Advisory committee recommends delaying decisions on license wait‑list and pot‑limit restoration until stock assessment

The committee revisited requests from watermen to reinstate pre‑2008 pot limits and to remove some licenses from the wait list, but members generally supported postponing any change until new stock assessment results are available.

Speaker 8 summarized the wait list: 88 licenses representing 71 individuals (63 hard‑crab pot licenses and 25 peeler pot licenses). Staff estimated that activating all hard‑crab pot licenses could add roughly 11,000 pots to the bay (about a 7 percent increase in hard‑pot numbers) and increase active peeler pots by about 15 percent. Advisory members noted reported trips often use fewer pots than licensed maxima and that bushel limits, not pot limits, currently constrain many trips.

Concerns focused on the timing and market effects of restoring pre‑2008 limits. Speaker 1 argued reinstating licenses before the stock assessment could depress license values and potentially allow market actors to buy into the fishery. The committee moved to wait until the updated stock assessment is complete before considering transfers or reactivating waiting‑list licenses; a motion to that effect was seconded, and members asked staff to present post‑assessment options and transfer restrictions for further review.

No immediate regulatory change was adopted at the meeting.

Next steps: staff will incorporate findings from the forthcoming stock assessment and present options, including transfer restrictions and potential limits on license transfers, at a future meeting.