MEMORANDUM. PDT Recommendations for EFH Designations. Species Life Stage PDT Recommendations. American plaice Juveniles 3C American plaice Adults 3C

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1 New England Fishery Management Council 50 WATER STREET NEWBURYPORT, MASSACHUSETTS PHONE FAX Frank Blount, Chairman Paul J. Howard, Executive Director MEMORANDUM DATE: June 2, 2006 TO: FROM: SUBJECT: Habitat/MPA/Ecosystems Oversight Committee Leslie Ann McGee, PDT Chair EFH Designations and PDT Recommendations for Preferred Alternatives The PDT met on May 17 and 18, 2006 in Woods Hole, MA to finalize the methods and recommendations for the Committee for a range of alternatives for EFH designations as well as to generate a list of preferred alternative recommendations for the Committee to consider. These recommendations can be found in the table below. In some instances, the PDT was not able to generate a recommendation. PDT Recommendations for EFH Designations American plaice Juveniles 3C American plaice Adults 3C Atlantic cod Juveniles 3D Atlantic cod Adults 3C Atlantic halibut Adults/Juveniles no recommendation Atlantic herring Eggs no recommendation Atlantic herring Juveniles 2C 1

2 Atlantic herring Adults 2C Atlantic sea scallop Adults/Juveniles 3C Barndoor Skate Juveniles 3D Barndoor Skate Adults 3D Clearnose Skate Juveniles 3C Clearnose Skate Adults no recommendation Deep Sea Red Crab Adults no recommendation Deep Sea Red Crab Juveniles no recommendation Haddock Juveniles 3C Haddock Adults 3C Little Skate Juveniles 3C Little Skate Adults 3C Monkfish Juveniles 3C Monkfish Adults 3C Ocean Pout Eggs no recommendation Ocean Pout Larvae no recommendation Ocean Pout Juveniles 3C Ocean Pout Adults 3C Offshore Hake Juveniles 3D Offshore Hake Adults 3C Pollock Juveniles 3C Pollock Adults 3D Red Hake Juveniles 3C 2

3 Red Hake Adults 3C Redfish Juveniles 3D Redfish Adults 3D Rosette Skate Juveniles 3C Rosette Skate Adults 3C Silver Hake Juveniles 3D Silver Hake Adults 3D Smooth Skate Juveniles 3C Smooth Skate Adults 3D Thorny Skate Juveniles 3D Thorny Skate Adults 3D White Hake Juveniles 3C White Hake Adults 3D Windowpane Flounder Juveniles 3D Windowpane Flounder Adults 3D Winter Flounder Eggs no recommendation Winter Flounder Juveniles 3D Winter Flounder Adults 3D Winter Skate Juveniles 3D Winter Skate Adults 3D Witch Flounder Juveniles 3D Witch Flounder Adults 3C Yellowtail Flounder Juveniles 3D 3

4 Yellowtail Flounder Adults 3C Eggs and Larvae Life Stages Herring eggs, ocean pout eggs and larvae and winter flounder eggs are the only species/life stages where a range of new EFH designations are recommended due to the lack of new information on the other species egg and life stages. However, if in 1998, the current EFH designations for egg and/or larvae were based on juvenile or adult distributions as a proxy for egg and larvae EFH, new alternatives for these species have been developed and included in Alternative 2 and Alternative 4. This is true because the juvenile and adult map representations under Alternative 2 and Alternative 4 consider new years of survey data, new transformation methods on the data, state survey data and new range of alternatives to consider (25%, 50%, 75% or 90% cumulative CPUE for NMFS Trawl Survey data). Only species where the egg and/or larvae designations were based on a proxy of juveniles or adults in 1998 (No Action) are recommended for consideration. These species (and their egg and larvae EFH alternative) is found in the table below. No other species eggs and larvae life stage will be recommended for change due to the lack of new information. Species Egg Proxy Larvae Proxy Atlantic Halibut All lifestages designated together All lifestages designated together Atlantic Herring Used known location of egg N/A beds Barndoor Skate Not designated N/A Clearnose Skate Not designated N/A Deep Sea Red Crab Depth range of adult Juvenile and Adult females ( m) Little Skate No EFH Map N/A Monkfish Larvae + Adults Ocean Pout Adult + Juvenile + Egg ELMR Adult + Juvenile + Larvae ELMR Pollock Adults + Egg ELMR Adults + Larvae ELMR Redfish N/A Adult Rosette Skate Not designated N/A Silver Hake Juvenile + Egg ELMR Juvenile Smooth Skate Not designated N/A 4

5 Thorny Skate Not designated N/A White Hake Adults + Egg ELMR Adults + Larvae ELMR Winter Flounder Adults + Egg ELMR Adults + Larvae ELMR Winter Skate Not designated N/A Filling The PDT noticed that some spatial areas are not included in the output of the Alternative 3 analysis mostly due to sampling. The PDT felt it was important to not make changes to the output of the Alternative analysis without approval by the Committee as the PDT felt this was a policy decision. As such, the PDT recommends that the Committee consider filling in areas of their concern as recommended by the PDT: Atlantic Cod: The PDT suggests that the Committee consider filling in the block in SBNMS area as it may not be sampled or surveyed sufficiently but does contain cod as well as areas adjacent to Great Bay and the mouth of the Piscataqua River for Committee consideration. There is a great deal of eelgrass in this area. Atlantic Sea Scallop: The PDT suggests that the Committee consider adding or filling in areas of known scallop grounds that are not surveyed (e.g. Phippines) based on the provided unrestricted habitat coverage. Note that the PDT included an additional alternative in the document (3E) for scallops which does not restrict the habitat layer range in order to include some of this area. If the Committee feels this is a good depiction, then there is no need to fill in areas as the 3E alternative can go forward in the document. Pollock: Recommend that the Committee that they fill in the areas between Long Island Sound and Chatham. Winter Flounder: Recommend to the Committee that they fill in the area between Narragansett Bay and Mystic, CT because the RI Trawl Survey data are not useable. 5