Arlington, VA – The Commission’s Spiny Dogfish Management Board approved a coastwide commercial quota for the 2023/2024 fishing season (May 1-April 30) of 12 million pounds (state-specific allocations are provided in table below). The quota is consistent with the measures recommended to NOAA Fisheries by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) and New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC). The Board also maintained the commercial trip limit in state waters of 7,500 pounds for the northern region states of Maine through Connecticut. The states of New York through North Carolina have the ability to set state-specific trip limits based on the needs of their fisheries. The Commission’s actions are final and apply to state waters (0-3 miles from shore). The MAFMC and NEFMC will forward their recommendations for federal waters (3 –200 miles from shore) to NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Administrator for final approval.
| Northern Region (ME-CT) | NY | NJ | DE | MD | VA | NC | |
| Possession Limit | 7,500 | To be specified by the individual southern region states | |||||
| Allocation | 58% | 2.71% | 7.64% | 0.90% | 5.92% | 10.80% | 14.04% |
| 2022-2023 | 17,144,556 | 800,413 | 2,259,728 | 264,866 | 1,749,935 | 3,191,020 | 4,149,062 |
| 2023-2024 | 6,960,000 | 324,935 | 917,359 | 107,525 | 710,403 | 1,295,426 | 1,684,352 |
* Any overages in the above quota allocations will be deducted from that region’s or state’s quota allocation in the subsequent year. Similarly, any eligible rollovers from one season can be applied to that region’s or state’s quota allocation the following year.
The 2023/2024 coastwide quota represents a 59.4% reduction from the current fishing season’s coastwide quota of 29,559,580 pounds. The decreased quota is based on declining trends in several indicators including survey abundance, catch per unit of effort, pup production, and dogfish growth. A research track stock assessment was completed in late 2022, and management advice will be provided through the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s management track assessment that is scheduled for June.
For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, Senior FMP Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.