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Subdividing private and for-hire recreational saltwater fisheries into separate entities, each with its own set of allocations, may be the fisheries management of the future.
Up to now recreational anglers on private boats and for-hire boats have been regulated as one. Photo: Lenny Rudow
We all follow rules and regulations when we cast off the lines and go fishing, rules that are developed by states, the federal government, and/or various fisheries management councils or commissions. And if you follow the vagaries of fisheries management, you may have noticed a term being tossed around quite a bit: sector separation. It’s an innocuous-sounding term that may not affect weekend anglers, but it’s worth understanding and keeping an eye on. Sector separation is a change in the way saltwater fish are divvied up. Up until now, the fishing pie has been split between the commercial fishing and recreational angling sectors. The commercial sector catches and sells fish for profit, while the recreational sector fish recreationally from shore, private boats, and on hired guide or charter boats. Each sector gets its own allocation of fish to catch, and if one sector catches too many, the regulations can be tightened for one without affecting the other.
The Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council (MAFMC) is responsible for setting limits and quotas for multiple species of gamefish swimming from 3- to 200 miles off the coastline from New York through Virginia. Recently, MAFMC floated the idea of further splitting up these sectors, specifically to break off guided and chartered boats (known as the “for-hire” sector) from the recreational sector to separately manage for-hire boats’ limits and regulations. This potential change is being developed in partnership with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), as some species are jointly managed by both groups. The partnering groups are developing an amendment to consider modifications to the recreational management program for summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, and bluefish, which are popular game fish for both for-hire and recreational anglers.
Black sea bass are one of the species which the MAFMC could opt to regulate with sector separation. Photo: Lenny Rudow
Why go down the sector separation road? According to MAFMC, it could “allow managers to better tailor management to the needs and preferences of each sector while allowing for improved utilization of data reported by the for-hire sector.” The council also notes that sector separation could “introduce complexity to the management process,” and “create regulation imbalances and conflicts within the recreational fishing community.”
David Sikorski, executive director of the Coastal Conservation Association of Maryland and member of Maryland’s delegation to ASMFC, says he understands that members of the for-hire community want stability in regulations, but he remains skeptical the change can be done fairly. “I think we lack the data collection systems needed to first assess fish populations or our effort to catch them accurately enough to pass the first blush test with anglers.”
Bluefish are already regulated with sector separation; recreational anglers on private boats in federal waters are allowed three fish, while anglers aboard for-hire boats are allowed five. Photo: Lenny Rudow
The concept of sector separation isn’t problematic to many in the recreational fishing community on either side of the profit and for-hire fence. But MAFMC has not indicated how the fishing pie might be reallocated between the newly split sectors, or if any allocation would be drawn from the commercial sector in consideration that for-hire fishing is a for-profit use of the shared resource.
MAFMC was accepting public comment on recreational sector separation and data collection through March 20. Interested anglers can review the plan and more at mafmc.org.