GLOUCESTER, MA – The groundfish fishery got a bit of a boost on Feb. 20 when the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) transferred a portion of the scallop fishery’s unused 2013 yellowtail flounder allocation to the groundfish fishery.
The 2013 scallop fishing year ended Feb. 28, but the groundfish year runs through April 30, so the transfer was extremely welcomed by groundfish fishermen who often are restrained by low yellowtail catch limits.
More specifically, NMFS transferred 37.7 metric tons (mt) of Georges Bank yellowtail and 15.7 mt of Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic (SNE/MA) yellowtail to the groundfish fishery and then revised the fishery’s sub-annual catch limits (sub-ACLs) accordingly.
As a result, the groundfish fishery’s sub-ACL for Georges Bank yellowtail rose 32%, increasing from 116.8 mt to 154.5 mt. The sub-ACL for SNE/MA yellowtail went up 3%, increasing from 570 mt to 585.7 mt. …
Read the rest and much, much more in the April issue of Commercial Fisheries News.
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