The Horseshoe Crab Management Board met on November 3, 1999. Although the Board did not vote on a coastwide cap, it did approve the development of a cap. Several options for the cap will be presented in a Public Information Document to be released in December. After a series of public hearings, the public comments will be compiled and presented to the Board for consideration in early February, when the Board will approve a cap to be implemented prior to the beginning of the 2000 fishing season.

At the meeting, the Technical Committee presented a table of Revised Reference Period Landings and Proposed Landing Caps for 2000 by Technical Committee and Plan Review Team. This table lists the original reference period landings used in the Horseshoe Crab Management Plan, the reported 1998 landings, and the Technical Committee's revised reference period landings. It also lists two of the options which will appear in the Public Information Document: the cap proposed by the technical committee and a more conservative cap proposed by the Plan Review Team. The Excel version of this chart may be easier to read.

Here is the ASMFC's summary of the meeting. It includes a complete list of the actions and motions.

The ASMFC issued a press release after the meeting. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it (you can download this program for free at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html).

For more information, contact Perry Plumart.