Newport, RI – The Commission’s Coastal Sharks Management Board approved commercial fishery specifications for 2027 through 2031, matching the default season start date and retention limits as specified by the National Marine Fisheries Service final rule published on November 8, 2023. Beginning in 2024, the fishing year for Atlantic commercial shark fisheries automatically starts on January 1 of each year under the base quotas and default retention limits.
The Board set specifications that include a commercial possession limit of 55 large coastal sharks (LCS) other than sandbar sharks (i.e., aggregated LCS and hammerhead shark management groups) per vessel per trip and 8 blacknose sharks per vessel trip. NOAA Fisheries may consider in-season adjustments to the commercial possession limits depending on catch rates; states will follow NOAA Fisheries for in-season changes to the commercial possession limit. The Coastal Sharks Board does not actively set quotas for any species contained in the non-blacknose, small coastal shark (SCS), blacknose, aggregated LCS, hammerhead or pelagic species groups but will close the fishery for any species in these groups when NOAA Fisheries closes the fishery in federal waters, as outlined in the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP).
Under Addendum II to the FMP, the Coastal Sharks Board establishes state shares of the base federal coastwide quota for the Atlantic smooth dogfish fishery. At this meeting, the Board approved shares for 2027-2031 based on the base federal quota of 1,802.6 dressed weight (dw) metric tons, or 3,973,902 dw pounds (Table 1). Rollover of unused state shares is not permitted because it could result in overages of the federal coastwide quota.
Under the Coastal Sharks FMP, if a multi-year commercial quota and/or possession limit is implemented, annual review of updated information on the fishery and stock conditions by the Technical Committee and Management Board is required. If scientific review finds that specified measures should be modified based on updates to stock conditions, then the Coastal Sharks Board will be presented with this information and a new specification setting process will be initiated.
For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, Senior Fishery Management Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.
Table 1. State shares of the coastwide smooth dogfish quota based on the base coastwide quota for the 2027-2031 fishing years (January – December).
| State Share Percentages | State Share (dw mt) | State Share (dw lbs) | |
| ME | 0.021% | 0.4 | 817 |
| MA | 0.433% | 7.8 | 17,195 |
| RI | 1.363% | 24.6 | 54,163 |
| CT | 0.234% | 4.2 | 9,282 |
| NY | 7.953% | 143.4 | 316,037 |
| NJ | 18.828% | 339.4 | 748,214 |
| DE | 0.339% | 6.1 | 13,464 |
| MD | 6.703% | 120.8 | 266,362 |
| VA | 34.803% | 627.4 | 1,383,026 |
| NC | 28.583% | 515.2 | 1,135,860 |
| SC | 0.742% | 13.4 | 29,481 |
| TOTAL | 100% | 1,802.6 | 3,973,902 |