Revised Reference Period Landings and Proposed Landing Caps for 2000 by Technical Committee and Plan Review Team

This table is also available as an Excel file.
State Original Reference Period Landings (# of HSCs) Years Used2 Source1   1998 Landings (# of HSCs) Source1   Revised RPL Recommended by Technical Committee (# of HSCs) Years Used2 Source1   Recommded 2000 Cap by Technical Committee (# of HSCs)11 Recommded 2000 Cap by Plan Review Team (# of HSCs)12
 
ME - 95-97 NMFS3,4 ME 13,500 State6 ME 13,500 98 State6 ME 13,500 13,500
NH - 95-97 State, NMFS3,4 NH 200 State6 NH 350 99 State6 NH 350 350
MA 400,000 97 State5 MA 400,000 State5 MA 400,000 97 State5,10 MA 400,000 300,000
RI 184 96-97 NMFS3 RI     RI 184 96-97 NMFS3,9 RI 184 184
CT 560 95-97 NMFS4 CT 34,583 State5 CT 64,919 97 State5 CT 64,919 48,689
NY 406,554 95-97 NMFS4 NY 352,462   NY 488,362 96-97 State8 NY 488,362 366,272
NJ 604,049 96 State NJ 241,456 State NJ 604,049 96 State NJ 453,037 453,037
PA - 95-97 State, NMFS3,4 PA 75,000 State PA - 95-97 State, NMFS3,4 PA - -
DE 482,401 95-97 State DE 479,634 State DE 482,401 95-97 State DE 361,801 361,801
MD 613,225 96 State MD 114,458 State MD 613,225 96 State MD 459,919 459,919
DC - 95-97 NMFS4 DC -   DC - 95-97 NMFS4 DC - -
VA 23,247 96-97 State VA 1,015,700 State VA 203,326   Mid-Atlantic7 VA 152,495 152,495
NC 3,120 95-97 NMFS NC 24,036 NMFS NC 24,036 98 NMFS NC 24,036 24,036
SC - 95-97 State, NMFS3,4 SC -   SC - 95-97 State, NMFS3,4 SC - -
GA 373 95 NMFS GA -   GA 30,000 99 State GA 30,000 30,000
FL - 95-97 NMFS3,4 FL 5,920 State FL 9,455 97 State FL 9,455 9,455
 
TOTAL 2,533,713       2,756,949     2,933,807       2,458,057 2,219,737
 
1 The Horseshoe Crab Technical Committee reviewed and approved the reference period landings based on the reliablity and accuracy of the best available data.
2 The reference period landings may either be an average of several years or an individual year depending on the availability and accuracy of data.
3 National Marine Fisheries Service (1998) Vessel Trawl Logbook Data.
4 National Marine Fisheries Service (1998) Horseshoe Crab Landings Data.
5 Estimates back-calculated from American eel and conch landings.
6 Estimates obtained from interviews with fishermen.
7 Recent information from VA suggests that the original RPL for VA does not account for all of VA's landings between 1995-1997. Given the majority of landings from the mid-Atlantic region go to the VA conch fishery the following strategy was used and accepted by the TC. The revised RPL for VA was derived by subtracting the original RPL landings from the mid-Atlantic region (NJ-VA) (1,722,922) from the revised RPL landings from the mid-Atlantic region (NJ-VA) (1,926,248) with the difference being 203,326.
8 The TC agreed to drop the 1995 landings from NY's RPL based upon additional information obtained from NY which indicates that 1995 was the first year that reporting requirements were in place of which were not mandatory. Therefore, 1995 landings were dropped because they do not represent the actual total landings in NY for 1995.
9 The TC recognizes that landings in RI are substantially larger that those reported for the RPL. Information from MA suggests landings in RI exceeding 100,000 horseshoe crabs in 1999. However, since the TC did not receive any additional informatin from RI the originial RPL was maintained.
10 MA provided additional information regarding their original estimates for their RPL given there was some uncertainty about their methodology. MA implemented mandatory reporting in 1999 and as of September 1 reported landings in MA exceeded 380,000 horseshoe crabs. Given this information the TC again accepted MA RPL of 400,000 with greater confidence this time.
11 Cap based on 25% reduction in mid-Atlantic states (NJ, DE, MD, VA), de minimis set at 30,000 HSCs, and no reductions for non-de minimis states outside of the mid-Atlantic
12 Cap based on de minimis set at 30,000 HSCs and 25% reduction in all non-de minimis states.


Last Updated on 11/10/99
By Liz Pomper
Email: epomper@audubon.org