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DURHAM, N.H. — The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department will hold public hearings on proposed marine rule changes to the maximum size limit of lobsters and on Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Public Information Document (PID) for Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Shad and River Herring. Both hearings will take place on Tuesday, June 17, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. at the Portsmouth Public Library, 175 Parrott Avenue, Portsmouth, N.H., on the second floor in the Hilton Garden Meeting Room.
The proposed rule changes under consideration would involve modifying the maximum legal length of lobsters in Management Areas 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 to bring New Hampshire into compliance with ASMFC’s Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster.
The Public Information Document and subsequent amendment to the ASMFC’s Shad and River Herring Fisheries Management Plan are being developed in response to the findings of the 2007 benchmark stock assessment for American shad, which indicates that American shad stocks are currently at all-time lows and do not appear to be recovering.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is looking for fishermen and other interested groups to provide input on the PID either through attending a public hearing or by providing written comments by 5 p.m. on July 25, 2008, to Erika Robbins, Fisheries Management Plan Coordinator, ASMFC, 1444 Eye St, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005. Copies of the document can be obtained by contacting the Commission at (202) 289-6400 or via the Commission’s web site at www.asmfc.org under “Breaking News.”
