August 27, 2014 — The following was released by NOAA:
SUMMARY: This action closes the Eastern U.S./Canada Area for Northeast multispecies common pool vessels for the remainder of fishing year 2014, through April 30, 2015. Based on recent data, the common pool fishery has caught 130 percent of its Eastern Georges Bank cod total allowable catch, triggering the regulatory requirement to close the area for the remainder of the fishing year. Between August 15, 2014 and August 21, 2014, the common pool catch went from 38 percent to 150 percent of the trimester TAC. This action is intended to prevent further overage of the common pool’s annual quota of Eastern Georges Bank cod.
This action closes the Eastern U.S./Canada Area to common pool vessels for the remainder of fishing year 2014, through April 30, 2015. We have projected that the common pool fishery has exceeded its Total Allowable Catch for Eastern Georges Bank cod. We are required to close the Eastern U.S./Canada Area when we project that the Total Allowable Catch will be caught to prevent quota overages. The area will reopen at the start of the 2015 Fishing Year, on May 1, 2015.
Additionally, this action closes a portion of Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic to common pool vessels using trawl and gillnet gear for the remainder of Trimester 1, through August 31, 2014. We have projected that the common pool fishery has caught over 90% of its Trimester Total Allowable Catch for Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder. We are required to close a stock area when 90 percent of the Trimester Total Allowable Catch has been caught to prevent quota overages. The area will reopen at the start of Trimester 2, on September 1, 2014.
Highlights:
– We are closing the Eastern U.S./Canada Area for the remainder of the 2014 fishing year through April 30, 2015. The area will reopen at the start of the 2015 fishing year on May 1, 2015. This closure is required by regulation because recent information shows that the common pool fishery has exceeded its Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for Eastern Georges Bank cod as of August 189 2014.
– The TAC for Eastern Georges Bank cod for FY 2014 is 3 mt. The common pool has caught approximately 4 mt, or 130 percent of the quota. The overage will be deducted from the following FY.
– We expect this to affect less than 5 vessels.
– We are closing the Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder Trimester TAC Area to common pool vessels using trawl and sink gillnet gear for the remainder of Trimester 1, through August 31, 2014. The area will reopen at the start of Trimester 2 on September 1, 2014. This closure is required by regulation because recent information shows that the common pool fishery has exceeded 90 percent of its Trimester 1 Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder as of August 20, 2014.
– Between August 15, 2014 and August 21, 2014, the common pool catch went from 38 percent to 150 percent of the trimester TAC.