National

National

Northeast

East Coast

Alaska

Western Pacific Pelagics Team Meeting April 29-May 1, 2008

New England Herring Advisory Panel Meeting April 30, 2008

North Pacific Fishery Management Council Crab Plan Team Meeting May 6-9, 2008

Council Coordination Committee Meeting May 6-9, 2008

South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Public Hearings Scheduled May 7-15, 2008

New England Fishery Management Council Skate Committee and Advisory Panel Meeting May 14-15, 2008

Caribbean Fishery Management Council Technical and Compliance Team Meeting May 20-21, 2008

National - Sherman ’s Lagoon Visits NOAA Fisheries Service

On April 17, cartoonist Jim Toomey and Sonja Fordham from the Ocean Conservancy sat down with Jim Balsiger, Acting Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries Service, at NOAA Fisheries Headquarters and answered questions from reporters and posed for photographs. Toomey, creator of “ Sherman’s Lagoon,” presented Balsiger with an original copy of his cartoon calling for kids to contact NOAA Fisheries , and signed comic strips and books for Fisheries employees.

Balsiger, who posed for an original drawing with Sherman to help bring more attention to this unique campaign, assured Toomey that NOAA Fisheries scientists are working hard to continue to learn as much about sharks as they can and to stop finning and overfishing around the world. That same day NOAA Fisheries issued a press release outlining new measures to prevent overfishing and rebuild certain shark species.

NOAA Fisheries Service will respond to the letters from kids from around the country, and will display some of the shark drawings on the NOAA Fisheries web site.

National - National Art Contest

NOAA's partner, Coastal America is sponsoring a national ocean art contest open to all students from grades K-12. The contest also includes a category for college and university students. The purpose of the contest is to enhance public awareness of the importance of the ocean through visual expression and by incorporating one of the seven “Essential Principles of Ocean Literacy”. The winning artwork will be displayed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in time for the opening of The Ocean Hall. To learn more about the contest, and to find out how to enter, visit the contest website. Entries are due by May 30, 2008.

For more information, please contact Bob Hansen in the NOAA Office of Education, telephone (202) 482-4594.

Northeast - Atlantic Sea Scallop IFQ Final Rule Announced

NOAA Fisheries has announced approval of new measures to conserve Atlantic Sea Scallops that include the development of individual fishing quotas (IFQs), for qualified vessels. Concern over the level of fishing effort and harvest from the general category scallop fleet has required that NOAA Fisheries and the New England Fishery Management Council take action to limit entry into the scallop fishery. A vessel is eligible to be issued an IFQ scallop permit if NOAA Fisheries’ records verify that the vessel landed at least 1,000 lb of scallop meats in any fishing year between March 1, 2000, and November 1, 2004, and a general category scallop permit had been issued to the vessel during the fishing year in which the landings were made.

For further information contact Peter Christopher, Fishery Policy Analyst, phone (978) 281-9288.

East Coast - New Conservation Measures to Prevent Overfishing of Sandbar and Other Sharks Announced

NOAA Fisheries has outlined new measures to prevent overfishing and rebuild the number of sandbar and other shark species. The number of sandbar sharks are between 20 and 38 percent of the population in the early 20th century before fishing began on sharks. Recent stock assessments indicate that sandbar, porbeagle, and dusky sharks are severely overfished and therefore drastic measures need to be taken to begin rebuilding. It has been illegal to catch dusky sharks since 2000, but these sharks are taken incidentally when fishermen seek other species.

Sandbar sharks are one of the most valuable shark species caught commercially in the Atlantic Ocean. They make up the majority of the current commercial shark landings and are prized for their fins, which are the main ingredient in dishes such as shark fin soup. The final environmental impact statement (FEIS) issued this week isolates the management of the sandbar shark from other species managed in the large coastal shark complex. The FEIS will cut the sandbar shark quota from 1,017 metric tons to 87.9 metric tons, an 85 percent reduction, per year from 2008 to 2012 and cuts the quota for porbeagle sharks. The commercial quota for porbeagle sharks, another depleted species, will be reduced from 92 metric tons a year to 1.7 metric tons per year. Recreational anglers would also be allowed to land porbeagle sharks, and porbeagle sharks could be landed in tournaments.

The final environmental impact statement contains other regulations designed to prevent overfishing of several shark species and can be found at the Highly Migratory Species Management Division’s Web site. A final rule is expected to be published in June. The public may comment on the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) until May 19.The measures in the FEIS include revised quotas and a ban on cutting fins off before landing a shark. A final rule is expected to be published in June and implemented 30 days later.

Comments can sent via email to shark.finalEIS@noaa.gov (please include in subject line the following identifier: Amendment 2 FEIS), or faxed to 301-713-1917. Comments can also be mailed to Michael Clark, Highly Migratory Species Management Division, NOAA’s Fisheries Service - F/SF1, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

For additional information, please contact Monica Allen, telephone, (301) 713-2370.

Alaska - Lynn Canal Herring Not Endangered

NOAA Fisheries has found that herring in Lynn Canal, near Juneau, Alaska, should not be listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act since they are similar to other herring populations in the area that are being considered for listing. On April 2, 2007, NOAA’s Fisheries Service received a petition from the Juneau chapter of the Sierra Club to list the Lynn Canal stock of Pacific herring, Clupea pallasi, as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. At the time, experts reviewed the petition, the literature cited in the petition, and other literature and information in agency files, and decided that the petitioned action might be warranted.

Since then, NOAA’s Fisheries Service convened a biological review team of scientists from NOAA’s Alaska and Northwest Fisheries Science Centers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game provided substantial information and advice such as data on the abundance of the herring population and the trends in population. The biological review team completed the status review of Pacific herring in Lynn Canal and found they are not eligible to be listed separately under the Endangered Species Act.

Information about herring in Lynn Canal can be viewed online.

For additional information, please contact Sheela McLean, telephone (907) 586-7032.