GLOUCESTER, MA – Vessels with Category C and D monkfish permits now will be able to land unlimited amounts of monkfish from the Northern Fishery Management Area for the rest of the 2013 fishing year while working under a monkfish or groundfish day-at-sea.
Peter K. Prybot/CFN photo
The landing-limit suspension became effective Oct. 28 after the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) extended a previous emergency action related to monkfish and significantly modified it.
The first action, which was in place from May 1 through Oct. 27, suspended monkfish limits for Category C and D boats fishing in the north under a monkfish day-at-sea. But it provided no relief for fishermen catching monkfish on a groundfish day, where the monkfish limit remained capped at 25% of the total weight of fish on board, not to exceed 300 pounds of tail weight per day. Groundfish sector boats still have to use a day-at-sea to land monkfish above incidental catch limits, which are very low.
As everyone well knows, the 2013 annual catch limits (ACLs) for many groundfish stocks were substantially reduced – in some cases to levels that clearly could not sustain the fleet.
Read the rest and much, much more in the December issue of Commercial Fisheries News.
Read online immediately and download for future reference.
Subscribe and get year long online access, or by mail, or BOTH!!
Updating...