2000
Weakfish
FMP
Review
2000
REVIEW
OF
THE
ATLANTIC
STATES
MARINE
FISHERIES
COMMISSION
FISHERY
MANAGEMENT
PLAN
FOR
WEAKFISH
(
Cynoscion
regalis)

Plan
Review
Team
Heather
Stirratt,
ASMFC,
Chair
Rick
Cole,
DE
Louis
Daniel,
NC
Charles
Lesser,
DE
Rob
O'Reilly,
VA
October
2000
_______________________________________________________________________________________

2000
REVIEW
OF
THE
ASMFC
FISHERY
MANAGEMENT
PLAN
FOR
WEAKFISH
(
Cynoscion
regalis)

I.
Status
of
the
Fisheries
Management
Plan
The
Atlantic
States
Marine
Fisheries
Commission
(
ASMFC)
adopted
its
first
Fishery
Management
Plan
for
Weakfish
in
1985.
Amendment
#
1
to
the
FMP,
which
superseded
the
original
plan,
was
adopted
in
1992,
and
Amendment
#
2
was
adopted
in
October
1994.
Weakfish
are
currently
managed
under
the
guidelines
contained
in
Amendment
3,
which
was
approved
by
the
Commission
in
May
1996
and
completely
replaces
all
previous
amendments.

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2000
Weakfish
FMP
Review
The
goals
of
Amendment
#
3
are
to
utilize
interstate
management
so
that
Atlantic
coastal
weakfish
recover
to
healthy
levels
which
will
maintain
commercial
and
recreational
harvest
consistent
with
self­
sustaining
spawning
stock
and
to
provide
for
restoration
and
maintenance
of
essential
habitat.
The
management
objectives
are:
1)
to
restore
the
weakfish
population
over
a
5­
year
period;
2)
to
reach
and
maintain
a
target
fishing
mortality
rate
of
0.5;
3)
to
restore
the
expanded
age
and
size
structure;
4.)
to
achieve
compatible
and
equitable
management
measures
among
jurisdictions;
5.)
to
promote
cooperative
interstate
research,
monitoring
and
law
enforcement;
6)
to
promote
identification
and
conservation
of
habitat;
and
7)
to
establish
standards
and
procedures
for
both
the
implementation
of
Amendment
3
and
for
determination
of
states'
compliance
with
provisions
of
the
management
plan.

Weakfish
are
managed
under
this
plan
as
a
single
stock
throughout
their
coastal
range.
All
states
from
Massachusetts
to
Florida
and
the
Potomac
River
Fisheries
Commission
have
a
declared
interest
in
the
Weakfish
FMP.
Responsibility
for
the
FMP
is
assigned
to
the
Weakfish
Management
Board,
Plan
Review
Team,
Technical
Committee,
Stock
Assessment
Sub­
Committee
and
Citizen's
Advisory
Panel.

II.
Status
of
the
Stock
The
status
of
the
stock
was
updated
in
the
fall
of
1999
based
upon
new
information
and
recommendations
from
SAW
26.
The
new
stock
assessment,
as
peer
reviewed
by
the
30th
Stock
Assessment
Review
Committee
(
SARC),
confirms
preliminary
trends
of
increasing
abundance,
spawning
stock
biomass,
expanding
age
structure,
and
decreasing
fishing
mortality
rates.
Data
extending
through
terminal
year
1998
was
considered
by
the
30th
SARC
in
determining
current
fishing
mortality.
The
SARC
approved
1998
fishing
mortality
estimate
of
0.20
is
below
the
management
plan's
projected
2000
rebuilding
goal
of
F
=
0.50.
Caution
should
be
afforded
in
acceptance
of
the
SARC
approved
fishing
mortality
estimate
in
that
terminal
year
estimates
are
commonly
associated
with
higher
degrees
of
scientific
uncertainty.

In
addition
to
the
peer
review,
the
ASMFC
Technical
Committee
also
reviewed
the
status
of
Weakfish
stocks.
The
Technical
Committee
estimated
fishing
mortality
to
be
around
0.28
for
1998.
This
estimate
is
also
well
below
the
management
plan's
projected
2000
rebuilding
goal
of
F
=
0.50.
Caution
should
be
afforded
in
acceptance
of
the
Technical
Committee
approved
fishing
mortality
estimate
in
that
terminal
year
estimates
are
commonly
associated
with
higher
degrees
of
scientific
uncertainty.

III.
Status
of
the
Fishery
Commercial
landings
increased
steadily
from
7.1
million
pounds
in
1995
to
8.3
million
pounds
in
1998.
A
slight
decrease
in
commercial
landings
occurred
in
1999
(
6.9
million
pounds).
Landings
from
North
Carolina,
Virginia
and
New
Jersey
combined
accounted
for
55%
of
commercial
landings
in
1999,
with
40%
coming
from
North
Carolina
and
New
Jersey.

According
to
MRFSS,
1999
recreational
harvest
was
1,651,554
fish,
or
3.1
million
pounds,
which
represents
a
decline
in
number
of
fish
from
1998
(
2,386,345
fish)
as
well
as
a
decrease
in
the
weight
from
1998
(
4
million
pounds).
Recreational
landings
intensified
by
120%
between
the
years
1995
and
1998.
Most
of
the
increase
was
due
to
landings
from
the
states
of
Delaware,
Maryland,
New
Jersey
and
Virginia.
Landings
from
these
states
accounted
for
90%
of
recreational
landings
in
1998.

IV.
Status
of
Research
and
Monitoring
North
Carolina,
New
Jersey
and
Delaware
conduct
small
trawl
surveys
to
determine
a
juvenile
index
for
weakfish.
Delaware,
Maryland,
Virginia
and
North
Carolina
collect
age,
size
and
weight
and
CPUE
data
from
large
trawl
surveys.
North
Carolina,
Delaware,
and
Maryland
monitor
size
and
age
composition
of
their
commercial
fisheries.
Virginia
also
monitors
sex,
size,
and
age
from
commercial
fisheries
and
sex
and
size
from
recreational
fisheries.
North
Carolina
samples
juvenile
abundance
and
continues
to
evaluate
by
catch
in
shrimp
trawls
equipped
with
BRDs.

The
Gulf
and
South
Atlantic
Fisheries
Development
Foundation
is
evaluating
the
overall
finfish
by­
catch
in
shrimp
trawls.
North
Carolina
and
South
Carolina,
with
the
assistance
from
several
other
states
and
federal
partners,
are
reviewing
different
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2000
Weakfish
FMP
Review
aging
methods
for
weakfish.
Georgia
is
conducting
fishery
independent
and
fishery
dependent
sampling
of
shrimp
trawl
bycatch.

V.
Status
of
Management
Measures
Each
state
is
required
to
implement
harvest
reduction
strategies
designed
to
recover
weakfish
over
a
5­
year
period.
Restoration
of
historic
age
and
size
structure,
as
represented
by
the
average
percentage
of
fish
numbers
at
each
age
from
1979
to
1994,
is
also
a
plan
goal.
Table
1
describes
the
necessary
reductions
under
Amendment
#
3
for
fishing
years
1996­
2000.
According
to
the
26th
SAW,
the
projected
fishing
mortality
for
1996
was
achieved
and
according
to
the
most
recent
stock
assessment
fishing
mortality
is
below
0.50.
However,
the
Board
has
discussed
modifying
the
fishing
mortality
target
to
be
consistent
with
the
new
stock
assessment
methods.

Table
1:
Required
reduction
schedules
for
fishing
mortality
rates
(
F)
for
Atlantic
Coast
weakfish,
1996
­
2000.
All
reductions
in
F
are
based
on
a
12­
inch
minimum
size
limit.

Fishing
Year
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
Projected
F
1.27
1.27
1.01
0.76
0.50
Table
2
shows
the
average
percentage
of
fish
numbers
at
each
age
(
age
0
to
7
and
older)
from
1979
to
1994.
The
fishing
year
is
currently
defined
as
April
1
through
March
31.
A
summary
of
state
weakfish
regulations
for
the
1999
recreational
and
commercial
fishery
is
also
included
(
Appendix
1).

Table
2:
Average
percentage
of
fish
numbers
at
each
age
(
age
0
to
7
and
older)
from
1979
to
1994.
Data
comes
from
the
1994
Virtual
Population
Assessment
model.

Percentage
of
Weakfish
at
each
Age
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
and
Older
Average
%
68.45
20.98
7.28
2.09
0.69
0.29
0.10
0.12
VI.
Current
State­
by­
State
Implementation
per
Compliance
Requirements
as
of
(
fishing
year
established
date)

As
of
October
11,
2000,
all
states
were
in
compliance
with
Amendment
#
3
to
the
Weakfish
Fishery
Management
Plan.
The
states
of
Florida,
South
Carolina,
and
Georgia
remain
de
minimis
states
as
defined
in
Amendment
#
3.
Their
landings
for
1998
and
1999
are
well
below
the
standard
for
de
minimis
of
1%
of
coastwide
commercial
and
recreational
directed
landings
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2000
Weakfish
FMP
Review
for
1998
and
1999.
In
addition,
the
states
of
Massachusetts
and
Connecticut
also
meet
the
standard
for
de
minimis
status.

VII.
Status
of
Assessment
Advise
Upon
conclusion
of
the
1999
Weakfish
stock
assessment
peer
review,
the
30th
SARC
confirmed
that
fishing
mortality
in
1998
was
below
the
management
target
for
the
year
2000
(
Ftarget
=
0.5).
The
SARC
also
noted
that
while
stock
rebuilding
is
occurring,
the
size
and
age
structure
has
not
been
fully
restored.
As
a
result,
the
30th
SARC
recommended
that
managers
maintain
a
low
fishing
morality
rate
to
enhance
age
and
size
structure
expansion.
In
accordance
with
these
recommendations,
the
Technical
Committee
has
recommended
revised
reference
points
of
Ftarget=
0.31,
Fthreshold=
0.5,
and
SSBthreshold=
20%=
14,400
metric
tons
for
consideration
in
the
development
of
Amendment
4.

VIII.
Recommendations
The
Plan
Review
Team
recommends
that:

1.
States
continue
to
maintain
harvest
levels.
2.
Review
the
Evaluation
Manual
and
if
necessary
make
changes
that
will
clarify
mortality
adjustments
and
an
appropriate
baseline
period.
3.
The
appropriateness
of
recreational
creel
limits
should
be
examined
and
revised
if
necessary.
4.
The
criteria,
procedures,
and
requirements
for
de
minimis
status
should
be
revisited.

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