Alexandria, VA – The Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board approved Addendum I to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Coastal Sharks. Addendum I modifies the finning and identification provision for the commercial smooth dogfish fishery and removes both the smooth dogfish recreational possession limits and 2-hour net check requirement for commercial large mesh gillnet. The FMP originally required that the fins of all sharks harvested in the commercial fishery have fins attached naturally to the carcass through landing. The commercial smooth dogfish fishery is high volume, labor intensive, and requires an extremely fresh product in relation…
Press Releases
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board approved extending the provisions of Addendum V to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Horseshoe Crab for an additional year as it awaits the results of the upcoming peer-reviewed stock assessment. Addendum V’s measures include a delayed, male-only harvest in New Jersey and Delaware, prohibiting the harvest and landing of male and female horseshoe crabs from January 1 through June 7 in the Delaware Bay, and restricting the annual harvest to 100,000 males per state from June 8 through December 31. As with all Commission plans, states can implement more conservative…
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States Water Fisheries to be Closed by January 1, 2012 unless Sustainablity is Demonstrated through State-specific Management Plans
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s American Lobster Management Board approved Addendum XIV to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster. The Addendum XIV modifies the Lobster Conservation Management Area (LCMA) 3 trap transfer program, including changes to the conservation tax and trap cap. Given the competitive nature of the fishery in LCMA 3 (offshore waters), it is expected that once transferability is implemented, all fishing entities will elect to fish the highest number of traps in order to remain competitive. There was concern the end result would be fewer participants in the fishery. The Board adopted…
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High Abundance and Recruitment for Georges Bank & Most of Gulf of Maine Continued Low Stock Abundance & Recruitment for Southern New England and Area 514 (MA Bay and Stellwagen Bank)
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Winter Flounder Management Board approved Addendum I to Amendment 1 the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for the Inshore Stocks of Winter Flounder. The Addendum establishes harvest reductions for both the Gulf of Maine (GOM) and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic (SNE/MA) inshore stocks of winter flounder (0 – 3 miles). This action is taken in response to the findings of the 2008 Groundfish Assessment Review Meeting (GARM III), which estimates that the SNE/MA stock is at 9% of the target biomass (overfished) with overfishing occurring and that the GOM stock is likely to be overfished with overfishing…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Winter Flounder Management Board approved the development of Draft Addendum I to Amendment 1 the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for the Inshore Stocks of Winter Flounder. The Draft Addendum will propose a suite of management measures to reduce fishing mortality on the inshore stocks of winter flounder (0 – 3 miles). The range of management measures will include zero possession limits; commercial trip limits; recreational bag/size and seasonal limits; and measures to prevent an influx of effort in state waters for Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic (SNE/MA) and Gulf of Maine (GOM) stocks. his action is taken…
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Alexandria, VA – The Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board approved the initiation of Draft Addendum I to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Coastal Sharks. Draft Addendum I will propose measures to allow commercial fishermen to remove smooth dogfish fins at sea and eliminate smooth dogfish recreational possession limits. Finning, the act of cutting off the fins and discarding the carcass at sea, will remain prohibited under all options of Addendum I. In October 2008, the Management Board eliminated a previously established 1,000 pound commercial trip limit for smooth dogfish due to concerns about the impacts of…
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Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board approved an increase to the 2009 scup total allowable landings limit from 7.34 million pounds to 11.18 million pounds, with the commercial quota revised to 8.4 million pounds and the recreational harvest limit revised to 2.6 million pounds (after the research set aside was deducted). This increase is consistent with that taken by the National Marine Fisheries Service for federal waters. The Board’s action is based on the results of a recent review of the scup stock assessment which indicates that the scup resource is rebuilt…
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