Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Announces Adjustments to the 2021 Atlantic Herring Specifications

October 28, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

This action increases the herring Area 1A sub-ACL from 1,609 mt to 2,609 mt and the ACL from 4,128 mt to 5,128 mt for the remainder of 2021. Because herring landings in the New Brunswick weir fishery were less than 3,012 mt through October 1, NOAA Fisheries is required by the regulations implementing the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan to subtract 1,000 mt from the management uncertainty buffer and reallocated it to the herring Area 1A sub-ACL and the ACL.

For more details, read the temporary rule as published in the Federal Register today, and our permit holder bulletin.

Questions?

Fishermen: Contact Maria Fenton, Regional Office, 978-28-9196

Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103

New England fleet could see haddock quota double

December 4, 2015 — The annual catch limits for Gulf of Maine cod will increase slightly in 2016, while the quota for haddock will more than double if recommendations passed this week by the New England Fishery Management Council are approved by NOAA Fisheries.

One year after slashing total cod quotas by more than 75 percent to 386 metric tons, the council voted at its three-day meeting in Portland, Maine, to raise the total cod annual catch limit (ACL) to about 440 metric tons, with 280 metric tons designated for the commercial fishing industry in each of the next three fishing seasons.

The commercial industry’s Gulf of Maine cod ACL this year is 207 metric tons.

“It’s a slight increase and of course that’s always good,” said Jackie Odell, executive director of the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition. “But it doesn’t come close to reflecting what fishermen — commercial and recreational — are seeing on the water and it’s certainly nothing that’s going to sustain the fishery.”

The council voted to increase the commercial quota for Gulf of Maine haddock in 2016 to 2,416 metric tons from the current 958 metric tons, or an increase of 152 percent.

“Haddock is going up substantially, like through the roof,” Odell said.

The news was not good on Cape Cod and Gulf of Maine yellowtail flounder, with the commercial ACL falling 26 percent in 2016 to 341 metric tons, and witch flounder, which will have a 50 percent decrease in its 2016 ACL to 302 metric tons from the current 620 metric tons.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times