Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board increased the 2012/2013 spiny dogfish quota from 30 to 35.6 million pounds. The increase is consistent with proposed regulations for federal waters as well the recommendations of the ASMFC Spiny Dogfish Technical Committee and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee. The table below shows preliminary regional and state commercial quotas for the 2012/2013 season as adjusted for overages and rollovers.
Table 1. Preliminary 2012/1013 regional and state commercial spiny dogfish quotas adjusted for overages and rollovers from the 2011/2012 fishing season (in pounds). Quotas are subject to change as landings are finalized.
| % Allocation | Initial Allocation | 2011/2012 Overage | 2011/2012 Rollover | 2012/2013 Quota Adjusted for 2011/2012 Overages and Rollovers | |
| Northern Region (ME ‐ CT) | 58.00% | 20,702,520 | 1,359,053 | 19,343,467 | |
| NY | 2.707% | 966,237 | 26,935 | 993,171 | |
| NJ | 7.644% | 2,728,449 | 101,508 | 2,626,941 | |
| DE | 0.896% | 319,818 | 3,915 | 323,734 | |
| MD | 5.920% | 2,113,085 | 13,113 | 2,126,197 | |
| VA | 10.795% | 3,853,167 | 88,435 | 3,764,732 | |
| NC | 14.036% | 5,010,010 | 20,844 | 5,030,854 |
The Board also approved Draft Addendum IV to the Spiny Dogfish Fishery Management Plan for public comment. The Draft Addendum proposes allowing exemptions (with Board approval) to the 5% maximum quota rollover provision as well as measures to update the spiny dogfish overfishing definition based on recommendations of the ASMFC Spiny Dogfish Technical Committee. The rollover provision exemption seeks to provide states the opportunity to rollover more than 5% of their unharvested quota from one year to the next. It responds to concerns by states in the southern region that early closure of federal water fisheries often leaves more than 5% of their quota unharvested.
The Draft Addendum also proposes providing the Board the flexibility to update or modify the management program’s overfishing definition by Board action based on the recommendations of its Technical Committee and best available science. The current overfishing definition is based on the number of pups per female that recruit to the stock and was adopted in 2002 from the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Plan. Since that time, the Council has updated its definition based on maximum sustainable yield or a reasonable proxy, consistent with the best available science. Adjusting the overfishing definition is a technical consideration and will not impact management significantly.
States will be conducting public hearings on the Draft Addendum; information on those hearings will be released when they are finalized. Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum. The Draft Addendum will be available on the Commission website (wwww.asmfc.org) under Breaking News by May 11, 2012. The public comment deadline is 5:00 PM (EST) on June 15, 2012 and should be forwarded to Christopher Vonderweidt, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Spiny Dogfish Draft Addendum IV).