69 



Clearly, the Commission has a requirement to create industry advisory committees and, in 

 fact, both the Council and Commission currently have Bluefish Industry Advisory 

 Committees (which met jointly on 12 March to work on Amendment 1). However, this 

 phase of the Commission's program is relatively new, having been created by the new 

 Atlantic Coastal Act. 



The most troublesome aspect of replacing Magnuson Act management of bluefish with 

 Atlantic Coastal Act management Is the way the management In the EEZ would work. 

 The Atlantic Coastal Act provides that NMFS may implement regulations in the EEZ that 

 are compatible with an ASMFC Plan. There is no provision for a NMFS industry advisory 

 group. 



NMFS has consulted with the Council when it has proposed to implement regulations in 

 the EEZ compatible with an ASMFC Plan. However, having a NMFS employee brief the 

 Council and the Council make recommendations to NMFS is a significantly different level 

 of involvement than working on a plan or amendment for a year or more. 



AMENDMENT 1 TO THE BLUEFISH PLAN 



What is the best wav to manage the stock for growth? 



When the Council and ASMFC Bluefish Advisors and the Council's Coastal Migratory 

 Committee and ASMFC Bluefish Board met on 12 March, much of the discussion focused 

 on the possibility of using the summer flounder model for the Bluefish Amendment. This 

 would involve setting a fishing mortality rate target, applying that target to a stock 

 assessment to calculate a total allowable catch, and allocating the total allowable catch 

 to the recreational and commercial fisheries based on some agreed upon formula (for 

 example the 80% recreational, 20% commercial in the current Bluefish FMP). 



Is it possible to do so? 



Yes. The system is working for the summer flounder fishery. There have been a number 

 of Amendments to the Summer Flounder FMP to refine the system, and another is 

 currently in development. There is no reason to believe that the bluefish fishery could 

 not be managed under a similar system that could benefit from what we have learned in 

 summer flounder management. 



Will allocation issues cloud the amendment process, or will protection of the fishery 

 remain the overriding goal? 



Any plan that extends along the entire Atlantic coast and has both recreational and 

 commercial components will have allocation issues. However, there is no reason to 

 believe that allocation issues will outweigh protection of the resource as long as the 

 Amendment is prepared under the Magnuson Act. Fishery Management Plans prepared 

 by the Council must comply with National Standard 1 of the Magnuson Act which 

 requires that "Conservation and management measures shall prevent overfishing while 

 achieving, on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from each fishery for the United 

 States fishing industry." Commission Plans under the Atlantic Coastal Act do not need 



