low recruitment levels for summer flounder and asked questions regarding how this relates to spawning stock biomass (SSB) trends and management regulations over the time series.
* One public speaker felt that despite regulations that now set harvest levels at a lower percentage of SSB than seen in the past, biomass is still declining and recruitment is still low. He went on to offer his feeling that the increased size limits and the corresponding increased harvest of larger females has harmed recruitment, and needs to be addressed.
• A question was asked regarding whether studies have been done on the impact of commercial fishing on spawning fish aggregations especially given that they appear to be increasingly concentrated in the northern region. The speaker felt that measures to protect fall/winter spawning aggregations of summer flounder should be considered.
• One individual asked what happened to the liberalization in the recreational fishery that was expected as the result of the interim 2019 RHLs increasing over the 2018 RHL. Staff noted that while the 2019 RHL is proposed to increase, revisions to the MRIP data increased the recreational catch estimates in a way that used up all of the increase in the RHL, which is why the MC is recommending status quo measures for 2019.
https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...2019_final.pdf
And then Tom presents this info to ASFMC last Friday:
https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...1-19_final.pdf
" . .
• One member of the public commented on the trends over time in the stock assessment for recruitment and spawning stock biomass, specifically trends in recruitment (R) relative to Spawning Stock Biomass (SSB). He noted that he would assume that when spawning stock biomass increases, relative R should increase with it. From 1982 through the early 2000s, R was reasonably high compared to SSB. Since 2003 when SSB started decline, R as a percentage of SSB has declined at a greater rate. He believes this is the biggest issue underlying this fishery. In addition, he commented that size regulations appeared to work up through 2003 until reaching a point where the larger size limits and started taking more larger females out of the population. SSB appeared to have drastically increased during a period of time when catch levels relative to SSB were higher and when more of the fish harvested were immature. Now, the fisheries are taking larger females with larger egg capacity and recruitment relative to SSB has been sliding. Managers need to adjust size limits and get back to regulations that were in place between 1989 and 2003. Size limits play a major role in the fishery's current recruitment problem.
• Another member of the public expressed concern about the high recreational discard rates and questioned what he is supposed to tell the children on his boats when they have to throw back most summer flounder they catch.
Although the NJMFC meeting on 7-March is in-person only, please dial into the 6-March ASMFC meeting that will dictate what NJ will be facing in 2019. It is great that Tom's input is now Public Record, hopefully it does not fall on deaf ears on Thurs in Virginia. Here is the link --> http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/march2019 
