S-FFMC MENHADEN ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES November 4, 215 St. Augustine, FL Chairman J. Mareska called the meeting to order at 1 :4 p.m. The following members and others were present: Members John Mareska, ADCNR/MRD, Dauphin Island, AL Rick Schillaci, Menhaden Advisory Council for the Gulf of Mexico, Moss Point, MS Jason Adriance, LDWF, New Orleans, LA Ray Mroch, NOAA Beaufort Lab, Beaufort, NC Jerry Mambretti, TPWD, Port Arthur, TX Ron Lukens, Omega Protein, Inc., Gainesville, FL Borden Wallace, Daybrook Fisheries, Inc., Empire, LA Matt Hill, MDMR, Biloxi, MS Joe O'Hop, FWC, St. Petersburg, FL Others Amy Schueller, NOAA Beaufort Lab, Beaufort, NC Robert Leaf, GCRL, Ocean Springs, MS Nancy Brown-Peterson, GCRL, Ocean Springs, MS-via GoToMeeting Jeff Short, JWS Consulting LLC, Juneau, AK Drew Minkiewicz, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, Washington DC Glenn Constant, USFWS, Lafayette, LA Steve Brown, FWC, St. Petersburg, FL Kellie Ralston, American Sportfishing Institute, Tallahassee, FL Traci Floyd, MDMR, Biloxi, MS Joe Jewell, MDMR, Biloxi, MS Jimmy Sanders, MDMR, Biloxi, MS Rick Burris, MDMR, Biloxi, MS Paul Mickle, MDMR, Biloxi, MS Harry Blanchet, LDWF, Baton Rouge, LA- via GoToMeeting Fernando Martinez, TPWD, Austin, TX Chad Hanson, Pew Charitable Trust, Crawfordville, FL Laura Picariello, Audubon Nature Institute, New Orleans, LA Tommy Williams, Daybrook Fisheries, Baton Rouge, LA Ben Landry, Omega Protein, Houston, TX Scott Herbert, Daybrook Fisheries, New Orleans, LA Peter Himchak, Omega Protein, Tuckerton, NJ Chris Lirette, Daybrook Fisheries, Empire, LA Dalton Berry, Daybrook Fisheries, Inc., Empire, LA Tabitha Lindley, Omega Protein, Inc., Houston, TX Lee Alexander, Daybrook Fisheries, Inc. Empire, LA 14
Staff Dave Donaldson, Executive Director, Ocean Springs, MS Steve VanderKooy, Program Coordinator, Ocean Springs, MS Debbie Mcintyre, Staff Assistant, Ocean Springs, MS Donna Bellais, ComFIN Programmer, Ocean Springs, MS Ralph Hode, Program Coordinator, Ocean Springs, MS Gregg Bray, Program Coordinator, Ocean Springs, MS Adoption of Agenda Mambretti moved to approve the agenda, Wallace seconded, and the agenda was approved as written. Approval of Minutes The MAC reviewed the draft minutes from the last annual meeting, March 17, 215 in Point Clear, Alabama. Lukens moved to accept the minutes as written, Mambretti seconded, and the minutes were accepted as written. Public Comment The audience was offered the chance to provide any comment related to the agenda topics or anything else menhaden. There were no comments. Review of 215 Gulf Menhaden Season Ray Mroch (NOAA) provided a report on the 215 season to date. As of September 3, the landings were nearly 467K mt, a 42% increase over the previous year and 12% over the 5-year average for the equivalent time. Mroch noted that it was a cold, wet winter in 214/215 with high river discharge. The season started slow but picked up in July and August under fair weather. There were no tropical events in the Gulf through late summer and the September landings were the highest since 1999. The ageing data from the port sample through August suggests a large number of two-year olds in the West around Abbeville and higher numbers of age-1 closer to the River in Empire and Moss Point suggesting good recruitment in 214. In addition, there were more age-3 fish taken to the West as well. Three plants and 31 vessels operated in 215. Nominal fishing effort through August was around 26K vessel-ton-weeks, a 5% increase over the previous year for the same time period. Mroch reported the final landings based on previous seasons are projected to around 525K mt. This is a 34% increase over last year and 33% over the NOAA forecasted landings provided this past spring which were projected to be around 41K mt. Mroch also provided a preliminary forecast for 216 based on the current effort and landings and suggested that 216 should come in around 466K mt. Lukens wondered if based on Guillory's work, recruitment shouldn't be good under the cold, wet conditions we saw this past winter. Guillory' s model suggested a cold dry winter was ideal. The previous winter (213/214) was also cold and wet yet there are a large number of age-1 fish again. Wallace noted that even though 214/215 was cold and wet, there were a number oflarge number 15
of quick frontal passages which seem to be the driving factor for recruitment and we saw a very large juvenile index in Texas and Louisiana. Mambretti validated the Young-of-Year abundances reporting that the problems encountered in the Houston Ship Channel this past spring with menhaden plugging up the large ship's impeller screens in the port were all age- fish as well. This was also a high flood year which displaced a lot of the organisms in their bays were pushed further out. Atlantic Menhaden Fishery Update Mroch also provided a short update on the Atlantic season and some management actions on the part of the ASMFC's AMMB. Only one reduction plant operated in 215 in Reedville and has landed a 129K mt through September. This is up 15% from the previous year and 2% over the 5- yr average. Preliminary results from the end of the October suggest that landings are up 13.3 % from last year, but 3.6% below 5-year average. Mroch explained that the 1 % 'episodic set-aside' of the total allowable catch (TAC) (about 7, mt) was not used this year and reallocated to the fishery by the AMMB, so the fleet may still be fishing on the Atlantic at this time. Eight purse vessels unloaded at Reedville in 215 for reduction. In addition, there were two Virginia bait vessels which unloaded a small amount of fish for reduction as well. Five or six additional bait only boats purse-seined and reported bait landings in 215. Generally, effort and landings continue to decline since 199. Because the fishery has been managed using a TAC in recent years, landings are less likely to be representative of abundance than before management efforts were put in place. The 214 benchmark assessment resulted in no overfishing or an overfished status for Atlantic menhaden so early this year, the TAC was increased by 1% raising the TAC to almost 188K mt which are split by the various east coast states. Virginia continues to get the largest share of 77% intended for reduction. Virginia and New Jersey also share the largest component of the bait allocation (14K mt and 19K mt respectively). Texas 'Cap' for 215 Mambretti reported that the Gulf fleet fished in Texas waters again this year (71 sets) and to date have landed just over 4M lbs which was about 12% of the available cap of 31.5M lbs. Port Sample Acquisition and Processing in 216 VanderKooy noted that the 216 Port Sampling funds provided through FIN were reduced for 216 but that they should be able to continue sampling for the coming year. There is still a need to find a long-term solution to the funding and the industry reps on the MAC are working to address this. Evaluation of Landings and Forecast to Assessment Benchmarks At previous meetings, the MAC discussed the need to evaluate where the annual landings were in relation to the target and thresholds established following the stock assessment in the FMP. VanderKooy summarized the previous discussions with the MAC and NOAA to examine a relative idea of where the industry was fishing in comparison to the accepted benchmarks and recruitment similar to the phase-plot generated in the previous assessments. Dr. Amy Schueller provided a very simple approach to look at the recent landings in contrast to the benchmarks of 16
F 3 o% and Fw1 which were based on the equilibrium landings. Overall the figure is helpful for seeing where the landings are annually. Lukens noted that this should be more like a trigger that allows for higher fishing in years with higher abundance. These limits are static but we need to have an assessment update available if we pass the target and threshold. VanderKooy pointed out that these are not implying control measures, these benchmarks are based on the long-term averages. Wallace pointed out that if the benchmarks are approached, the MAC could evaluate the conditions and general trends in abundance and if the harvest was potentially harming the population. Mambretti wondered what would happen if we saw landings approaching or passing the benchmarks. Would the industry consciously reduced effort and landings? VanderKooy noted that while these are currently static, with the update of the assessment, the benchmarks could be adjusted based on the population health. Hill indicated that the trend over time is more important than a single years point on a graph. This approach does seem to allow for monitoring. All agreed that some sort of recruitment index needs to be developed that can be reviewed prior to the season as well which would contribute to the 'trends' you are seeing. In combination, it should provide a good indication of any trends related to expected population size and help the industry plan for coming seasons. ( m E ro "' o_ t- "' Cl c u c < ) rn J Ii) ~ 198 199 2 21 Years Assessment Update In an effort to get ready for the assessment update scheduled for next summer, the MAC reviewed a series of potential data elements and ongoing research related to menhaden. VanderKooy invited Dr. Robert Leaf and Nancy Brown-Peterson to present work they had been conducting as well as collaborative research between GCRL and Dr. Schueller. 17
Expected Availability of 215 FID VanderKooy asked all the state representatives to estimate when their various fishery-independent data for 215 would be final and available for use in the update. All reported that by March and April, the data should be entered and proofed and available to Dr. Schueller to begin working with for the various abundance indices. Mroch reported that although they were still trying to hire a replacement for Mrs. Ethel Hall, the long-term reader who had recently retired from NOAA, they were confident that by summer, the port samples should be aged and final for inclusion in the update. Ageing of FID by States VanderKooy reminded the MAC that the GSMFC had conducted an ageing workshop at the NOAA Beaufort Lab late in 214 to train state biologists to read scales for ageing purposes. The intent was to allow the state agencies to potentially age their own independent samples of Gulf menhaden. A reference set has been developed which has been traveling to the various agencies over the last year and training sets were included in the FIN Biological Sampler training which takes place every May. At this time, none of the states have begun ageing fish from their monitoring programs but a few were increasing the detail in their data collection related to menhaden and both Mississippi and Alabama plan to age fish in the near future. This was a recommendation that came out of the SEDAR32A assessment when the reviewers suggested an evaluation of the nearshore menhaden populations outside the traditional fishing grounds. This will not be data available for the assessment update but might be by the 219 benchmark. Genetics of Menhaden Mambretti provided a short overview of the ongoing genetics work being conducted by the TPWD' s Joel Anderson in relation to Gulf menhaden populations. Again, this research originated from a recommendation that came out of SEDAR32A. The reviewers suggested development of menhaden specific nuclear DNA markers and reassessment of Gulf menhaden throughout their range using a larger, more informative genetic panel of markers to determine if a single stock does in fact exist. Anderson indicated that there are no local differentiations and a single genetic stock of Gulf menhaden from Texas to Florida. He found genetic variability is highest in areas around the center of distribution of the species in the northern Gulf between Galveston Bay and the Mississippi River. To date, Anderson's result suggest that Gulf menhaden genetic variability follows the pattern that would be expected in an unexploited wild stock not that of a highly exploited population; no genetic bottleneck exists in the population. Methods for Forecasting Gulf Menhaden Condition Using Environmental Determinants Dr. Robert Leaf (University of Southern Mississippi) presented the work he, Nancy Brown Peterson, and Dr. Frank Hernandez are conducting to look at predictors of oil yield in Gulf menhaden. They examined the annual oil content Guillory had described in his 1983 paper and developed a model to reconstruct the content trend over time. Environmental parameters such as chlorophyll, sea surface temperatures, Mississippi River discharge and an ENSO oceanographic index were included as potential predictors. Leaf also borrowed several parameters from the SEDAR32A stock assessment such as growth parameters, weight at length, etc. The model fit well to the historical data from Guillory. The predicted yield since 1979 matched reasonably well with the total annual landings but they will need the actual oil production data to be able to truth the model. Leaf hopes to get cooperation from the industry to fill in the oil yield data since Guillory' s 18
work. Leaf also looked at the condition factor derived from the assessment and compared to the lipid content over the course of the year to see intra-annual patterns of oil density validating that oil increases as the season progresses in anticipation of spawning in the fall and winter. The primary determinant for predicting oil yield is spring river discharge in the northern Gulf. With more data, this could be validated and make the model a useful tool to estimate what oil yields may be prior to the fishing season. Leaf noted that while spring discharge seems to be driving oil production, it could be related to the meterologic events Wallace had noted earlier in the day specific to the frequency and duration of weather front. Improving Assessment of a Keystone Species in the Gulf of Mexico: Gulf Menhaden, Brevoortia patronus Leaf and Schueller have received funding to conduct two years' worth of funding to age fish from the state agencies fishery-independent sampling. The study should be able to tie into any state data streams if and when the agencies begin to develop their own menhaden ageing programs. Leaf and Schueller will work with each agency to determine what level of collection effort must be conducted to facilitate this work. They will supply all the materials needed by each agency including storage, freezers, and will have funds to travel to the various locations to pick up the samples through the study period. This will help the states determine the amount and frequency of sampling required to adequately represent the population if and when they implement their own ageing programs. Menhaden Fecundity Nancy Brown-Peterson (GCRL) presented her and Leaf's recent fecundity work which revises the estimates originally provided by Lewis and Roithmayr in 1981. The intentions were to sample the population through the spawning season to improve the egg production estimates. Samples were obtained from the Moss Point plant from August until October and from April to June. The LDWF provided samples from January to March from their independent sampling program. However, there was not a source for fish during November and December so the current data does not encompass one full spawning season. The results of her work indicates that size at maturity for Gulf menhaden is actually between 125 and 15mm FL which was theorized in the literature but never validated. Spawning seasonality is confirmed to be from mid-october to mid-march which also corresponds with the literature. Histology of the female fish indicate that Gulf menhaden are asynchronous batch spawners, potentially spawning every seven days over a roughly five month spawning season which means a single female may spawn up to 25 times in a single season. Peterson also explained that her work indicates that Gulf menhaden have determinate fecundity which means that prior to the spawning season, they produce all the eggs they will spawn that year. Her total fecundity estimate suggests egg production is about ten times higher than the value used in the benchmark assessment increasing total fecundity from around 37K to over 387K eggs annually per female. It is anticipated that this data will be included in some fashion in the assessment update. Ecosystem Modeling in Single Species Stock Assessments O'Hop provided an overview of the use of ecosystem models and work being conducted in Florida 19
related to examining their use in assessments. FWC is looking at genetics to better define populations. Disease epidemics may be incorporated to improve estimates of natural mortality. Likewise, unusual events like red tides or cold kills can be utilized in the mortality estimates. Finally, freshwater inflow/river discharge and climate changes are already being incorporated into the models such as was done in the Gulf menhaden and blue crab stock assessments. This information is essentially used as an index which is related to population abundance which may affect single or multiple life history stages. O'Hop also discussed some of the efforts underway by the FWC to analyze fish guts. They have catalogued a number of prey items from the stomachs of predators in all inshore and offshore waters. The FWC is not looking at menhaden specifically but as they show up in diets of predators, they may be encountered. Prey in the guts are difficult to identify as they are often mostly digested but there are some hardparts that last longer in the stomach. The catalogue is beginning to add a number of these parts like jaw bones, otoliths, carapaces, shells, chelicerae and may help identify the prey in finer detail in the future. Currently, most 'fish' are unidentified but some are identifiably to at least the family or genus level. These data may be more useful in the future as more prey items are identified and incorporated into the predator/prey database. Potential Modifications {Or Update VanderKooy summarized the presentations and specifically noted the importance of getting a reasonable timeline to complete the update in 216. Based on the agency data availability, the states will try to have their 215 FID available to Dr. Schueller by June 216. There will likely be a conference call/webinar to review the various indices in July or August and Dr. Schueller will present the update by the October 216 MAC meeting in Louisiana. As a 'tum-of-the-crank' type of update, the inclusion of any 'new' data is probably not likely however, Dr. Schueller will include the fecundity data either as updated data or at least a sensitivity run to compare with the previous estimates. Brown-Peterson is continuing to collect some fish to fill in the gaps but have a more complete picture by the time the assessment is started. Election of Chair Wallace, the keeper of the chairman list, noted that the rotation of chair returns to the Federal partner and Mroch was nominated and elected without opposition. Other Business The roster and MAC membership was reviewed. To date, a 'bait' representative has not yet been provided to fill the position. Lukens noted that he was retiring at the end of this year from Omega Protein, Inc and has been replaced by Mr. Peter Himchak who will be serving on the MAC in the future. He has enjoyed working with the MAC for the last several years and appreciates the time he has spent working in the fishery. As a follow-up to the start of the meeting the audience was once again allowed opportunity to provide comment on anything related to the agenda or any other menhaden related item. There was no comment offered. 2
There being no further business, Luke11s moved to adjoum, seco11ded by Mambretti a11d the meeti11g adjourned at 4:25 p.m. 21