maryland sfac - a look forward into the next decade · 2020-02-05 · maryland sfac - a look...

Maryland SFAC - A Look Forward Into the Next Decade John Neely, Chair January 28, 2020 It’s often said that hindsight is 20/20. But rather than look back, I thought I’d take a look forward over the next decade. It’s important to note two things: First our SFAC is an advisory body; not one for advocacy. But we can question spending priorities & also traditional ways of doing things. Second, I’m not a scientist or a fisheries biologist, but I do have almost forty years of chasing trout in mountain streams, catching bluegills in farm ponds, and fishing for smallmouth in the upper Potomac and Patapsco Rivers. Not to mention serving on this commission since 2015 & its chair for the last two years. So as a private citizen, here’s what I see coming down the pike & it’s a strong caveat to say I may be wildly inaccurate. First, political & budget challenges from our legislature. Our delegates are largely educators & teachers, policy wonks with a background in specific causes, social workers & attorneys who work largely in social justice. Their constituents are located increasingly in urban areas. These are not people who are especially knowledgeable about the outdoors; few fish & even fewer hunt. This has broad repercussions in wildlife & fisheries management, because what the legislature – and their voters – know about the outdoors is mainly learned from the media & environmental advocates. Second, spending continues to exceed revenues. For the past several years, the Maryland economy has enjoyed low unemployment & higher wages such that our treasury should be flush with cash. And yet, we continue to have a structural deficit, with the state projected to be in the red by more than $750 million within two years. The Kirwin commission has recommended about $4 billion in additional spending each year for public schools, an amount that will only serve to pit educational & environmental groups against one another. One thing is for sure though: our legislature is increasingly activist & they will continue to intervene when they perceive that present conservation measures are inadequate. We have just seen this with oysters & I believe you will eventually see legislation introduced concerning striped bass. So what does all this budget talk have to do with fishing. Well, the current administration has been cutting $1.2 million per year from the DNR for a total of $3.6 million in savings. These are funds that formerly would have gone into field work by DNR biologists & habitat remediation projects. The way I see it, these spending pressures are only going to continue for the foreseeable future. The second major issue is climate change. We are making progress in water quality in the Bay. With Blue Plains & the Baltimore waste water treatment plants coming on board, millions of tons of nitrogen are not now going into the Chesapeake Bay. This will only help in the problems for fish associated with dead zones & lack of dissolved oxygen. Maryland counties moreover are spending over $1 billion per year in stream remediation projects, habitat restoration & buffer plantings, all to prevent further runoff & sedimentation into the bay tributaries. Tony Prochaska & his team have developed a brook trout plan based on their five year sampling program. This strategic conservation plan, a model for the rest of the nation, addresses the threats of climate change & should result in an overhaul of our brook trout fisheries management plan. The Annapolis-based Chesapeake Conservancy has now mapped the 42 million acre bay watershed with one square meter resolution, and states, counties & municipalities will now have open access to their mapping. Maryland DNR staff are already using the Conservancy’s website for landowner engagement. To be sure, there will be setbacks. Heavy doses of fresh water from violent & increasingly frequent thunderstorms will cause havoc in habitat for freshwater fish & runoff into the bay in general. And one other setback will be the ticking time bomb at Conowingo Dam. It’s only a matter of time before another hurricane or tropical storm comes up the bay to flush the large volume of sediment behind the dam and into the bay.

As for our fish stocks in particular, the next decade will be one of continued change. First off, invasive species, in particular snakeheads & blue catfish. Blue cats have migrated to just about every tributary in the bay, and snakeheads are not far behind. As Joe Love pointed out in his MPT Outdoors Maryland episode, snakehead fish, once established, either eat or drive out all other competing fish, especially white & yellow perch. I do think that over the next several years, we will see snakeheads in the upper Potomac & Ohio River system. With a population in excess of 100 million in the Chesapeake Bay, blue catfish are established & will severely curtail other fish stocks. Studies in the Potomac River are showing just that outcome, & fortunately, largemouth stocks have not yet been noticeably hurt. As we look ahead for striped bass, despite conservation measures imposed by the ASMFC, we will continue to see a lack of spawning females & perhaps a scarcity in juveniles. Mike Luisi & Lynn Fegley and their teams have done yeoman work, balancing the interests of commercial fishermen, charterboat captains and recreational fishermen. The fishery until recently spanned the entire east coast, northern Florida to Maine. Today, there is little or no spawning in NC’s four river systems, which used to contribute 15% of the east coast stocks. Conversely, the Maritimes in Canada are buried in striped bass. Labrador for the first time in their recorded fisheries history now has a commercial season. Over the next decade, I honestly see the Chesapeake Bay becoming a juvenile nursery, with young rockfish hanging around for 2-4 years and then traveling northward. This fishery will be supplemented by southern species such as red drum, Spanish mackerel and cobia in the bay & other fish such as sheepshead on the coast. So again, changing fish stocks are what we can expect; we are seeing changes occurring from year to year, unheard of in the past. In a few minutes, I will ask you to approve a new SFAC sub-committee, Tidal Waters & Coastal Fisheries, which will on an ongoing basis look at the state of our Chesapeake Bay fishery, examine trends & report out at future SFAC meetings. We’ve talked about brook trout, we’ve talked about striped bass. Now let’s talk black bass. Tidal largemouth bass at present are pretty stable. The Potomac River, Deep Creek Lake, Liberty Reservoir, the Gunpowder Falls River and Lochraven Reservoir will continue to be the most popular freshwater fisheries destinations among the public. As for smallmouth bass, we will probably continue to see a declining population. Their intersex condition from ingestion of estrogenic chemicals in fertilizers, soaps, perfumes & birth control pills, plus the havoc played by extreme freshwater input from thunderstorms will continue to impact poor spawning & reproduction. At a future SFAC meeting, I’d like for John Mullican and Joe Love to speak further about the intersex problem, its effect on immune systems, and maybe possible remedies, because smallmouth hold great promise as a gamefish. We will see several more trends in fisheries management. First, there is now a nationwide movement away from stocking hatchery raised rainbow trout. Stocking trout is expensive, they really aren’t good for the habitat & they have virtually a 100% mortality. I know there is a tradition of catching stocked rainbows, and in theory stocking reduces pressure on wild trout streams, but almost every trout placed in streams from just east of Cumberland to Frederick – Piedmont Maryland in other words – will die by June 15th. If we insist on stocking programs, then let’s raise & incrementally place smallmouth in selected streams & the upper Potomac. And then, let’s promote the blazes out of that fishery & encourage recreational fishermen to pursue that species as a gamefish. Second, diversity will continue to grow among the fishing public. We will continue to see increased outreach to the Hispanic community & the makeup of this commission & the DNR will increasingly reflect the diverse population we serve. In the next few years, the Chesapeake Bay may be elevated in status to one level below a national park. Designation as the Chesapeake Bay National Recreation Area is intended to promote outdoor recreation businesses, visitation, tourism, jobs, stewardship legacy & public access. The plan is based on the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco. How this designation will affect fisheries regulations, I don’t know. But the CBNRA is probably coming.

A similar nationwide trend has been occurring with the removal of dams. The year before last, Bloede Dam on the Patapsco was removed, opening up miles of spawning habitat for river herring, eels and shad, & the effect was almost immediate. This trend will continue as other dams are slated for removal across Maryland. Finally, we have a need for better data & the information from that data. Not just for stock assessments. Or fish mortality from dead discards, but basic information about the number of recreational anglers in our state waters. Credible sources tell us that we have in excess of 700,000 anglers, but license sales are around 325,000. So through technology, we will see voluntary angler reporting of catch, catch rates & species targeted, among other data. Use of technology will only grow in importance as a fisheries management tool. So that’s our fishery in a nutshell. Change will be a constant. There will be increasing budgetary pressures & constraints imposed by the legislature. Climate change will exert enormous pressure on our existing stocks; it will change the fish we target, will require new fishery management plans & indeed, will require a whole new approach in fisheries management. We are a group of 17 commissioners from across the state. We are uniquely suited to work with the public, our DNR biologists & the fishery itself in facing these challenges. Thank you so much for your continued contributions.

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Coastal Fisheries ProgramAngel Willey, Program Manger

January 28, 2020

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Fishing & Boating Services

9/28/20181/28/2020

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Topics

• Who we are• What we do• Highly migratory species

stock status

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Who We Are

1/28/2020

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What we do

• Trawl & Beach Seine surveys• Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Habitat Survey

1/28/2020

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What we do

1/28/2020

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What we do

Tautog Biological Samples

Horseshoe Crab Spawning

Survey with the Maryland

Coastal Bays Program

1/28/2020

Year 5Year 6

Year 1 @ 7-8mm

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

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What we do

• At sea subsamples: trawlers and lobster/Jonah• Check station samples for striped bass

1/28/2020

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What we do

Commercial Fishery Monitoring

• Horseshoe Crab Biomedical

• Scup (Summer Period)• Smooth Dogfish• Spiny Dogfish

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Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission• Technical committees• Plan development teams• Compliance reports• Atlantic Coastal Cooperative

Statistics Program (ACCSP)– Biological Review Panel– Bycatch Prioritization Committee

• Northeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (NEAMAP) Operations Committee

1. American lobster2. Black Seabass3. Coastal Sharks 4. Horseshoe Crabs5. Jonah Crab6. Scup7. Spiny dogfish8. Summer Flounder9. Tautog

What we do

1/28/2020

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Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council

• Monitoring committees– Black sea bass– Scup– Spiny dogfish– Summer flounder

• Appointment applications

What we do

1/28/2020

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NOAA Highly Migratory Species • Highly Migratory Species Advisory

Panel • International Commission for the

Conservation of Atlantic Tunas Advisory Committee

• Catch Card Census

Take Reduction Teams (TRT)• Bottlenose dolphin (BDTRT)• Harbor porpoise (HPTRT)

What we do

1/28/2020

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• State record verifications

• Fishing and Crabbing Guide

• Legislative updates• Regulations• Coastal zone

management• Collection permits

• Climate change planning

• Beach replenishment• Dredging• Offshore wind• Harmful algal bloom

collection requests

What we do

1/28/2020

Reviews/Expertise/Network

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Public Engagement• Coastal Recreational

Fisheries Forum • Coastal Commercial

Fisheries Forum• Spiny Dogfish Workgroup• Harbor Day

What we do

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What we do

1/28/2020

Partnerships• Maryland Coastal Bays Program

– Implementation Committee– Science and Technical Advisory

Committee

• Unpaid Interns • UMES graduate/PHD students• Studies with Captains

– Hook study published in Fishery Bulletin– Mylar balloon project

• Data Requests– Universities, Gov and NGO’s

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Highly Migratory Species

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Stock StatusHighly Migratory Species

1/28/2020

Species Overfished OverfishingStock

AssessmentBlue Shark No No 2015

Shortfin Mako Yes Yes2017/2019

UpdateScalloped Hammerhead Yes Yes 2009Smooth Dogfish No No 2015Sandbar Shark Yes No 2017Dusky Shark Yes Yes 2016Atlantic Sharpnose No No 2013Bluefin Tuna Unknown No 2017/2020Bigeye Tuna Yes Yes 2018/2023Yellowfin Tuna No No 2019Swordfish No No 2017Blue Marlin Yes Yes 2018White Marlin/Roundscale Spearfish Yes Not Likely 2019Sailfish No, Rebuilding No 2016

Sheet1

Sheet2

Relevant only to the stocks accessible from Maryland

SpeciesOverfishedOverfishingStock AssessmentComments

Blue SharkNoNo2015

Shortfin MakoYesYes2017/2019 Update

Scalloped HammerheadYesYes2009ICCAT 2019

Smooth DogfishNoNo2015SEDAR

Sandbar SharkYesNo2017SEDAR

Dusky SharkYesYes2016SEDAR

Atlantic SharpnoseNoNo2013SEDAR

Bluefin TunaUnknownNo2017/2020SEDAR

Bigeye TunaYesYes2018/2023SEDAR

Yellowfin TunaNoNo2019SEDAR

SwordfishNoNo2017

Blue MarlinYesYes2018

White Marlin/Roundscale SpearfishYesNot Likely2019ICCAT 2019

SailfishNo, RebuildingNo2016

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FYIMatapeake Field Office

Angel Willey & Craig [email protected] [email protected]

410-643-4601

Ocean City Field OfficeSteve Doctor & Gary Tyler

[email protected] & [email protected]

• Coastal Fisheries Program dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/Pages/coastal/index.aspx

• Catch Card Census• dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/Pages/coastal/tagging.aspx

• NOAA Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Stock Assessment and Fisheries Evaluation Reports fisheries.noaa.gov/atlantic-highly-migratory-species/atlantic-highly-migratory-species-stock-assessment-and-fisheries-evaluation-reports

Fishing & Boating ServicesSport Fisheries Advisory Commission – January 28, 2020

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ASMFC / MAFMC Updates and Announcements

ASMFC: February 4-6, 2020 (Arlington, VA)• Atlantic Menhaden

• Benchmark Single Species Stock Assessment + Ecological Reference Point Analysis•Stock Status healthy. Ultimate application of ERP a Board decision considering tradeoffs

between striped bass and menhaden •TAC is set for 2020•Virginia found out of compliance by Secretary of Commerce•Failed to implement 51,000mt Chesapeake Bay reduction cap•Deadline to implement is June 17 or a complete moratorium will be imposed

Spot and Croaker• Final action on Addendda III•No action likely needed in Maryland for Croaker. May need to implement creel limits in

2021 for spot. This determination will likely be in August 2020


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ASMFC: February 4-6, 2020 (Arlington, VA)• Spanish Mackerel

• ASMFC management is mis-aligned with South Atlantic Council plan. Some changes to management may be forthcoming in the next year

• Cobia• New stock assessment shows healthy stock. Specification will potentially be considered

for next 3 years. Maryland remains tied to Virginia regulations

• Striped Bass (Separate Section on the Agenda / After ASMFC/MAFMC Updates)


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JOINT ASMFC / MAFMC: December 9 - 12, 2019 (Annapolis, MD)• Set recreational management measures for bluefish, SF , BSB and scup.• All measures are to remain status quo with the exception of bluefish (overfished)• Bluefish – Adjustments to creel limit were made

• Reduced from a 10 fish per person• Charter Boats will be at 5 fish per person / Private at 3 fish per person

Next MAFMC: February 11 – 13th, 2020 (Duck, NC)•Lots of planning for work to be done in 2020

DNR will be soliciting for applications for the MAFMC• Obligatory Seat for MD• 3 Year Term



Striped Bass Management (Coastwide Data)


Addendum VI – Recreational Measures

Ocean / Coastal Recreational Fishery• 1 fish between 28 and 35 inches

Chesapeake Bay Recreational Fishery• 1 fish @ 18 inches / No Closed Season

• Same Trophy Season as 2017 (1 @ 35”)

• Third Saturday in April Start Date


Conservation Equivalency Proposal


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Striped Bass Management (Spring Season)Public Comment Summary

Management Action Support OpposedPermanently establish the Circle Hook provisions set for 2018 and 2019 77 6

Delay the start of the Trophy Season until May 1 103 10Prohibit Catch & Release / Targeting in March and April 53 116

Timeline on Decisions for the Spring

● After ASMFC meeting next week we will be finalizing

our plan for the spring


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All Options have a 19 inch minimum size limitOptions #1 - #3 have a 2 fish creel limit - with exceptions


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All Options have a 19 inch minimum size limitOption #4 is different in creels for the recreational sectors (private v. charter)


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Timeline for Summer/Fall Regulations• Obtain ASMFC approval for our Conservation Equivalency Proposal

at the Winter meeting next week (February 4th)

• Once approved, solicit initial feedback through scoping on the

options – Including the ASMFC Addendum VI Option of 1 @ 18”

• Propose Summer/Fall Regulations in early Spring

• Expected ‘Effective Date’ in early summer

• Size limits and creel limits can be modified by Public Notice

• Only seasonal closures with provisions for ‘No Targeting’ will need

regulatory action.


John Neely Presentation - Maryland SFAC A Look ForwardCoastal Fisheries ProgramFisheries Management

maryland sfac - a look forward into the next decade · 2020-02-05 · maryland sfac - a look...

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