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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Changes Afoot in Fisheries Management

The National Marine Fisheries Service plans to change the way it manages commercial and recreational fishing in federal waters around the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico from species-based plans to plans developed by island. With this goal in mind, the agency will hold a series of meetings on St. Thomas and St. Croix in July to hear what the public has to say.

“It’s not just fishers we want to hear from. Everybody has a stake in the resource,” said Bill Arnold, the Caribbean chief for the Fisheries Service.

Arnold said that the agency, an arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will make a presentation before the public has its say, and that all ideas and remarks will be considered.

The meetings will be held July 9 at the Buccaneer Hotel on St. Croix and July 10 at the Windward Passage Hotel on St. Thomas. Both begin at 7 p.m.

Currently the Fisheries Service manages St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John and Puerto Rico as the same fishery, with individual species that frequent those areas having management plans. For example, the Fisheries Service has a plan for managing red snapper that covers St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John and Puerto Rico.

The proposed method will group St. Thomas and St. John together because they are similar. However, St. Croix and Puerto Rico will each have its own plan. All the species that swim in each area will be included in the individual island plans.

“It’s what the fishermen have wanted from the beginning,” said Carlos Farchette, president of the Caribbean Fishery Management Council.

Both Farchette and Arnold said the change is helpful because there are cultural differences dealing with fisheries among the various islands. “We need to be more responsive to each island and its individual attributes,” Arnold said.

Arnold said the proposed change in the way the fisheries are managed may or may not alter the annual catch limits for various species of fish.

In other Fisheries Service news, the agency announced it plans to mirror the catch limits on queen conch in federal waters to those in the Virgin Islands.

“It was an enforcement problem,” Arnold said. He said that, as it now stands, in federal waters the limit is 150 conchs per person. In local waters, it is 200 conchs per vessel. When the new regulation is in place, it will be 200 conchs per vessel no matter whether it’s federal or local waters.

For more on the fisheries management plan changes, visit http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishery_bulletins/documents/pdfs/2013/fb13-050_stt_stj_scoping.pdf and http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishery_bulletins/documents/pdfs/2013/fb13-049_stx_scoping.pdf.

To submit written comments on the St. Thomas/St. John and St. Croix proposed plans, send them before July 8 to Miguel.Lugo@noaa.gov.

For more on the changes in the queen conch regulation, visit https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/06/07/2013-13565/fisheries-of-the-caribbean-gulf-of-mexico-and-south-atlantic-queen-conch-fishery-of-puerto-rico-and.

Submit written comments on the conch rule at www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2013-0068, click the “Comment Now!” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments. To send via mail, write to Maria del Mar Lopez, Southeast Regional Office, NMFS, 263 13th Ave. S., St. Petersburg, FL 33701.

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