The South Atlantic Bite

Posted August 29, 2024

Newsworthy Notes – August 29, 2024

Council to Meet September 16-20, 2024 in Charleston, SC

Register now to attend via webinar; meeting materials are available online on Friday, Aug 30th

The next meeting of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is scheduled for September 16-20, 2024 in Charleston, SC. The meeting will be held at the Town & Country Inn and Suites, 2008 Savannah Highway, Charleston, SC 29407.

Council meetings are open to the pubic and available via webinar as they occur. Register now for the webinar and receive email reminders as the meeting date approaches. Meeting materials, including agendas and briefing book materials, and an online public comment form, will be posted to the Council’s website by Friday, August 30th.

The full Council will meet on Monday, September 16th, with meetings of the Council’s SEDAR (Southeast, Data, Assessment and Review), Habitat and Ecosystem, and Snapper Grouper Committees scheduled through noon on Thursday. A listening session to address the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) will be held on Thursday afternoon. The meeting week will conclude with an additional meeting of the Full Council and is scheduled to end at noon on Friday, September 20th.

Public Comment

A public comment session will be held on Wednesday, September 18th beginning at 4 p.m. and allow for both in-person and remote (via webinar) verbal public comment.

Registration information for remote public comment will be posted to the meeting website. An online public comment form will also be available. Meeting information is available from the Council’s website at: https://safmc.net/events/september-2024-council-meeting/

What are Red Snapper Really Eating? SAFMC Seminar Series Offers Unique Access to Scientific Studies

For the past four years, on the second Tuesday of each month (with the exception of those months in which there is a Council meeting) people have tuned in over lunch to learn a bit more about fisheries. Hosted by the Council and open to the public, the SAFMC Seminar Series began in August of 2020, initially intended to provide another avenue of information useful to the Council’s and Scientific and Statistical Committee’s discussions. For an hour, beginning at 1 p.m., guest scientists and others involved in fisheries discuss their latest research or topic of expertise. An open Q&A session follows each presentation. One of the earliest presentations was about a study using DNA barcoding to assess gut contents in Red Snapper. There was a lot of discussion.

Council staff soon realized the informational seminar series had a broader audience and began to expand the range of topics. Artificial reef studies, research conducted in deepwater marine protected areas, use of video in reef fish surveys, and the use of citizen science to characterize shark depredation in recreational fisheries are just a few. One of the most popular presentations was given by one of the Council’s former members. Laurilee Thompson, whose family was instrumental in creating the rock shrimp fishery off the east coast of Florida. Laurilee provided an oral history of the fishery, sharing her personal experiences complete with childhood photos!

All of the SAFMC Seminar Series presentations are available from the Council’s website. The most recent presentation, Trends in Dolphin Abundance Along the Atlantic Coast, 1986 to 2022 is now available. We’ll keep you posted on upcoming seminars. Plan now to to lunch and learn in October when the seminar topic will be: Challenges and Opportunities to Enhance Adaptive Capacity of Fisheries Management: Insights from Fishery Practitioners.uncil during their September 16-20, 2024 meeting in Charleston, SC.

New StoryMap: Characterizing U.S. Deep-Sea Corals and Sponges

The South Atlantic region is home to some of the largest deepwater coral areas in the world! This includes a series of deepwater coral areas designated as Deepwater Coral Habitat Areas of Particular Concern or HAPCs as well as the Oculina Bank HAPC just off the east coast of Florida. Fishing gear restrictions are in place to help protect these unique areas. Research and exploration of these areas has also been a topic of SAFMC Seminar Series.

NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information recently published a new StoryMap describing sites with notable deep-sea coral and sponge biodiversity in U.S. waters. Scientists have explored and studied each site using diving robots, camera systems, and seafloor mapping sonar. The StoryMap contains photos, videos, and highlights from these site characterizations in several regions of the U.S, including the Southeast! Check out the new StoryMap for some amazing photos and video as well as downloadable in-depth reports.

Additional Snippets:

Understanding Climate Impacts on Stock Assessments in the U.S.

The Lenfest Ocean Program will host a webinar on Monday, September 23 at 2 p.m. on “Understanding Climate Impacts on Stock Assessments in the U.S”. During the webinar, Dr. Olaf Jensen, University of Wisconsin, and Dr. Rujia Bi, Inter-American Tropical Tuna Association, will share key findings from a project to identify climate vulnerable stock assessments. Such information can help inform which stocks should be prioritized for climate risk policies and methods.

Register for the Webinar. Learn more about the project and the monthly webinar series.

The Long Road to Ropeless Fishing Gear

The past decade has not been kind to North Atlantic right whales – or to the fishers who ply the waters where these massive mammals dwell. For the whales that migrate along the North American east coast between Florida and Canada each spring and fall, several perils have caused their population to fall catastrophically, including getting tangled in fishing gear, hit by boats, or afflicted by climate change. See this recent article from Hakai Magazine to see how one local fisherman from Sneads Ferry, North Carolina has been involved in the process to help develop new gear in the black sea bass pot fishery and build trust between fishermen and the developers of new technology.

Mark Your Calendar

Keep track of meetings scheduled by the Council from the Meetings page of the website and register for meeting webinars as information becomes available. Register early and receive email reminders as the meeting date(s) approach!