Book Description

"This supplemental environmental assessment (SEA) updates the previously approved environmental assessment (the "EA"; attached) that analyzed the catch limits, commercial quotas, recreational harvest limits, and management measures (called specifications) for summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass for the 2013 and 2014 fishing years. This document is not a stand-alone document, but rather a supplement and is intended to be utilized in conjunction with the approved EA (final rule December 31, 2012; 77 FR 76942). Unless otherwise noted, the initial EA prepared for this action and attached to this SEA remains applicable. Therefore, sections addressed in this supplement should be considered within the context of the full EA. At the time the 2013 and 2014 Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Specifications were prepared, the specific recreational measures designed to achieve the recreational harvest limits could not be analyzed. Recreational data availability is lagged and analyses of recreational measures require the most up-to-date information to determine the specific recreational measures. This SEA is necessary to analyze specific recreational measures (i.e., possession limits, minimum fish size, and/or seasonal limits) that will achieve the 2013 recreational harvest limits for the three species. In addition, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (Council) Science and Statistical Committee (SSC) revised their recommendations for the 2013 and 2014 Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) for black sea bass. Therefore, this SEA also supplements the analyses for those years with a new alternative for 2013 and 2014. The following assessment summarizes the social and economic impacts associated with the additional alternatives addressed in this SEA. The biological, habitat, and ESA (Endangered Species Act) listed and MMPA (Marine Mammal Protection Act) protected impacts were previously address in the EA and remain unchanged (Box ES-2). The increase in black sea bass ABC is a relatively minor increase, and is not expected to result in notably more impacts than those previously analyzed in the EA"--Executive Summary (page ii).