ASMFC Summer Meeting Cheat Sheet

ASMFC Summer Meeting – August 4–6, 2026

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission meets in Arlington August 4-6 for its Summer Meeting. Several boards will convene, but a handful of agenda items will shape management decisions for years. Here is a detailed breakdown of what matters most for fisheries conservation advocates:

Atlantic Menhaden Management Board

Wednesday, August 5 | 1:45 – 5:30 p.m.

This is the most important session of the entire meeting.

The Board will consider approving Draft Addendum II for public comment. The addendum focuses on the Chesapeake Bay Reduction Fishery Cap and contains two critical decision points:

1. The size of any reduction to the Bay Cap (options range from status quo to a 50% cut).
2. Whether the Bay Cap should be automatically linked to the coastwide (ocean) Total Allowable Catch.

One of the options under consideration (Section 3.1.2, Option B) would create an automatic proportional adjustment. If the coastwide TAC increases in the future, the Bay Cap would rise with it. If the TAC decreases, the Bay Cap would fall. 

The Chesapeake Bay is not a scaled-down version of the ocean. It is a distinct ecological system with its own patterns of localized depletion, its own forage demands from predators, and a long record of concentrated industrial harvest. Tying the Bay Cap to the ocean quota removes the Board’s ability to manage the Bay independently and on its own scientific merits. It treats a critical nursery and feeding area as just another line on a spreadsheet.

We also need to be clear-eyed about last year’s action. The Board approved a 20% reduction in the coastwide TAC. On paper, it looked like meaningful progress. In reality, the menhaden fishery landed roughly 77% of the previous quota. A 20% cut applied to a quota that was already under-utilized produced little to no actual reduction in harvest. In some scenarios, it effectively allowed the same or even slightly higher landings. That outcome was compounded by problems in the stock assessment, including natural mortality values that understated fishing pressure for years. We have been removing too many menhaden for too long. Another paper reduction is not enough.

This public comment period on Draft Addendum II is the best opportunity in years to demand a real cut in Bay harvest and to keep the Bay Cap independent of the ocean quota. Once the document is approved for public comment, the range of options that go out to the public largely defines the final decision space. Weak reduction options or an automatic-adjustment mechanism will be much harder to fix later.

The Board will also review a Committee on Economics and Social Sciences report on economic impacts to the bait fishery from TAC changes and provide guidance to the Technical Committee on 2027–2029 specifications. Those items are relevant, but the structure and independence of the Bay Cap itself is the core fight.

The bottom line is that ASMFC set the Total Allowable Catch far too high. You can see from these two charts that when the TAC increased substantially in 2016-2018 and again in 2023, the bait fisheries in the Chesapeake and likely the overall menhaden availability plunged. Once the draft document is approved, we will provide our advocates a breakdown of the options so we can all do our part to turn this mess around. 

Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board

Thursday, August 6 | 8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

The Striped Bass Board has a shorter agenda but several items worth attention.

The primary action item is consideration of formal comments to NOAA Fisheries on its technical memorandum Charting a Course for Striped Bass: Science and Regulatory Innovation for Offshore Aquaculture. NOAA has been exploring the possibility of striped bass aquaculture in federal waters. The Commission is preparing a response that reflects Board member concerns about environmental impacts, genetic interactions with wild stocks, disease transmission, enforcement challenges, and the broader policy implications of allowing aquaculture of a recovering wild stock in the EEZ. The draft letter will be refined and advanced to the ISFMP Policy Board.

The Board will also review and consider approval of the 2026 Fishery Management Plan Review and state compliance reports for the 2025 fishing year. There are no de minimis requests this cycle. An update will be provided on the 2027 benchmark stock assessment; the assessment workshop is scheduled for late August in Arlington, with peer review expected in mid-2027 so the revised MRIP time series can be fully incorporated. Finally, the Board will review and populate Advisory Panel membership, including a nomination for a North Carolina seat.

No major new management measures are expected at this meeting. The stock continues to face consecutive years of poor recruitment, so any discussion of future direction or aquaculture policy carries weight.

Atlantic Herring Management Board

Tuesday, August 4 | 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.

The Herring Board will consider acceptance of the 2025 Research Track Stock Assessment and the 2026 Management Track Stock Assessment, along with their respective peer review reports, for management use. Presentations will cover assessment results and peer review findings.

While herring may appear secondary on a multi-species agenda, its status has direct relevance to menhaden discussions. Atlantic herring is a major forage species. Persistent weakness in the herring stock strengthens the scientific and policy case for more precautionary management of other forage species, including menhaden, particularly inside the Chesapeake Bay where localized depletion and predator needs are already documented concerns. The Board will also receive an update from the New England Fishery Management Council on recent actions separating herring specifications from river herring and shad measures.

ISFMP Policy Board

Thursday, August 6 | 9:45 – 11:45 a.m.

The Policy Board covers several cross-cutting issues.

Sector Separation remains one of the more concerning items. Staff will present the current timeline and the process for a stakeholder workshop planned for September. The workshop is intended to inform development of management objectives and options for the Sector Separation Amendment being developed jointly with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. Sector separation continues to raise significant concerns. It risks creating complicated, inequitable allocation systems that add administrative burden without delivering clear conservation benefits for most recreational fisheries. Any acceleration of the timeline or narrowing of options should be scrutinized closely.

Other agenda items include:

• Discussion of de minimis policy guidance, following questions raised by the Sciaenids Board about threshold calculations.
• Committee reports from the Committee on Economics and Social Sciences and the Assessment Science Committee (including potential changes to the stock assessment schedule, such as an earlier tautog benchmark).
• An overview of the Fisheries Compensation Fund for Atlantic Coast Offshore Wind, a regional program intended to compensate commercial and for-hire businesses for impacts from offshore wind development.
• An update on the Recreational Angler Partnership Improvement Directive (RAPID), NOAA’s initiative to modernize recreational data collection under the broader National Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Policy.
• Brief stock assessment updates on species whose boards are not meeting this week (Atlantic croaker and Atlantic sturgeon).
• Review of any noncompliance findings if necessary.

Committee on Economics and Social Sciences

August 4 (1:00–4:00 p.m.) and August 5 (8:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m.)

CESS will provide an update on the Striped Bass Recreation Demand Model, review progress on species-specific tasks (menhaden bait fishery impacts, spiny dogfish, and tautog), discuss data access issues, and cover broader topics including risk-and-uncertainty frameworks, an AI tool presentation, and human mobility data applications. The menhaden economic work feeds directly into the Wednesday Board discussion and is worth noting even for those who cannot follow the full committee sessions.

The Bottom Line:

The Menhaden Board on Wednesday afternoon is the clear priority. The two outcomes that matter most are a meaningful, real-world reduction in the Chesapeake Bay Cap and the rejection of any automatic linkage between the Bay Cap and the coastwide ocean quota. The Bay requires its own strong, independent limit based on the best available information about localized conditions and forage needs. This public comment period is the moment to insist on both.

Striped bass requires attention on the aquaculture response and the long-term recruitment problem. Herring provides important context for forage management philosophy. Sector separation on the Policy Board should be approached with continued skepticism.

The meeting is hybrid. Materials and webinar links are posted on the ASMFC website. Public comment is typically taken at the beginning of each board meeting, though chairs often limit comment on items already scheduled for formal public hearings.

Stay focused on the Bay Cap. The decisions made this week will shape menhaden management for years.