Coastal Conservation Association

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	Atlantic Coast Fisheries
CCA Atlantic Fisheries Director Richen Brame Brame is a member of the Operations Team for the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) developing the nuts and bolts of the new data gathering program. He is also the liaison between the Operations Team and the Registry Team that is defining what the angler registry must encompass and what the states must do to comply with it. Brame holds BS and MS degrees in Fisheries and Wildlife Science from North Carolina State University and worked for several conservation groups before coming to CCA. He served as the first executive director for CCA in North Carolina, from 1989 to 2000 and achieved notable fisheries management goals including passage of the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997. Under his watch CCA NC also successfully banned the use of fly-net trawls in the Atlantic to conserve dwindling gray trout stocks, banned shrimp trawling on weekends in inside waters, and outlawed the use of gill nets in a dozen high-use recreational fishing areas.	The ASMFC became the major fishery management organization on the Atlantic Coast. In 1998, it became clear that CCA - the largest marine fishery conservation organization in the U.S. - would need to work with the ASMFC to affect the management of critically important Atlantic species. CCA created the Atlantic States Fisheries Committee as a subcommittee of the National Government Relations Committee. It is comprised of dedicated CCA volunteers working within the ASMFC system for better Atlantic fisheries management. The CCA Atlantic States Fisheries Committee decides annually which species under ASMFC management are priorities. Representatives from the committee attend management board meetings and technical committee meetings. Attendance in this meeting process is critical to fully understand the biology and management of each particular species. The CCA Atlantic States Fisheries Committee then formulates goals for each species FMP and works with the ASMFC to implement them through state organizations and agencies. Charles A. Witek III of New York, is the CCA Atlantic States Fisheries Committee Chairman. Richen Brame serves as the CCA Atlantic States Fisheries Director and staff member for the committee. CCA News Fisheries Allocations Still Out of Whack - Aug. 31, 2010 While the news from the most recent Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council meeting indicated a rosy future for scup, the Council’s failure to seek an economic study of the way scup are allocated between the recreational and commercial sectors presages a far dimmer future for scup anglers. Council appointments a step forward for anglers - June 24, 2010 The 2010 regional fishery management council appointments released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Commerce gave an indication that federal officials are paying attention to the concerns of recreational anglers. One of the key issues voiced by anglers at the Recreational Fishing Summit hosted by NOAA Fisheries in April was a need for balanced representation on the councils, and while there is still work to do on some regional management Councils, it seems NOAA Fisheries intends to pursue its stated goal of forging a new relationship with the recreational angling community. CCA Formal Comments on Addendum II to Amendment 6 of the ASMFC Striped Bass Fishery Management Plan - June 15, 2010 CCA believes this is a time of uncertainty, when juvenile abundance indices are indicating lower levels of spawning success and both disease and illegal harvest pose yet unquantified threats to the population. Under such circumstances, the ASMFC Striped Bass Management Board should be taking a precautionary approach to management, perhaps considering alternatives for decreasing mortality by all sectors, and certainly not increasing harvest. Striped bass are the ASMFC’s crown jewel for management success. We believe Addendum II is potentially a serious threat to that success and should not be adopted. Public hearing schedule ASMFC Finally Cuts Bait - May 11, 2010 At its meeting last week in Washington DC, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) directed its Menhaden Technical Committee to develop new options for managing menhaden more like a critical forage species than a fish to be industrially harvested. A move that many East Coast anglers would say is long past due. ASMFC Continues Effort to Increase Commercial Bass Harvest - May 7, 2010 Anglers will soon have the opportunity to comment on a new effort to increase the coastal commercial harvest of striped bass by 20 to 50 percent, after the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (ASMFC) Striped Bass Management Board voted this week to send the proposal out for public hearing. Last February, conservationists were stunned when the Board chose to ignore a litany of significant concerns from scientists and enforcement officers about the health of the striped bass population, and instead directed its staff to draft the proposal. This week’s 10-6 vote to send the proposal out for public hearing indicates that many members of the Board are committed to ramping up commercial harvest even as anglers are seeing serious warning signs on the water. Contact information for state representatives to the ASMFC ASMFC Takes Wrong Turn on Striped Bass - Feb. 10, 2010 After hearing a litany of significant concerns about the health of the striped bass population presented by its own Technical Committee and by law enforcement personnel, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Striped Bass Management Board did the last thing anyone expected at its meeting last week - directing staff to draft an addendum to the management plan which would increase the coastal commercial striped bass harvest. ASFMC Denies Increase in Commercial Striped Bass Harvest Coastal Conservation Association commends the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) for denying a proposal to increase the commercial harvest of striped bass at its meeting this week in Newport, Rhode Island. The proposal would have allowed commercial fishermen to add at least half of their uncaught commercial striped bass quota to their quota for the following year. Many anglers from CCA Maine made the journey to Newport to express their concern over the status of this important fish, and their voice made a difference. CCA Opposes Proposed Rollover of Commercial Harvest “At a point when the striped bass stock appears to be in decline is not the time to be figuring out how to allow the commercial sector to harvest more fish,” said Richen Brame, Atlantic States Fisheries Director for Coastal Conservation Association (CCA). “This time would be better spent trying to figure out what is going on with the stock and identify the causes for the decline. We should be pursuing a precautionary strategy, not loosening the harvest regulations for the commercial sector.” CCA Comments to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission on Addendum II - Commercial Striped Bass Harvest Rollover CCA Comments on Weakfish Management The collapse of the Atlantic weakfish stock is an enigma. For the first time there is no ‘smoking gun’ one can discern that caused the decline. But it is abundantly clear from both anecdotal fishermen’s reports and the most recent stock assessment that the decline is severe and continuing. Most disturbing is the Technical Committees projection that even under a total moratorium the stock will not recover by 2020. Will a saltwater license really reduce the number of anglers? To suggest that New York’s $10 license fee will materially reduce the number of New York anglers is to suggest that anglers place a very low value on their sport. That’s certainly not true of CCA’s New York members, and we don’t believe that it’s true of anglers anywhere. However, if it is, and anglers are willing to abandon their sport over a mere $10 bill, then angling is facing a much bigger problem than a mere license fee. Click HERE* to see all CCA press releases.*	Atlantic Fisheries News Feds shut down fishermen's access to dogfish Gloucester Daily Times Aug. 29, 2010 Help Protect Atlantic Striped Bass KeepAmericaFishing.org Aug. 25, 2010 Commercial fishermen plan rally vs. Obama off Vineyard Gloucester Times Aug. 23, 2010 Where have all the small stripers gone? Press Herald Aug. 22, 2010 Wildlife: The most important fish you never heard of Pittsburgh Post Gazette Aug. 22, 2010 Blue crabs flooding Narragansett Bay Providence Journal Aug. 21, 2010 Framework to restore Atlantic Salmon WCSH-TV Aug. 20, 2010 Striped bass fishing reflects population/size decreases among species overall Salem Gazette Aug. 18, 2010 Attack on Shimano = An Attack on Us All Sport Fishing Aug. 18, 2010 Hit-or-miss striped bass fishing reflects population/size decreases among ... Wicked Local (blog) Aug. 12, 2010 Do your civic duty: Eat this fish! msnbc.com Aug. 10, 2010 Chesapeake buoys provide data on the bay Washington Post Aug. 5, 2010 Call Issued for More Oyster Growers on the Patuxent Bay Net Aug. 4, 2010 Groups want EPA to ban use of lead in hunting, fishing equipment Press of Atlantic City August 4, 2010 Increased harvest quotas causing fishermen concern Poughkeepsie Journal July 29, 2010 Atlantic herring fishery lawsuit progresses FIS July 28, 2010 “Smart Buoy” Deployed in Chesapeake Bay near Artificial Reef Delmarva Town Crier July 27, 2010 Anglers Tangle Over 'Skishing' Wall Street Journal July 26, 2010 Outdoors - Study will measure speckled trout's movement and mortality StarNewsOnline.com July 24, 2010 Editorial: Why do legislators act as regulators? Roanoke Times July 22, 2010 Proposal to ban lobstering from Mass. to NC killed Associated Press July 22, 2010 CCA NY blasts plan to increase commercial striped bass quota Fly Rod & Reel Magazine July 22, 2010 How to save local lobsters Providence Journal July 22, 2010 Marine Sanctuary plan poses dire fishing threat Gloucester Daily Times July 21, 2010 Lobster tales: 5-year ban coming to East Coast? CNN July 21, 2010 Editorial: Little fish, big deal Daily Press July 20, 2010 Atlantic Coast menhaden population at lowest point in 54 years Chesapeake Bay Journal July/August 2010 Be aware of the rules wherever you fish News Transcript July 20, 2010 Feds forcing Annapolis faceoff on striped bass Baltimore Sun July 19, 2010 Menhaden fish study group meets for first time to discuss key Chesapeake Bay catch SF Examiner July 16, 2010 Boat Launches and Artificial Reef Program to Get Boost from Saltwater License ReadMedia July 14, 2010 Lobster may soon be a memory in Southern New England Cape Cod Today July 13, 2010 Paradise for Fishermen Becomes One for Scientists New York Times July 12, 2010 NCDMF expands recreational fishing survey program ENC Today July 12, 2010 Preserving a raw deal on menhaden Virginia Pilot July 10, 2010

NCDMF expands recreational fishing survey program ENC Today July 12, 2010

Preserving a raw deal on menhaden

NCDMF expands recreational fishing survey program
ENC Today
July 12, 2010