Draft Addendum II to the Atlantic Sturgeon FMP Approved for Public Comment Addendum Explores Commercial Aquaculture in North Carolina
The Commission’s Atlantic Sturgeon Management Board approved Draft Addendum
II to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic
Sturgeon for public review and comment. The Draft Addendum provides
exemptions to Amendment 1 to allow a commercial aquaculture operation in
North Carolina. Specifically, the exemptions will permit importation of
Atlantic sturgeon from Canadian sources and allow possession, production,
and sale of cultured fish by a private company in North Carolina.
Amendment 1 establishes a moratorium on harvest and possession of Atlantic
sturgeon to allow for recovery of spawning stocks to population levels that
will provide for sustainable fisheries and viable spawning populations.
The target of the Amendment is to have at least 20 protected age classes of
females in each spawning stock, which may take 20 to 40 years from
initiation of the moratorium. Historically, the United States supported a
large market for Atlantic sturgeon products. Draft Addendum II seeks to
reestablish part of that market by providing a domestic product through an
environmentally and socially sound aquaculture operation.
Copies of Draft Addendum II are available via the Commission’s website at
289-6400. Public comment will be accepted no later than 5 PM, April 29,
2005, and should be forwarded to Braddock Spear, Fishery Management Plan
Coordinator, 1444 Eye Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202)
289-6051 (fax) or co******@as***.org (subject line: Atlantic Sturgeon).
Draft Addendum II to the Atlantic Sturgeon FMP Approved for Public Comment Addendum Explores Commercial Aquaculture in North Carolina
The Commission’s Atlantic Sturgeon Management Board approved Draft Addendum
II to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic
Sturgeon for public review and comment. The Draft Addendum provides
exemptions to Amendment 1 to allow a commercial aquaculture operation in
North Carolina. Specifically, the exemptions will permit importation of
Atlantic sturgeon from Canadian sources and allow possession, production,
and sale of cultured fish by a private company in North Carolina.
Amendment 1 establishes a moratorium on harvest and possession of Atlantic
sturgeon to allow for recovery of spawning stocks to population levels that
will provide for sustainable fisheries and viable spawning populations.
The target of the Amendment is to have at least 20 protected age classes of
females in each spawning stock, which may take 20 to 40 years from
initiation of the moratorium. Historically, the United States supported a
large market for Atlantic sturgeon products. Draft Addendum II seeks to
reestablish part of that market by providing a domestic product through an
environmentally and socially sound aquaculture operation.
Copies of Draft Addendum II are available via the Commission’s website at
289-6400. Public comment will be accepted no later than 5 PM, April 29,
2005, and should be forwarded to Braddock Spear, Fishery Management Plan
Coordinator, 1444 Eye Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202)
289-6051 (fax) or co******@as***.org (subject line: Atlantic Sturgeon).