October 1, 2019 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
The New England Fishery Management Council spent an entire day on groundfish-related issues during its late-September meeting in Gloucester, MA. In addition to receiving a progress report on the Council’s Groundfish Catch Share Program Review and an update on the Northeast Trawl Advisory Panel’s recent activities, the Council:
- Discussed and approved comments on the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS/NOAA Fisheries) Draft Policy Directive on Electronic Monitoring Video Retention Periods;
- Received recommendations from its Enforcement Committee on a variety of groundfish topics;
- Received a report from the U.S. co-chair of the Transboundary Resources Assessment Committee (TRAC), which provided catch advice to the Transboundary Management Guidance Committee (TMGC) for three resources on Georges Bank that the U.S. shares with Canada (see table below);
- Accepted the TMGC’s recommendations for 2020 U.S./Canada total allowable catches (TACs);
- Reviewed the list of items under development for Framework Adjustment 59 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan; and
- For several hours discussed the range of alternatives under development for Groundfish Monitoring Amendment 23 and provided further direction to the Groundfish Committee.