Atlantic States Fisheries Management Commission
The lobster resource from Maine to North Carolina is managed through the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). The ASMFC serves as a deliberative body, coordinating the conservation and management of 15 Atlantic coast states’ shared near shore fishery resources for sustainable use.
The MLA is an active participant of the ASMFC and actively contributes in the development of the
Lobster Management Plan.
The MLA is represented on the Lobster Conservation Management Team for Area 1 which provides management recommendations for the Area 1 lobster resource and the Lobster Advisory Panel, both of which provide management advice to the Lobster Management Board.
The ASMFC has recently released a new lobster stock assessment
(www.asmfc.org)
which reported stable stock abundance throughout the Gulf of Maine with the exception of one small area in Massachusetts. The report states “overall stock abundance in the GOM is relatively high with recent fishing mortality comparable to the past. There has been a long-term trend of increasing recruitment and spawning stock through 2002. On average the fishable stock is about 60% new entrants (recruits) into the fishery. The one area of concern within the GOM is Area 514 (Massachusetts Bay and Stellwagen Bank), which has exhibited persistent low recruitment in recent years and high levels of fishing mortality since 1999. The majority of the fishable lobsters in this area are new entrants into the fishery.”
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