May 23, 2012 – The catch limit for commercial fishermen targeting dogfish has increased by more than 5 million pounds over last year, a significant increase that reflects the abundance of the species.
The commercial quota has been set at 35.694 million pounds or 16,191 metric tons and the overall catch for the 2012 fishing year has been set at 44.737 million pounds or 20,292 metric tons, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced on Tuesday. The new measures go into effect on June 21.
Spiny dogfish were declared overfished in 1998 requiring conservation measures to rebuild the stock. Those measures proved successful and the stock was declared to be rebuilt in 2010, allowing regulators to permit much larger catches. In 2010 the catch limit was 15 million pounds and it was just 10 million pounds the previous year.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times.