PHILADELPHIA, PA — It’s hard to believe that just over a decade ago, the directed commercial fishery for spiny dogfish was eliminated and fishermen in the Northeast were restrained by a 4-million-pound bycatch quota.
Now, the fishery is on track to be allocated over 40 million pounds per year for the next three fishing years. According to scientists, spawning stock biomass is up to around 215,444 metric tons (mt) — that’s 4.7 million pounds — and fishing mortality is extremely low. The stock is “not overfished” and “overfishing is not occurring.”
Read the rest and much, much more in the December issue of Commercial Fisheries News. Read online immediately and download for future reference.
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