The New England Fishery Management Council moved forward with its first set of annual catch limits in accordance with this requirement by supporting a proposed approach which when approved in November will apply to the groundfish stock complex. Included are thirteen species and 22 stocks of fish, such as cod, haddock, pollock and a number of flounders.
The following is verbatim from a release from the New England Management Council:
As A Council technical committee, the Groundfish Plan Development Team, which includes Council staff, as well as state, federal and independent fishery specialists, presented its information and preliminary estimates for the 2010-2012 groundfish annual catch limits to address the uncertainty associated with many fishing rules.
Uncertainty is caused by limited enforcement, a lack of effective catch monitoring, and the accuracy with which fishery analysts are able to predict the success of various rules, as well as track the catch of groundfish in other fisheries. The Council also directed the Plan Team to bring information forward describing the impacts of these allocations on the fisheries regulated through its groundfish management program.
http://www.nefmc.org/nemulti/index.htmlreport Final approval of the groundfish annual catch limits will occur at the November 17-19 Council meeting in Newport, RI.