April 15, 2015 — Several fish stocks from Maine to Florida are rebounding and are no longer subject to overfishing, federal regulators said Thursday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced it is removing two stocks – the gag grouper of the Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic albacore – from its "overfished" list. The agency is also taking six stocks off of the "overfishing" list, including the Gulf of Maine haddock, the South Atlantic gag grouper, the western Atlantic Bluefin tuna, the snowy grouper of the South Atlantic coast and the jacks of the Gulf of Mexico. The North Atlantic albacore is now off of both lists.
NOAA considers a fish stock "overfished" when its population size is too small, and the stock is placed on the "overfishing" list when its annual catch rate is too high.
The rebounding fisheries are evidence of the impact of a 2007 law change that enacted annual catch limits, said Alan Risenhoover, director of NOAA Fisheries Office of Sustainable Fisheries. There were 41 stocks listed as subject to overfishing in 2007 and only 10 domestic and four international stocks remain on that list, he said.
"It really is a comment on our fisheries in our country. They are on a sustainable path for the long term," Risenhoover said.
Risenhoover said improved fish stocks can sometimes be subject to higher fishing quotas. He said overfishing has dropped to "an all-time low" since 1997, when NOAA started tracking stock status.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald