Regulatory Amendment 2 Queen Conch Fishery Management Plan

1. Regulatory Amendment 2 Queen Conch Fishery Management Plan Compatibility of Commercial Trip Limits and Recreational Bag Limits in the Management Area of St. Croix, USVI 145th Council Meeting March 26-27, 2013

2. Queen Conch Harvest • USVI Territorial waters • Federal waters (in the area east of 64°34' W, bound within the 100-fathom curve, which includes Lang Bank to the east of St. Croix) • Open Season : • November 1 - May 31 • Closed Season: • June 1 – October 31 • STX Territorial/Federal Quota: • 50,000 lbs combined state and federal waters

3. Purpose and Need for Action • To establish compatible regulations for commercial and recreational harvest of queen conch between the U.S. Caribbean exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and USVI territorial regulations. • Compatibility of regulations will aid in the enforcement of queen conch regulations and enhance compliance by eliminating the inconsistency in the number of queen conch allowed to be possessed on the water.

4. Federal vs. Territorial Management

5. Action 1: Modify the trip limit for the commercial harvest of queen conch in the U.S. Caribbean EEZ

6. Action 1: Modify the trip limit for the commercial harvest of queen conch in the U.S. Caribbean EEZ • To keep in mind!! • The ACL for the EEZ management area of St. Croix is 50,000 lb (22,680 kg) of combined St. Croix territorial and federal landings. • This action would not have any overall effect on the total amount of harvest that is currently allowed in the EEZ. • Modifying the allowed trip limit would only affect the rate at which the ACL/quota is reached.

7. Number of queen conch per trip harvested in the EEZ for the three most recent fishing years separated by trips declared as having one fisherman or having two fishermen on a trip. • Only a small number of queen conch trips were declared to have more than one fisherman on a vessel (~2% of trips) in the EEZ. • Either 16.9 % of the trips that landed queen conch, if reported uncleaned, or 41.3 %, if reported cleaned, exceeded the current federal limit for an individual licensed fishermen.

8. Percent change in the rate of approach to the St. Croix 50,000 lb queen conch landings quota expected from Alternative 2 and Alternative 3 of Action 1. • Alternatives 2 and 3are predicted to have very little impact on future landings toward the 50,000 lb quota, because most trips do not exceed the newly proposed trip/vessel limits. • The small impacts expected from both alternatives are because landings in the EEZ in recent years represent only 28 % of the overall St. Croix landings, and few of those trips included more than one licensed commercial fisher or brought home more than 150 queen conch.

9. Action 2: Modify the bag limit for the recreational harvest of queen conch in the U.S. Caribbean EEZ Partially compatible

10. Action 2: Recreational Bag Limit • To keep in mind!! • Little if any recreational fishing for queen conch in the EEZ. • No monitoring of recreational harvest in territorial or in federal waters. • Queen conch is classified as overfished and has an established rebuilding plan. • Queen conch recreational harvest season in STX territorial and EEZ waters follows that of the commercial harvest season. When the commercial quota is reached, harvest for both the commercial and recreational sectors is closed. • Although only commercial harvest is monitored, the 50,000 lb ACL in the STX EEZ serves as a proxy for the harvest that is occurring in both sectors of the fishery. • The ACL is assumed to be sufficient at the moment to prevent overfishing from occurring. • Modifying the total recreational bag limit to meet the purpose and need of this action, could potentially change the balance that was used to establish the ACL for the STX management area. • The absence of an explicit recreational harvest quota has the potential for recreational harvesters to harvest at a more rapid rate thereby increasing total harvest to an undefined degree.

11. Number of queen conch that can be harvested per fisher under each of the proposed alternatives for Action 2. Shaded cells represent instances where the numbers that could be fished is higher than currently allowed in the EEZ.

14. ACTION 2: Summary of Effects • Alternative 1constrains daily and total recreational harvest to the greatest degree, and therefore best supports the queen conch rebuilding plan (although the degree to which the rebuilding plan may be affected is unknown). • Alternative 2 would allow the largest daily and total increase in recreational harvest by increasing both the individual and vessel limits, potentially hindering the success of the rebuilding plan. However, Alternative 2 is the only one that meets the purpose and need of this regulatory amendment. • Alternatives 3 and 4 would both increase the daily recreational harvest rate (individual or vessel limit) and their effects would depend on the actual number of recreational participants on a trip.

15. ADDITIONAL SLIDES...

16. Action 1 – Analyses

20. Other Issues Puerto Rico Recreational Sector • Exceeding state bag limits – 3conchs p/p, max 12 p/boat • Harvesting illegal sizes • Selling conch • International / Other Issues • ESA Listing Petition – Fishermen need update • CITES – Fishermen want import of conch to be prohibited during seasonal closure • Illegal aliens harvesting conch