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A couple of other points I got from the meeting. While the change to more conservative recruitment failure break point is a move in the right direction it still does not seem to be very conservative. You have to hit the threshold three years in a row to start required action. Since 75 percent of the fish come from the Chesapeake it would seem that a higher level of importance would be assigned to it. I ask after the meeting about this and was told that it would be expected that the technical group would look at this but no fixed check is in place. Second point is related to needing three years in a row to pull the trigger. You could have two very bad years and one fair followed by two bad without required action. Would seem like a running three year average would be the right way, plus a more conservative approach for the Chesapeake.
Most of the reason given for the decrease in fish numbers was related to low recruitment. We have seen the number of spawning stock drop by about 20% in the last five years. It would seem very unlikely that this would be due mainly to recruitment being low since many of these fish from the last five years would not have reached the age to spawn yet. Second is even though the recruitment numbers have been low they are no where near the three year recruitment failure threshold, either the present or the new more conservative threshold talked about above.
Last would be the lack of people that showed up. The room had 180 chairs and a total of 33 people took the time to attend. With the number of people who fish in Mass it is just mind bogling that only 33 people showed. Many web sites and clubs actively promoted getting out to this meeting so it shouldn't have been a case of no one knew. Even if people were on the fence on the issue it was a chance to learn more and be heard. One 2-hour meeting every few years isn't much. So my main take away is most everyone trust ASMFC to do a great job and are happy with the way things are going.
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