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Dogfish actions explained |
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There has been a great deal of controversy over the recent announcements by NOAA Fisheries concerning dogfish. This year, an action was taken that resulted in an increase of about 20% in the 2010 quota over the 2009 quota, and kept the trip limit at 3,000 pounds/trip. For more on that action, click on this link. As the recent actions have been controversial, Saving Seafood asked NOAA Fisheries to explain the current situation. Their explanation follows: The 2010 quota could have been set higher without allowing overfishing in 2010. However, that was not the only concern. The New England Fisheries Management Council's Joint Spiny Dogfish Committee supported a lower quota than the maximum allowable, one that reflected a constant catch strategy that would guard against dramatic fluctuation in annual quota in future years. This is a concern because despite improved recruitment in 2009, the Spawning Stock Biomass (SSB) is expected to decline beginning in 2015 when the weak year-classes of 1997-2003 (the weakest on record) start entering the SSB. At 15 million pounds held constant over the next 5 years, there's an increase in the quota over 2009 but just a 2 percent chance that the stock will be newly overfished in 2015 when the weak year classes begin to enter the spawning stock. |
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MICHAEL CONATHAN: Ocean Warming Means A New Paradigm For The World’s Fisheries
May 20, 2013 -- Fishing is a profession often passed down from one generation to the next. Many lobstermen in Maine fish the same bottom their fathers and grandfathers fished, and the same holds true of fishermen father offshore as well. Yet increasingly, anecdotal evidence has suggested that the old faithful fishing spots are no longer quite so reliable.
