The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC):

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has begun work on a black sea bass benchmark stock assessment. The assessment will evaluate the health of the black sea bass population (north of Cape Hatteras) and inform the management of the species. The Commission's stock assessment process and meetings are open to the public (with the exception of discussion of confidential data).

The Commission welcomes the submission of data sets that will improve the accuracy of the assessment. These include, but are not limited to data on growth, maturation, migration, genetics, tagging, recruitment, natural mortality, and abundance/biomass. An essential need is information on the adult component of the stock, specifically with regards to spatial extent. For data sets to be considered, the data must be sent in the required format, with accompanying methods description, to the Commission by June 19, 2015. For those interested in submitting data, including the appropriate format, and/or attending the Black Sea Bass Data Workshop, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740. The deadline for data submission is June 19, 2015. All available data will be reviewed and vetted by the Commission's Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Technical Committee and Stock Assessment Working Group for possible use in the assessment.

The Data Workshop will be conducted June 29 – July 2, 2015 at the Hilton Garden Inn Providence Airport/Warwick, 1 Thurber Street, Warwick, RI. The first Assessment Workshop will be conducted in the early fall, with the possibility of additional assessment workshops to follow. The peer review will be conducted in 2016. For more information on the black sea bass stock assessment process, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy at krootes-murdy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.