SavingSeaFood - Feds shut down fishermen's access to dogfish

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Feds shut down fishermen's access to dogfish

GLOUCESTER, Mass. - August 29, 2010 -The federal government has announced a decision to stop all landings of dogfish. The action was taken by Patricia Kurkul, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Gloucester-based regional administrator of fisheries. And it comes after the six-month NOAA Fisheries allocation was landed in three months.

But that's a development that industry analysts attribute to the overabundance of the small schooling shark and efforts by fishermen to keep working even for a low-value, low-margin prey, while saving their small allocations of the more valuable ground fish.

Dogfish was bringing around 25 cents a pound last week, and, with a 3,000-pound daily limit, the day boats could eke out gross revenues of $750 a day while saving small allocations of high value groundfish.

Dogfish are by far the most abundant species to be brought up by NOAA's research nets, said Dr. Brian Rothschild, the dean emeritus of the UMass School of Marine Science and Technology.

Some 20 times as much dogfish was recorded by weight compared to the next most abundant species, redfish, he said.

"The dogfish is extremely abundant, mortality rate very low, and the great abundance of the small sharks is not typical of the ecosystem," said Rothschild. He urged reconsideration of the closure "in light of the effect of catch shares on jobs and fishery."

"This just shows the disconnect between the government, the regulators and the industry," said Larry Ciulla, president of the auction. Losing the access to dogfish while rationing small allocations of high value groundfish will have a destabilizing effect on the fishing industry, he added.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Daily Times.

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