MAFMC Squid Mackerel Butterfish Notice to Interested Parties from Jason Didden 8/23/11

Greetings All,

-Loligo - The directed fishery was closed as of Aug 23 until Sept 1 - Loligo catches were apparently pretty good this summer.  While NMFS had to close the fishery even though there was only a week left, the Monitoring Committee will probably investigate if some flexibility can be built-in to avoid such short closures in the future (looking at 2013 at this point probably).

-Illex - Some folks have been wondering about the Illex fishery's offshore exemption from the Loligo minimum mesh in terms of keeping Loligo caught incidentally (when Loligo is open) - the regs and relevant coordinates may be found here: http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=e2a0b289185da64dca7df80f13c8e335&rgn=div6&view=text&node=50:8.0.1.1.6.2&idno=50  a little more than ½ way down the page.  You may need to copy and paste the full link instead of just clicking on it.

-Mackerel/Am 11 (Mackerel Limited Access, Mackerel Rec/Com Allocation, EFH Updates) - Comment period closes Sept 15:http://www.mafmc.org/fmp/msb_files/msbAm11.htm

-Mackerel/Am 14 - FMAT analysis is ongoing. http://www.mafmc.org/fmp/msb_files/msbAm14current.htm (any relevant Am 14 news will be posted at this page)

-2012 MSB Specifications have been submitted for NMFS' review: http://www.mafmc.org/fmp/msb_files/msbSpecs2012.htm.  A proposed rule should get published in early-mid fall.

-Today's earthquake was interesting.wouldn't want a 6.9 that would be ten times stronger than today's 5.9!  We briefly left the Council offices (2nd story in a 4 story building - more "shifting" than "shaking" but still quite noticeable.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/se082311a.php

-Good luck & be safe to all RE: Hurricane Irene.current track still looks troubling. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml  (Click on "Irene")

Take care,
Jason