Coastal Conservation Association (CCA)

CCA Comments on 2007
Total Allowable Landings of Fluke

November 17, 2006

Mark Gibson
RI DEM
3 Fort Wetherill Road
Jamestown, RI 02835

Dear Mr. Gibson,

Enclosed please find the comments of the Coastal Conservation Association on the 2007 total allowable landings for summer flounder. Here are the points that we believe are most relevant to the present summer flounder issue:

The estimated annual fishing mortality rate has exceeded Fmax every year since 1985.

This information alone should cause concern among managers. Summer flounder recreational harvest regulations have been set at the upper limit allowed for at least the last 5 years. This risky management strategy bets the future of summer flounder stocks against above average recruitment and constant effort.

Recruitment has been average for the past 5 years and has actually declined as a percentage of the available spawning stock.

Unfortunately, recruitment has remained at or below average levels, actually declining as a percentage of the available spawning stock biomass. The 2^nd lowest recruitment in the 23 year time series occurred in 2005.

SSB is required by law to be rebuilt to 197,000 million pounds by 2010.

Managers cannot escape the fact that current law requires the summer flounder stock to be rebuilt to a spawning stock biomass of 197 million pounds by 2010. While the rebuilding provisions of federal law only apply to NOAA Fisheries, and not to ASMFC, and ASMFC could in theory select a higher TAL for 2007, we do not believe it is advisable to do so, as the inshore and offshore fisheries are inextricably linked.

Functionally, ASMFC sets the recreational regulations and NOAA Fisheries sets the commercial regulations. While some recreational anglers do pursue summer flounder in federal waters, and some commercial vessels do not have federal summer flounder permits, it is generally true that most of the recreational harvest takes place within three miles of shore, while most of the commercial harvest is taken in federal waters. However, while the flounder may be caught in different places, they belong to the same stock. Thus, anything that affects the harvest of one sector of the fishery ultimately affects everyone.

ASMFC’s decision must be scientifically supportable.

Managers have been presented with two different reports, one from the Monitoring Committee in July and one, more recently, from Dr. Terceiro, which use different approaches to come to what is essentially the same conclusion: The summer flounder stock is hovering just above 1/2Bmsy, and that additional constraints on harvest are necessary if there is to be a timely recovery. The conclusions of such reports were not well received by the various user groups, and there has been significant pressure on the Commission to abandon NOAA Fisheries approach and adopt a 2007 TAL that is unlikely to meet the federal rebuilding deadline. However, those who advocate such an approach have failed to provide any reasoned assessment of the risk to the summer flounder population that could result from a higher TAL, and have certainly been unable to provide any support as authoritative as the peer-reviewed report on which NOAA Fisheries has based its actions.

We have heard a constant drum beat regarding the inadequacies of the Marine Recreational Fishing Statistics Survey (MRFSS) and its use for summer flounder management. Indeed, the National Academies stated the following: “…..the designs, sampling strategies, and collection methods of recreational fishing surveys do not provide adequate data for management and policy decisions.”

What we never hear is the obvious corollary to that statement: Management should be more conservative given the inadequacy of the data.

If MRFSS is unfit for management, as has so often been stated, then it is not only unsuitable for determining recreational harvest. It is also unsuitable for determining state by state allocations, quota management, conservation equivalency or setting TAL’s anywhere near Fmax.

We urge the ASMFC and MAFMC to set the 2007 TAL at a number that can be biologically justified under the current federal rebuilding requirements. If the rebuilding timeline can be extended then the same request applies – institute a TAL that will restore the stock by the new time line.