December 7, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
The New England Fishery Management Council has approved Framework Adjustment 58 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The framework will be submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, NOAA Fisheries) for review and implementation. The target implementation date is May 1, which is the start of the 2019 groundfish fishing year. In short, the framework includes the following components:
- Revised and/or new rebuilding programs for several groundfish stocks, including: (a) Georges Bank winter flounder; (b) Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder; (c) witch flounder; (d) Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank Northern windowpane flounder; and (e) ocean pout;
- Revised annual catch limit specifications (see tables at right and next page);
- 2019 U.S./Canada total allowable catches (TACs) for three shared groundfish stocks on Georges Bank;
- An exemption for vessels fishing in Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) waters from U.S. commercial minimum sizes in the Council’s Northeast Multispecies FMP; and
- An extension of the temporary change that’s currently in place for the scallop fishery’s trigger for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder accountability measures (AMs). Under this extension, the scallop fishery’s AM would be triggered only if scallopers exceed both their own sub-ACL for yellowtail flounder and if the total ACL for this stock is exceeded.