GLOUCESTER, MA – Using a portion of the federal Groundfish Disaster Relief funds for Massachusetts, the MA Div. of Marine Fisheries (DMF) initiated a three-year Gulf of Maine Atlantic cod industry-based survey (IBS) in April to better inform management decisions and enable minimum estimates of swept area biomass. Last fall, Massachusetts chose to spend $700,000 …
WALPOLE, ME – The question on everyone’s mind in the lobster industry is: How long will this boom last? As 2015’s lobster landings are still being tallied, it’s shaping up to be another all-time record for the US and Canada. That is, in dollar value. But for Maine, the state dominating US landings, volume has …
SILVER SPRING, MD – NOAA Fisheries (NMFS) has rolled out a new National Bycatch Reduction Strategy that it says will help move forward in its mission to promote productive and sustainable fisheries. The strategy calls for monitoring and estimating bycatch, researching new ways to reduce it through bycatch reduction engineering, enforcement of bycatch laws and …
PORTSMOUTH, NH – At its Jan. 26-28, 2016 meeting here, the New England Fishery Management Council reviewed a slew of issues from the Atlantic herring committee. Topping the list was approval of a new way to evaluate multiple and conflicting objectives during the development of Amendment 8 (AMD 8) to the Atlantic herring fishery management …
GLOUCESTER, MA – Effective Feb. 26, NOAA Fisheries (NMFS) was designating two expanded North Atlantic right whale critical habitat areas to replace the existing critical habitat boundaries established in 1994. NMFS proposed the new areas last year under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) after a decade of reviewing new research into the distribution, calving, feeding, …
MYSTIC, CT – Four years after its initiation, the New England Fishery Management Council (NEMFC) has approved the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Amendment 18 to the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan. The action, taken during the council’s April meeting here, was not without controversy. See Guest Column, page 6. The council also …
DOVER, DE – On Mar. 10, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council requested emergency rulemaking from the Secretary of Commerce under 305 (c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, to restrict commercial and recreational landings of blueline tilefish in their jurisdiction. The request came after a two-hour emergency webinar public hearing in which over …
NEWPORT, RI – New and very severe measures to protect Gulf of Maine cod under Framework Adjustment 53 to the groundfish plan will not apply to lobstermen, who may continue to set and haul traps in groundfish closed areas. However, the issue of cod bycatch in lobster gear and the question of whether or not …
GLOUCESTER, MA – Everyone knew it was coming, but the official Nov. 10 announcement of emergency closures and trip limits to further protect Gulf of Maine cod still hit people with hurricane force. The details were just so severe. The day the news became public, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) first held a press …
BOSTON, MA – Concerns for the safety and economic health of its fishermen have prompted the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) to file a request with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for exemptions and modifications to new whale protection measures announced in June. DMF put together the request following extensive discussions with lobstermen …
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